Andre Dubus III's House of Sand and Fog
"House of Sand and Fog," by Andre Dubus III, explores the catastrophic repercussions of a complex misunderstanding between three characters. The conflict initially involves a dispute between Kathy Nicolo and Massoud Behrani over the “rightful” ownership of a house. The county wrongfully evicts Kathy and Behrani then buys her house at an auction. When Deputy Sheriff Lester Burdon enters the situation, events quickly slip out of control. Superficially, Lester’s character is important to the novel because he acts as a catalyst, propelling the plot into unexpected action. But Lester impacts the novel in a more profound way, because were it not for his insecurity and selfishness, the rest of the characters could have been spared an avoidable tragedy.
Lester’s commitment to help Kathy at all costs undeniably alters the outcome of the novel. By providing her with money for a motel, and later with shelter at a friend’s cabin, he allows her to continue avoiding the reality of the situation. If Lester had never met Kathy, she would have been forced to be upfront with her lawyer. Instead, Kathy tells herself “there a limit to how much [her lawyer] wants to help,” and continues to tell Connie Walsh that she is staying with friends (88). Knowing the severity of Kathy’s plight could have prompted Connie Walsh to more ardently pursue the county on Kathy’s behalf. Because of Lester, however, the truth is kept from the lawyer.
Additionally, although proclaiming his love for her, Lester becomes a negative influence on Kathy. Under the false sense of security he provides, Kathy, a recovering alcoholic, allows herself to start drinking again after an abstinence of three ye...
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...observes the situation as merely a problem that requires a quick fix, and he sets about “fixing” the situation instead of fulfilling Kathy’s emotional needs.
In the tradition of a Greek tragedy, Lester’s insecurity is his hamartia, his tragic flaw. His egocentrism stems from this, causing him to overlook the needs of others in his quest for self-justification. This is not to say that the awful outcome of the novel can be attributed to Lester alone. All three main characters fail to understand one another and rush to false assumptions based on cultural differences. But the fatalities of the scenario can be traced back to the overreactions of Lester. In the form of Lester Burdon, Dubus imbues his story with a potent warning against dishonestly with oneself. Only when a man truly understands himself and accepts his flaws can he attempt to overcome them.
Growing up Mary Karr didn't have a “stable” childhood. Her parents Pete and Charlie had many obstacles they faced throughout their life. Pete, who worked at a graveyard at the oil refinery was an alcoholic. He would drink every day, whether it was at home or with the liars club, he always had a drink in his hand. Charlie, who dealt with many illnesses such as an anxiety disorder and being a hypochondriac was not the best role model in Mary and Lecia life. At only 2 years old, Charlie almost died of pneumonia. After surviving that, she wasn't a normal kid, she had many issues.
People place judgment on one another every day based on differences. Sometimes it is done subconsciously; sometimes it is done on purpose. In the book The House of Sand and Fog, by Andre Dubus III, two different cultures were represented; Kathy represented the culture of the western civilization, whereas Behrani represented the culture of Persians. People judge one another based on unimportant things, and get judged based on those same things as well. Two cultures were used to amplify how different their cultures were from one another. Throughout the book cultures vocalized what they did not like about the other cultures by placing judgment on people based on ethnicity, appearance, and status; despite how different the cultures were, they had something in common, negative judgment. In a world where there is so much diversity, the only way for all cultures to get along is to place judgments aside and accept the differences.
The story is concerned with the conflict between his conception of himself and the reality.
Reading this I remembered, that I heard in AA meetings people referred to alcohol as their best friend, who is reliable and present. In case of Caroline’s mother death, she turned to her drink for the support and comfort, in the manner of a child who is afraid to be without a favorite blanket or a teddy bear. “Protect me. Shield me from being alone in my own head”, those thoughts were racing in her mind as she increased her daily alcohol intake after her parent’s death. Knapp got sober two years after, and it was sad for me (and I am sure for Caroline, too) to realize that her parents never have seen her daughter free from the addiction, never will have quality time with them and a brand new relationship that they could have been built if Caroline would not have been
She decides the time, place and the bit. Historically, society believed women’s main purpose was to please men. Some women feel the need to be submissive to their partner and engage in their advances. But, Atwood’s character Kat is far from the stereotype, as she held the title as executive of her intimate toils. There is a time and place for everything, and Kat throws that out the window. Kat makes untimely sexual advances in her affair with her married boss, Gerald. In the midst of a professional lunch. Gerald had inquired about the origin of the name “Kat”, and suggested it meant “Krazy”, she then fired a response out of context twisting playful words, to have a sexual under-tone. Furthermore, “It’s Kat as in KitKat. That’s a chocolate bar. Melts in your mouth”. She gave him her stare, quirked her mouth just a twitch. Gerald became flustered, but pushed on, (48). This is an example of Kats untimely advances, in the middle of the day, at an upscale restaurant. She decided to paint a lewd image in Gerald’s head, and had actually got him stirred
Another way these characters avoid living their life is by drinking continuously, in a way to make the time pass by faster and forget. ?Haven?t you had enough? She loses count after 10 cocktails,? (pg.11) proving to the audience her own self denial, and how she wastes every day. Unfortunately, there are many, who in society today, do the same thing to get out of a situation they?re trying to hide or a difficult time they?re going through. This relates back to their affair which they?re obviously hiding and trying to get through this time in their life.
