In DH Lawrence’s stories “The Blind Man” and “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter,” the reader watches as characters move from having something missing in their lives, to being truly whole.
Lawrence uses images of darkness to illustrate the emotions of his characters. In “The Blind Man,” Isabel goes to look for Maurice and when she steps into the stable where he is, “The darkness seemed to be in a strange swirl of violent life” (Lawrence, 132). The darkness that swirled around Isabel is the darkness in which Maurice lives. The “Horse Dealer’s Daughter,” is also consumed in darkness, as seen in the description of the dwindling town. The description reads like a disaster report on the five o’clock news: “across a shallow dip in the country, the small town was clustered like a smoldering ash, a tower, a spire, a heap of low, raw, extinct houses” (Lawrence, 147). To live in a town such as this, a person would become part of the “smoldering ash,” as Mabel had. When Mabel was with her brothers she “sat on like one condemned,” (Lawrence, 144) as they discussed her fate. She stayed quiet, working in the house because the family could no longer afford the hired help they once had. They could, in fact, no longer afford the horses that once brought them money. As the family breaks apart, with each sibling going his separate way, Mabel finds herself trapped by her emotions.
There is a great tension felt by each of Lawrence’s characters. Mabel, in “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter,” and Maurice, in “The Blind Man,” are excellent examples of this tension. Mabel’s tension seems to remain an internal struggle, while Maurice’s affects his wife greatly. After closer examination, it is apparent that Mabel’s internal struggles become evident as she interacts with her brothers. She works in the kitchen and rarely answers them when they speak to her. She has pushed aside any traits she may have possessed and has become like a hired hand, going about her work, not speaking. Maurice’s struggles are shown through his actions also. When Bertie and Isabel are talking after dinner, Maurice excuses himself. He seems uncomfortable in the situation and consequently retires himself to the darkness of the stable. It is not until Bertie goes out to look for him, that Maurice confronts his emotions.
The characters of Maurice and Mabel move toward wholeness as they confront the emotions they have previously denied.
Duong Thu Huong’s novel, ‘Paradise of the Blind’ creates a reflective, often bittersweet atmosphere through the narrator Hang’s expressive descriptions of the landscapes she remembers through her life. Huong’s protagonist emphasises the emotional effects these landscapes have on her, acknowledging, “many landscapes have left their mark on me.”
The main character is completely alienated from the world around him. He is a black man living in a white world, a man who was born in the South but is now living in the North, and his only form of companionship is his dying wife, Laura, whom he is desperate to save. He is unable to work since he has no birth certificate—no official identity. Without a job he is unable to make his mark in the world, and if his wife dies, not only would he lose his lover but also any evidence that he ever existed. As the story progresses he loses his own awareness of his identity—“somehow he had forgotten his own name.” The author emphasizes the main character’s mistreatment in life by white society during a vivid recollection of an event in his childhood when he was chased by a train filled with “white people laughing as he ran screaming,” a hallucination which was triggered by his exploration of the “old scars” on his body. This connection between alienation and oppression highlight Ellison’s central idea.
In Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man, one of Ellison’s greatest assets is his ability to bestow profound significance upon inanimate objects. During the narrator’s journey from the bar to the hole, he acquires a series of objects that signify both the manifestations of a racist society, as well as the clues he employs to deconstruct his indoctrinated identity. The narrator’s briefcase thereby becomes a figurative safe in his mind that can only be unlocked by understanding the true nature of the objects that lie within. Thus, in order to realize who he is, the narrator must first realize who he is not: that unreal man whose name is written in Jack’s pen, or the forcibly grinning visage of Mary’s bank.
Every time the family comes to a confrontation someone retreats to the past and reflects on life as it was back then, not dealing with life as it is for them today. Tom, assuming the macho role of the man of the house, babies and shelters Laura from the outside world. His mother reminds him that he is to feel a responsibility for his sister. He carries this burden throughout the play. His mother knows if it were not for his sisters needs he would have been long gone. Laura must pickup on some of this, she is so sensitive she must sense Toms feeling of being trapped. Tom dreams of going away to learn of the world, Laura is aware of this and she is frightened of what may become of them if he were to leave.
Throughout Ralph Ellison’s novel, Invisible Man, the main character dealt with collisions and contradictions, which at first glance presented as negative influences, but in retrospect, they positively influenced his life, ultimately resulting in the narrator developing a sense of independence. The narrator, invisible man, began the novel as gullible, dependent, and self-centered. During the course of the book, he developed into a self-determining and assured character. The characters and circumstances invisible man came across allowed for this growth.
When reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” or Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener,” the audience might notice how they are stories of men who become detached from the society after a notable change in how they act towards the world. However, while Bartleby’s disconnection stems from work-related changes, Young Goodman Brown’s disconnection is caused by a “spiritual” experience. I want to focus on how many things these characters have in common, to show what may have caused their change of view in the societies around them.
