In the bed department by Anne Enright Essay

Anne Enright is a modern Irish writer who vividly portrays destiny of women and their life troubles. In the short story â€Å"In the Bed Department† Anne Enright creates a bright character of a modern woman depicting her grievances and life hopes. Thesis The short story portrays the role of fate and destiny in the life of an ordinary woman, her expectations, loosing hopes and life struggle. The story is related to life and struggle, portraying a woman who has survived the illusions that marriage and motherhood would provide lifelong companionship and identity, and who has come to recognize the existential solitude of all human beings. The main character of the short story, Kitty, is a middle age woman. Anne Enright portrays the development of the character through life chances and grievances faced by Kitty. Her husband had left her and â€Å"the judge avoided him the house† (Enright). She was depressed and her sons did everything possible to look after her, and then â€Å"they had made their way here, to outer suburbs and a decent life† (Enright). Through minor characters, the author shows that life chances and fate has a great impact on human happiness and social status. Her sons, a mother, a stranger who calls, Dublin men and a lover are aliens who cannot understand and support Kitty. For instance, the character of Tom symbolizes the last chance for her to be happy and loved. Although, â€Å"They [her sons] did not expect their mother to seduce old geezers in the front mom, and neither did the geezer (Enright). Desperation and depression are the main themes prevailing in the short story. Events and life experience is described through woman eyes which adds tension and emotional coloring to the story. A specific point of view helps readers to understand grievances and low status of women in modern society. The point of view shapes readers response forcing them to sympathize with Kitty. A point of view helps readers to feel that that the woman is suppressed by life grievances and lack of money. The tone of the short story reflects personal peculiarities and worldview of many women who cannot go beyond low social status and class. The story is full of symbols which help readers to understand the hardship and the role of fate in our life. For instance, a baby can be interpreted as a hope, new life and expectations: â€Å"At first she thought it was the change of life† (Enright). The main symbols of fate and loosing hopes are: number ‘thirteen’ and miscarriage. Using these symbols, Enright forces readers to rethink and reevaluate the role of life chances and misfortune an ordinary woman cannot resist. The surface of her story is limpidly clear and beguilingly placid, but her use of it is to enforce by close logic an impossible and often very shocking proposition driven with distinct and startling imagery (Fabb 2002). The setting of ‘a bed department’ can be compared with life of a human: â€Å"Nothing happened in the Bed Department. People bought a bed, or they did not buy a bed† (Enright). This setting depicts the gap between expected, traditional, usual things and reality people (readers) try to escape. Using this literary device, Enright shows that readers perception of the world is limited by traditions and values imposed by their society. â€Å"A bed† is a contextual symbol (Fabb 2002) which means family life and great expectations, hopes and life changes for the good: â€Å"Most people buying a bed were in love† (Enright). ‘Escalators’ is the main setting of the story which symbolizes ups and downs of Kitty’s life. This symbol represents destiny of an ordinary person: â€Å"The up escalator always mounting itself stir over stair; the down escalator falling like syrup, burying itself slowly in the flatness of the floor† (Enright). They can be interpreted as a life chance of every character that marks the significance of the events. Enright pays a special attention to the settings in the story which unveil inner psychological state of the characters, follow plot development and conflict resolution, and help the readers grasp the idea of loneliness and solitude (Cusk, 2004). The use of stylistic devices and expressive means supports vivid imagination and colorful visional representation of the story. Metaphors and similes help the author to appeal to readers’ imagination and feelings. The author uses such similes as â€Å"like a film†, â€Å"falling like syrup†, like â€Å"tombstones in a giant graveyard† to shape the atmosphere and underline important of all events and things depicted in the short story. In sum, Enright portrays that an ordinary woman is a passive victim of life circumstances and fate. Imagination is the main technique used by Enright to unveil the main message and support plot development. There are no lengthy descriptions in this story, but symbolic representation is aimed to appeal to imagination of readers and force them to create a picture of modern existence. Enright depicts that in our ordered and organized world one feels sometimes the need of a change, but she is weak and helpless to change her life suppressed by life circumstances and losing hopes. Works Cited Page Cusk, R. Mum’s the Word: The World Has Many Mothers but Little Sense of What It Might Be to Become One, Thanks to a Dearth of Serious Writing on the Subject. Rachel Cusk on a Sphere of Female Silence and Servitude. New Statesman, Vol. 133, August 23, 2004, p. 34. Enright, A. In the Bed Department. Fabb, N. Language and Literary Structure: The Linguistic Analysis of Form in Verse and Narrative. Cambridge University Press, 2002.