Manners Of Dying Essay

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In letter 534 of Yann Martel’s short story Manners of Dying, Martel portrays Kevin as an impatient and disrespectful individual with barely, if not any regrets about his crime. Through his incredibly fancy last order of “caviar, champagne and cigarillos” (Martel, 123), Kevin seems to be trying to fully enjoy what little time he has left in this world. This shows that he does not have many regrets about the crime he has committed, as most people would want to have their last meal as something humbling. Kevin instead chooses to have something flamboyant. He also eats this meal as quick as possible, “gobbled down the caviar” (123) and chugs down the champagne “in a single draft” (123). He then goes on to ask for even more champagne, and drinks …show more content…

The periodic checks at night showed him to be smoking heavily which indicated that he must have been a heavy smoker in his regular life too. Martel showed Kevin to be incredibly impatient due to how much he was rushing his punishment. From the moment the warden walked into his cell to the moment he got hanged, Kevin was trying to get it over with as fast as possible. His disrespectful nature was emphasized again when he interrupted the warden while he was reading him his judgement with “Yesyesyesyesyes!” (124). He then went on to once again show his impatience when he was assured that the punishment would be painless but he replied with “But is it fast?”. This demonstrates that Kevin really does not care whether he will be in pain or not, he only cares about getting it done with. Even his last words were “stop wasting my time!” which clearly show that he was in quite the rush. His restlessness to be hanged accentuates that he does not feel guilty for what he has done, and has no fear of the afterlife. All of these details come together to form Kevin’s character as an impatient and disrespectful character with no shame or

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