Interpersonal Relationships In Swamp Angel and Fifth Business

1447 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Similes and metaphors

Interpersonal Relationships In Swamp Angel and Fifth Business In the novel Swamp Angel the main character, Maggie, asserts that "swimming is like living , it is done alone". This is, in fact, a very telling statement with respect to the life of both Maggie and the life of Dunstan, the main character in the novel The Fifth Business. Maggie's comparison of life to swimming raises interesting points about the way in which each of the two characters proceed along the road of life. Maggie's statement is actually a simile which compares swimming alone to living life. In most cases a simile is used to take certain characteristics of one entity and to bestow them upon another entity in which they are not usually found. Maggie's comparison of swimming alone to life is no different. It is generally held, in modern society, that life is a journey that is made with the help of others. Intimate interpersonal relationships are viewed as support systems in life. Many people view these relationships as that which makes life worth living. Maggie's statement directly refutes these claims. When one is swimming alone there is no one to rely on for safety and guidance. The owness of survival, in essence not drowning, falls squarely upon the shoulders of the swimmer alone. Maggie's comparison leads one to believe that the same is true for life. In life , as in swimming alone, one should rely only on oneself for survival. Maggie's comparison of life and swimming alone, and all that it implies, can easily be viewed as the personal motto that both Maggie and Dunstan live by. Each character is very strong willed and independent as one would expect. Anyone who lives life alone would have to be both of these. the characters also sha... ... middle of paper ... ...stan to be less of a man and in turn himself to be the greater man. Through analyzing the personal relationships of both Maggie and Dunstan many similarities can be found. Both characters display a pattern of maintaining relationships which lack depth. that is to say that the relationships never reach an emotional level where intimacy is evident. I also becomes evident that both characters pride themselves on independence. Neither character is willing to lean on another person , as this is viewed as weakness. If these characters can be viewed as spokespeople for Ethel Wilson and Robertson Davies it would seem as though both authors would agree with Maggies statement that "swimming is like living, it is done alone". This statement is defiantly applicable to both characters but it seems dangerous to assume that the characters are representative of the authors.

Show More
Related

  • Fifth Business

    463 Words  | 1 Pages

    The author wants the reader to take another look at Dunstan from a different angle. Seeing that no one has the perfect life.

    Read More

  • "Fifth Business" by Robertson Davies

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author’s development of Dunstan as a protagonist is useful in pushing the plot forward. “After a few weeks during which I was miserable because of the village talk, I sneaked over there on day and peeped in the window” (46) Although the town frowned upon Mary Dempster after her incident at the gravel pit, Dunstan continues to visit Mary, sharing the latest gossip of the town, because she is not allowed the daily newspaper. Dunstan is a very modest character, “Where Boy lived high, I lived – well, not low, but on in the way congenial to myself.” (111), he is happy with the bare necessities in life and asks for nothing more.

    Read More

  • Everyday Use Essay: Sisters with Nothing in Common

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    When two children are brought up by the same parent in the same environment, one might logically conclude that these children will be very similar, or at least have comparable qualities. In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," however, this is not the case. The only thing Maggie and Dee share in common is the fact that they were both raised by the same woman in the same home. They differ in appearance, personality, and ideas that concern the family artifacts.

    Read More

  • Character Comparison: “The Swimmer” and “Babylon Revisited”

    1033 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cheever, John. “The Swimmer”. Short Fiction: Classic and Contemporary. 6th ed. Ed. Charles Bohner and Lyman Grant. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006.

    Read More

  • Everyday Use

    623 Words  | 2 Pages

    When we meet our narrator, the mother of Maggie and Dee, she is waiting in the yard with Maggie for Dee to visit. The mother takes simple pleasure in such a pleasant place where, "anyone can come back and look up at the elm tree and wait for the breezes that never come inside the house." (Walker 383) This is her basic attitude, the simple everyday pleasures that have nothing to do with great ideas, cultural heritage or family or racial histories. She later reveals to us that she is even more the rough rural woman since she, "can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man." (Walker 383) Hardly a woman one would expect to have much patience with hanging historical quilts on a wall. Daughter Maggie is very much the opposite of her older sister, Dee. Maggie is portrayed as knowing "she is not bright." (Walker 384)

    Read More

  • Everyday Use by Alice Walker

    952 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...daries and what belongs to her. She seems to think that objects that are important in Mother and Maggie's life are just aesthetic pieces of art instead of real life tools. Her idea of reality became warped around the lack of respect she showed the rest of her family.

    Read More

  • Denial and Alcoholism Exposed in The Swimmer, by John Cheever

    845 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Swimmer by John Cheever begins at Helen and Donald Westerhazy’s pool when Neddy Merrill makes the decision to journey eight miles home by swimming through a series of pools, he calls the “Lucinda River” (297) and walking when unable to swim. While he making his way back home, he stops at fourteen old friends’ houses and drinks before continuing on if possible. By the end of Neddy’s journey, he is exhausted and comes to the realization that he has lost not only his house but also his wife and daughters, and also his so-called friends and even a mistress. Cheever suggests that alcoholism is a destruction of life through the use of symbolism, imagery, and characterization.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast I Stand Here Ironing And Everyday Use

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this story, Maggie is a lot like her mother. They both are uneducated, loving, caring, and allow Dee to run over them. Maggie has been through more things than her mother has though, because of the incident that happened. Maggie has scars like Emily, except Maggie’s scars are from a house fire (319). The house fire has impacted Maggie’s life tremendously, since she is very self-conscious and shy. Walker stated that Maggie is “ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs (318). The mother is protective of Maggie and will be there for her whenever she needs her too. Even though her mother knows all her struggles, she still supports her and pushes her to be better. I think that is one reason she pushes her to marry John Thomas, because she wants her to become her own person and to be strong (319). The mother of “Everyday Use” is opposite from the mother in “I Stand Here Ironing”, because she is there for her children no matter what their financial status

    Read More

  • Everyday Use

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    Maggie is one of the daughters in the story. She is described as being like a lame animal, she walks with her "chin on chest, eyes on ground, and feet in shuffle" (Walker 87). Her mother gives the impression that Maggie is ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs that the fire left her with. Maggie is the younger of the two daughters. It seems as though she is still very naive and gullible. Maggie is uneducated like her mother and her lack of education has a lot to do with her character. Mama is able to persuade and control Maggie because she does not know any better. Maggie is seen as being a sweet, well behaved young lady. Possibly that is just Mama's favoritism between the girls showing through. Maybe Maggie really is that way, but we only know what we can perceive from Mama's story.

    Read More

  • Dynamic Characters In Broad Daylight

    330 Words  | 1 Pages

    Maggie from the story Recitatif and Mu Ying from In Broad Daylight are both static characters. Static characters that do not change in any way from the beginning of the novel to the end. Usually these characters are minor simply because the main characters often times learn a lesson seeing as they are the focus of the story. Maggie is a minor character. She is not focused on directly very often. Twyla does take time to consider a situation in which Maggie was a part of, but Maggie’s thoughts, feelings, or personality is ever truly examined. In the beginning of the story Maggie is described to be and old woman who works in the home. By the end of the story, Maggie is remains simply an old lady who once worked in the home. The reader never gets

    Read More

  • Dissimilar Lives Create Different Expectations in Everyday Use

    834 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...er and Maggie and wanting so much more than a simple, rural farm life. Perhaps it is because of the time and setting of the story, but many parents would be proud of their children creating a future and life for themselves when coming from a background of so little. It is because of her mother’s feelings that a negative tone is set to the audience in regards to Dee, not because she actually is a corrupt person or deserves to be less appreciated than Maggie. Even when Dee tries to take her iconic familial heritage of quilting with her and integrate the quilts into her new life, her mother does not oblige seemingly out of resent for her daughter’s choices.

    Read More

  • The Destruction of the American Dream in John Cheever’s The Swimmer

    844 Words  | 2 Pages

    In John Cheever's story The Swimmer, Neddy Merrill is a successful man. His success is measured by the prestigious neighborhood he lives in with tennis, golf and swimming pools. Neddy has made it socially and financially. He is never without an invitation to social events, which always include drinking. He is at the top of his game. While attending the party at the Westerhazy's house with his wife, he has the desire to swim home. He sees the line of swimming pools that stretch eight miles to his home, he calls them the “Lucinda River” (297) . He is a confident man and thought "of himself as a legendary figure" (250-251). He dives in and when he gets out on the other side, he informs his wife he is swimming home. Cheever uses each pool that Neddy visits to show the passage of time in Neddy's life, and reveals how his alcoholism, infidelity and continual denial of his actions led to the destruction of his American dream.

    Read More

  • Major Character Analysis in Maggie a Girl of the Streets and The Awakening

    1989 Words  | 4 Pages

    Maggie lives with a poor and dysfunctional family and a hopeless future with only the small possibility of change. The environment and setting she grows up in do not support anything more than a dull, dreary and pathetic future for her. An old woman asks Maggie's brother Jimmy: "Eh, Gawd, child, what is it this time? Is yer fader beatin yer mudder, or yer mudder beatin yer fader? (Maggie, 10)" while he runs to Maggie's apartment one night. The lack of love and support of her family hinders Maggie's ability to live a happy and fulfilling life. Without knowing that someone loves her no matter what she does or how she acts Maggie may feel desperate enough to change her situation by any means she can, and without any useful guidance. Even without any positive influences Maggie grows up different from the low-life's living with and around her. Crane explains Maggie's uniqueness in the passage "None of the dirt of Rum Alley seemed to be in her veins. The philosophers up-stairs, down-stairs and on the same floor, puzzled over it" (Maggie 16). Maggie's uniqueness gives her the chance to improve her life, but only a slim chance. Even though Maggie differs from the people around her they remain sleazy, making it harder for her to change her life because she must go outside of her community for help.

    Read More

  • Use of Point of View, Setting and Symbolism in The Swimmer, by John Cheever

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Swimmer” is an allegory that is narrated in third person point of view as someone who is observing Neddy’s journey. This enables the reader to discover the reactions of friends and neighbors as Neddy arrives at their homes while still revealing the shift of the round character’s own attitude and feelings as his journey through life continues. Cheever wisely tells the story from a perspective in which the reader can still be connected to Neddy from the beginning to the end of the story while learning how his actions have disappointed others and not just himself. It also uncovers the involvement of each character and their relationship with Neddy before and after his mid-life crisis. If this story was told from any other point of view then the reader would only be obtaining one sided, in a sense a close minded, version whereas with a third person point of view the reader is approached to the entire situation given all perspectives. It guides the reader from one meaningful piece to another on an even level without any bias impressions while the story is being delivered.

    Read More

  • The Importance of the Sea in The Awakening

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the summer of Edna's awakening, the sea's influence increases as she learns how to swim, an event which holds much more significance that her fellow vacationers realize. “To her friends, she has accomplished a simple feat; to Edna, she has accomplished a miracle” (Showalter 114). She has found a peace and tranquility in swimming which gives her the feeling of freedom. The narrator tells us that as she swims, "she seem[s] to be reaching out for the unlimited in which to lose herself" (Chopin 74). She sees the freedom t...

    Read More

More about Interpersonal Relationships In Swamp Angel and Fifth Business

Open Document