Wizard's Tide

The Wizard's Tide Essay The Wizard's Tide highlights the financial, emotional, and mental struggles experienced by many families during the Great Depression. One of the most difficult aspects of this time was to transition from a life of luxury to a life of survival. Due to various factors, some people had difficulty accepting the reality of change, and had trouble fully adjusting to their new circumstances. Mrs. Schroeder is an excellent example of this because of the effect of her upbringing plays on her characteristics throughout the novella. Frederick Buechner uses Mrs. Schroeder to develop the idea that a person’s ability to change is heavily dependant on past experiences and the inability to do so can often lead to people having unrealistic

Throughout the novella, Mrs. Schroeder shows that she struggles to adapt to her new surroundings because she builds an illusion of a wealthy lifestyle for herself. She spent the majority of her youth “call[ing] up the tobacco store,”(30) or “Hail a streetcar,”(31) demonstrating a carefree childhood with little responsibility. Though these actions may seem harmless, these experiences in childhood are the building blocks of her character. This is because childhood is a time when many people develop key experiences that help define who they are. Many characteristics and habits created in childhood continue into adulthood, and as a result, can be very difficult to change. When a person who grew up in a life no responsibilities suddenly encounters such things, it can be difficult to adjust fundamental traits. It was this transition that Mrs. Schroeder and many others during the Great Depression had trouble dealing with. However, Buechner’s idea is not just confined to that era. No matter the era, people act according to key character principles they develop through past experiences and those determine how likely change can occur in a

Mrs. Schroeder persistently attempts to build the facade that she has wealth. From her wearing the “new pink evening dress,” (18), attending “the Mikado,”(29) or having “breakfast in bed… on Sundays,”(40), all showing the lengths she is willing to go to uphold her illusion of wealth. Not only this, she highly criticises her own self for failing to meet her expectations. She despises the fact she lives in an “awful house... next… to a gas station,”(40) with “clothes [that] are so old” that she’s “ashamed to be seen in them,”(40) and how they “can’t even afford piano lessons for the children,”(40). Just like her name Cici, she is so blind to the fact her distaste for this prevents her from fully enjoying the things around her, and because she is so focused on changing the situation she doesn’t allow herself to progress as a character. Even after her husband’s death, Mrs. Schroeder shows minimal change, and instead returns back to where she came from, back at home with her parents taking care of her. Setting high expectations for herself also consequently prevents her from achieving true happiness as she is so absorbed in the idea that happiness can only come from wealth. Buechner develops the idea that not only does setting unrealistic expectations hinder a person’s ability to develop, it also