Throughout the novel, Kathy is considered an unreliable narrator. Seymour Chatman’s concept of unreliable narrator states:
From the beginning of Kat’s life, she was at odds with her environment. When she was a child, she was Katherine, a doll like representation of what her mother wanted her to be. As a teenager she was Kathy, a representation of what she believed others wanted, “a bouncy, round-faced [girl] with gleaming freshly washed hair and enviable teeth, eager to please and no more int...
As Cliff walks into the Kit Kat club he enters the world of promiscuous uninhibited dancers, and people of the like. Men approach him to dance, and women entice him with their charms. He obviously wasn’t all that accustomed to this kind of happening, but he didn’t shy away from it. The first night he lived this almost unreal experience, he met a woman. Sally was a one of a kind woman of her time, being on her own, making her own living, whether that living be on stage or with a man who suits her interest for a while.
From being secluded in the room for three months, heroine starts slowly to realize that her depression is caused by oppression of her husband. She recognizes that she gets "unreasonably angry with John sometimes" and later wishes he would get his own room (573).
Kathy's odd disappearance is haunting the reader all the way throughout the novel. Her husband?s unstable emotional being is somewhat a key to the mystery. We examine his inner thoughts and simultaneous occurrences, but we are still left guessing. There are various situations that lead to multiple possibilities of Kathy?s disappearance. Did John eat Kathy? Did she take the boat and vanish, or did John murder her, and hide her in the Lake of the Woods? These are all possible hypotheses that will be looked into and taken apart to find out what really happened to Kathy.
For an example in one particular scene, Tiffany has an episode of irritability towards her sister with assumption that her sister hates her; which included loud inappropriate comments and an abrupt exit. There were also symptoms shown such as an excess desire for sex. Tiffany casually talks about all the men she has slept with since her husband’s death, including “the whole office” at her previous job. This is a way she has learned how to deal with her depression.
The tragic hero is defined by Aristotle as "a great man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake” (Aristotle n. pag.). There are a few principles that Aristotle believes to form a tragic hero: the protagonist should be a person of power and nobility, who makes a major error in judgment and eventually comes to realization of his or her actions (Aristotle n. pag.). In Arthur Millers’ play, Death of a Salesman, he has twisted Aristotle’s belief of a tragic hero, and has created his own. Although Miller has twisted Aristotle’s belief, Sophocles’ play, Oedipus Rex, has a tragic hero (Oedipus) that follows the flaws, dignity, and acknowledgment of the truth that Aristotle believes in to make a tragic hero. It is essential for them to recognize their position and role in the play. Due to the fact that Willy Loman and Oedipus experience tragic flaws throughout their respected plays, they both have nobility, and they both realize the fact (anagnorisis) that they made an error in their life (hamartia). Through their fatal mis-steps, their pride and ego, predominately affect their familial lives, which in turn causes them to realize the truth that they are tragic heroes.
Michael Henchard’s constant exercise of jealousy, pride, immature actions and overwhelming emotions bring him to his tragic end. Although Henchard might have you think he is a victim, the reader can see that his personality leads to the conclusion of his downfall and that Henchard’s inability to learn from his first mistakes takes him down a path no one wants to face. He might have been able to survive his mistakes had he not been so self-destructive. But because of the combination of his personality traits and the complexity of his character’s mind, he is eventually led to the nothingness that engulfs him.
According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is one of noble upbringing who undergoes a reversal of fortune. The hero must then realize that their peripetia is a direct result of their own tragic flaw. King Lear in William Shakespeare’s King Lear and Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman both share the tragic flaw of being blind to reality, but Lear fits the remainder of Aristotle’s description more accurately. It is evident that Lear holds these tragic qualities because he is born of a noble birth, receives pity, and is able to see the truth. On the contrary, Willy Loman lacks these same characteristics. As a result, he fails to accept his mistakes unlike Lear did, proving that the one who more precisely