Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Explore the theme of loneliness or loss and discuss how the writer has

Explore the theme of loneliness or loss and discuss how the writer has conveyed this to the reader through their use of language and style.The stories, The Orphaned Swimming Pool by John Updike, Stone Trees, and The First Adam by Jane Gardam, Short Story Anthology Choose three stories that you feel explore the theme of loneliness or loss and discuss how the writer has conveyed this to the reader through their use of language and style. The stories, The Orphaned Swimming Pool by John Updike, Stone Trees, and The First Adam by Jane Gardam, all explore the theme of loneliness through the authors' use of language and their style. Although all three stories explore the theme of loneliness or loss, all three stories have different kinds of loss or loneliness. In The Orphaned Swimming Pool, loneliness and loss both occur when the marriage of Ted and Linda breaks down and the pool is left in a neglected state. The First Adam shows the main character (Bull) feeling desperately lonely because his wife doesn't understand him. Loss is shown in Stone Trees because the narrator's husband has recently died and she is trying to come to terms with his death. In The First Adam, the character Bull is a contractor and is working abroad. He describes his work as "my mistress". This personification shows that he is deeply involved with his work and is perhaps using it as a substitute for the lack of a good relationship with his wife Moira. Gardam constantly juxtaposes Bulls situation in Drab with Moira back at home in England. She uses only cold and harsh words to describe Moira waking up in the morning, "Moira's is waking to a cold dawn on the winter side of our mattress. Alone". This choice of lexis shows the r... ...ir marriage. Linda eventually sells the house to get away from the pool "Thank God no one had drowned in it. Except her." due to the bad memories it stirred in her. All three stories use juxtaposition to a great effect to show how characters in the stories have experienced loss or loneliness. They also use an implied style of writing to convey the themes of loss and/or loneliness. The implicit styles encourage the reader to work out the story without things being explicitly stated. The two stories by Jane Gardam use first person narrative and the story by John Updike uses third person narrative. The different narrative positions allow the reader to see the stories differently. The first person narratives allow the reader to see the story from the narrator's point of view and the third person narrative allows the reader to see the story more objectively.

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