This story, written as the thoughts of the narrator, is about an old blind friend of his wife’s coming to visit for the first time. The story focuses on the narrator’s cynicism toward the blind man and the way his wife seems to look up to him. Through out the visit there is halting interaction between the blind man and the narrator, however in the end the narrator experiences something he never could have imagined. Through the eyes of a blind man, he gains a better understanding of who he could be.
I think the main idea the narrators is trying to emphasize is the theme of opposition between the chaotic world and the human need for community with a series of opposing images, especially darkness and light. The narrator repeatedly associates light with the desire to clear or give form to the needs and passions, which arise out of inner darkness. He also opposes light as an idea of order to darkness in the world, the chaos that adults endure, but of which they normally cannot speak to children.
The struggle the other characters face in telling Mrs. Mallard of the news of her husband's death is an important demonstration of their initial perception of her strength. Through careful use of diction, Mrs. Mallard is portrayed as dependent. In mentioning her "heart trouble" (12) Chopin suggests that Mrs. Mallard is fragile. Consequently, Josephine's character supports this misconception as she speaks of the accident in broken sentences, and Richards provides little in the way of benefiting the situation. In using excess caution in approaching the elderly woman, Mrs. Mallard is given little opportunity to exhibit her strength. Clearly the caution taken towards Mrs. Mallard is significant in that it shows the reader the perception others have of her. The initial description the author provides readers with creates a picture that Mrs. Mallard is on the brink of death.
To understand the narrator of the story, one must first explore Ralph Ellison. Ellison grew up during the mid 1900’s in a poverty-stricken household (“Ralph Ellison”). Ellison attended an all black school in which he discovered the beauty of the written word (“Ralph Ellison”). As an African American in a predominantly white country, Ellison began to take an interest in the “black experience” (“Ralph Ellison”). His writings express a pride in the African American race. His work, The Invisible Man, won much critical acclaim from various sources. Ellison’s novel was considered the “most distinguished novel published by an American during the previous twenty years” according to a Book Week poll (“Ralph Ellison”). One may conclude that the Invisible Man is, in a way, the quintessence Ralph Ellison. The Invisible Man has difficulty fitting into a world that does not want to see him for who he is. M...
Stories are often left untold or forgotten. The stories that are deemed profound or are remembered are of fact or evident to the masses. The stories that make up history, such as the African Americans’ fight for equality, are made up of concrete events that were witnessed. On the contrary, stories like the narrator’s in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man are generally overlooked because they are focused on an individual’s experience. This is due to the theory that humanity is naturally self-involved, but also ashamed because the majority of our experiences consist of challenges. The narrator’s story was filled with past humiliations that were the major cornerstones to his identity. He illustrated the significance of embracing our humiliations, or
The imagery portrayed in the first half of the story is solemn, melancholy and grim depicting the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, is effortlessly flabbergasted at the harsh news of her husband, Brently Mallard’s disastrous death. In hearing the news of Brently’s premature death, Mrs. Mallard immediately accepts his death and is overcome with grief and leaves to her room unaccompanied. It is in her room, which she peers through the window contemplating on the recent news that she has received, when there is an overall shift to the
In Raymond Carver's "Cathedral," the husband's view of blind men is changed when he encounters his wife's long time friend, Robert. His narrow minded views and prejudice thoughts of one stereotype are altered by a single experience he has with Robert. The husband is changed when he thinks he personally sees the blind man's world. Somehow, the blind man breaks through all of the husband's jealousy, incompetence for discernment, and prejudgments in a single moment of understanding.
Within Oliver Sacks, “To See and Not See”, the reader is introduced to Virgil, a blind man who gains the ability to see, but then decides to go back to being blind. Within this story Sacks considers Virgil fortunate due to him being able to go back to the life he once lived. This is contrasted by Dr. P, in “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat”, Sacks states that his condition is “tragic” (Sacks, “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat (13) due to the fact that his life will be forever altered by his condition. This thought process can be contributed to the ideas that: it is difficult to link physical objects and conceptualized meanings without prior experience, the cultures surrounding both individuals are different, and how they will carry on with their lives.
The novels The Loved One, and Endurance can both easily be related to my life, and the world that I live in today. Each of these stories has a meaning that is timeless, and contains morals that can never be dated. Each story has something to offer the reader on many levels. It may teach a lesson, reveal a truth or just simply entertain. Out of these stories I will make a connection to one or more of my personal experiences, a text-to-text connection, and a connection between these novels and the world today. While reading these novels, one gets a feeling or a sense of frustration. It becomes difficult at times to understand the emotions that are running through the characters minds. Ultimately though, significant similarities can be linked to my own life experiences. Waugh and Lansing’s novels are classics in which many people can relate to. Everyone has hurdles and hardships in their lives that must be overcome in order to succeed.