Towards the latter end of this course, it was becoming
easier to make connections and comparisons between the stories we were studying
and ones we had done earlier on in the semester. It was obvious that the
characters in one short story had traits and feelings that were analogous to
those of the characters from other stories.
One example that stood out to me was when we read “The Lamp at Noon” by Sinclair Ross. In this story, Ellen is a young mother who is living on a farm with her husband, Paul, and their baby boy. Their home is located in the middle of a desert that is experiencing a drought. Due to the strong winds and lose soil, there is so much dust blowing around that they have to light the lamp by noon. Ellen grows very concerned for her infant’s health as he is breathing in a great amount of dust. She is also very worried about her family as she realizes the soil is no longer useful for growing crops. She tells her husband that he has “plowed and harrowed it until there’s not a root or fiber left to hold it down. That’s why the soil drifts.” Paul has a very opposite attitude toward the situation that they are in and thinks they can survive on this farm with the limited resources they have. Ellen, however, is trying to help him realize that they will not be able to live forever in this vast and isolated place.
One example that stood out to me was when we read “The Lamp at Noon” by Sinclair Ross. In this story, Ellen is a young mother who is living on a farm with her husband, Paul, and their baby boy. Their home is located in the middle of a desert that is experiencing a drought. Due to the strong winds and lose soil, there is so much dust blowing around that they have to light the lamp by noon. Ellen grows very concerned for her infant’s health as he is breathing in a great amount of dust. She is also very worried about her family as she realizes the soil is no longer useful for growing crops. She tells her husband that he has “plowed and harrowed it until there’s not a root or fiber left to hold it down. That’s why the soil drifts.” Paul has a very opposite attitude toward the situation that they are in and thinks they can survive on this farm with the limited resources they have. Ellen, however, is trying to help him realize that they will not be able to live forever in this vast and isolated place.
As I read this story, I was immediately reminded of “The Chrysanthemums”, a short story by John Steinbeck that we read prior to “The Lamp at Noon”. In this story, Elisa Allen also lives on a farm with her husband, Henry. She, too, feels very alone and isolated longing to leave but unable to due to her husband. He is content on this farm he owns and does not realize the discontent of his wife. When a salesman stops by the farm, Elisa tells him that she has “never lived as [he] do”, which shows her envy of this man’s freedom. Deep down, she wishes she was able to come and go as he does, but instead she must stay and put up with the pain and suffering.
The difference in these two women is their courage. Ellen has the courage to take a stand and leave the farm with her son, yet Elisa does not. Ellen is not used to this type of life and, seeing what damage this storm is doing, realizes she needs to get out of there before it is too late. At the end of the story, the storm passes Paul convinces her to stay on the farm: she agrees to stay, saying “tomorrow will be fine”. This shows her hopefulness for her family and their life on this farm. On the contrary, Elisa shows hopelessness at the end of “The Chrysanthemums” when she discovers that the salesman had thrown her Chrysanthemums from his wagon onto the road. She would never have the courage to run away from the farm, so she stays there and continues to live in discontent. She feels stranded and as though she will never be able to escape her pain as she is weak, “like an old woman”.
Image from http://ppcdn.500px.org/32666507/d55bee9a7f82437faf6fa829f31faa832b8c929a/5.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment