Aren't You Happy for Me - Essay Example

?Literature Analysis Life oftentimes includes absurd twists and turns. Richard Bausch is acutely aware of this absurdity, as his fiction frequently explores these aspects of existence. Bausch himself is an American novelist who has produced over eleven novels and eight short story collections. One of his most seminal short stories is ‘Aren’t You Happy for Me?’ From an overarching perspective, this story considers how a young woman, Melanie, informs her parents of her pregnancy and engagement to a much older man. Within this story, Bausch implements a variety of literary techniques to advance the plot. Another writer that considers the twists and turns of existence is Nuruddin Farah. Like ‘Aren’t You Happy for Me?’, Farah’s ‘My Father, the Englishman, and I’ considers the complexities of life and familial relations. Specifically this story traces a child’s remembrance of interacting with an Englishman at a treating signing occasion. This essay examines the specific narrative, symbolic, and metaphorical techniques Bausch implements in creating meaning in ‘Aren’t You Happy for Me?’ and the literary techniques Farah implements in ‘My Father, the Englishman, and I’. While Bausch explicates the story in a clear way, the narrative is structured as to heighten the meaning. One of the overarching recognitions, in these regards, is the way Bausch constructs the story in a suspenseful way. Perhaps the most prominent means that Bausch constructs the story to gain suspense is by having the daughter gradually reveal more information about her situation. In this way, the story begins with the daughter teaching her father to pronounce someone’s name. This way the reader immediately begins to question what is occurring in the story. This method is implemented as a major plot device throughout much of the text. Another means of expanding suspense throughout the story is through the daughter, Melanie, gradually informing her father of the full extent of her sensational situation. In this way, she begins by informing her father that she is getting engaged. Following this revelation she indicates that she is also pregnant. The final revelation, however, is that the man she is marrying and having a child with is actually sixty-three years old. Melanie states, “She took a breath. "Dad, William's sixty - he's - he's sixty - sixty-three years old" (Bausch). In this way Bausch situates the information that is revealed in a progressive way as a means of heightening the tension and suspense throughout the story. While the development of suspense is a major narrative technique, Bausch also particularly cognizant of the way that information is revealed to different characters, as well as the reader. Indeed, the story remains strongly linked to the means that the information is revealed to particular characters. One of the most prominent concerns in terms of the way information is revealed is the way that the mother is away from the events on the phone. During the early portions of the story she is only referenced in the garden outside. Bausch writes, “Outside the window, his wife, with no notion of what she was about to be hit with, looked through the patterns of shade in the blinds and, seeing him, waved” (Bausch). In this instance, Bausch not only indicates the wife is unaware of the events, but uses her ignorance as a means of creating an ironic statement; this may also function as criticism of the patriarchal household, where women actively assume a subordinate role. An additional concern is the recognition that the reader remains ignorant of the daughter’s new in the same way that the father remains ignorant. Namely, at the same time Melanie reveals information to the father the reader discovers this information. Ultimately then Bausch’s use of suspense thoroughly allows the reader to experience the father’s state of surprise. While the narrative elements of suspense and information are highly important in the text, Bausch also pays particular attention to other means of developing the story. In this way, there is the recognition that in addition to the narrative elements, Bausch implements a number of forms of symbolism and metaphor in creating meaning in the text. Symbolism and metaphor are prominent in the text. In one instant, Bausch implements a metaphor as a means of establishing articulating the emotional distance between Melanie and her father. In this way, after Melanie reveals her news to her father, there is tension on the phone; Bausch writes, “For a few seconds, there was just the low, sea sound of long distance” (Bausch). Here the sea functions as a metaphor on the emotional distance these characters experience. This is an apt metaphor when one envisions the large loneliness of the ocean and the similar emotional expansive distance that is experienced between them. In addition to the literary and expository elements mentioned above, the text implements a flashback as a means of offering perspective on the events. Melanie’s father considers the first few months of his marriage to his wife and recognizes that this was a happy period. Bausch writes, “for a fierce minute it was uncannily near him in the breathing silence; it went over him like a palpable something - on his skin, then was gone. The ache which remained stopped him for a moment” (Bausch). This ache he feels is indicative of the loss of the recognition of the loss of this happiness. While this element of the text is largely cursory to the main narrative concern, it serves to heighten the story’s emotional intensity. As the story progresses it takes on a greater degree of complexity. This is perhaps best exemplified in the means Bausch ends the narrative. In this way the text combines elements of symbolism and emotion to create a particular artistic effect. Towards the end of the story, Bausch features the father alone in solitude. Bausch writes, “He reached over and turned the lamp on by the bed, and then lay down. It was so quiet here. Dark was coming to the windows. On the wall there were pictures; shadows, shapes, silently clamoring for his gaze” (Bausch). This statement is poignant in its articulation of the father despondency and loneliness. There is also the consideration that the pictures on the wall are similar to the images on the wall in Plato’s cave. Namely, just as the individual’s in this cave were ignorant of the thing actually producing these images, so was the father greatly ignorant of his daughter’s actual life. Nuruddin Farah’s essay ‘My Father, the Englishman, and I’ holds some similarities to Bausch’s ‘Aren’t You Happy for Me?’. These similarities are predominantly linked to both story’s underlining structural components – namely the child and parent relationships. Farah’s story follows the reflections of a child who travels with his father to a signing of a treaty between the British and South Africans. In both stories the primary narrative components occur between the father and a child. While alone this would not a significant factor, there is the further consideration that the mother is depicted as not a main part of the action. It seems that there is a feminist comment on the nature of society here, as in both stories the mother is depicted as aloof from the central plot event. In Farah’s story this is witnessed as the treaty is signed between the narrator’s father and an Englishman, while the mother only spoken of. Ultimately then this feminist interpretation forms the most prominent comparative element between these stories. While Farah’s text shares similarities with Bausch’s text, there are also literary elements that distinguish ‘My Father, the Englishman, and I’. In this way one considers the significant cultural wariness that is displayed between the narrator and the Englishman. The story states, “Being my mother’s favorite child, I suspect I harbored resentments not only toward the Englishman but toward my father” (Farah). In this way the story highlights a significant cultural element, namely tension between the British and the South Africans. Still, as the story progresses one witnesses that to an extent this cultural conflict may operate as a further metaphor on the child parent bond. One considers that just as in Bausch’s story the daughter is breaking away from her father through marriage, in Farah’s story it is two countries that are reimagining their relations; there is recognition of the powerful literary symbolism inherent in these considerations. In Farah’s story there is the further examination of the notion of chance and absurdity. In this way, the narrator considers that since his actions delayed the signing of a treaty he could have forever prolonged the signing of this treaty. The story states, “Had I been present, or had my mother been consulted, maybe this would not have occurred” (Farah). Ultimately then this can be viewed as an exploration of the absurdity of life and a slight affirmation of the feminine perspective. In conclusion, this essay has examined Richard Bausch’s ‘Aren’t You Happy for Me?’ and Nuruddin Farah’s essay ‘My Father, the Englishman, and I’. Within this context of investigation, it’s demonstrated that Bausch implements the narrative technique of suspense, as well as symbolism and metaphor to establish the overarching message. In this way suspense is created as the daughter gradually reveals the full extent of her situation. Additionally, there are metaphorical and symbolic elements that are implemented as a means of conveying the full emotional intensity of the situation. In terms of Farah’s story the essay argues that the story’s main components relate to its metaphorical linkage of parental relationships to the relations between Britain and South Africa. Ultimately, these elements function to create engaging and textured narratives. References Bausch, Richard. "Aren't You Happy for Me." the independent. N.p., 1995. Web. 29 Sep 2012. . Farah, Nuruddin . " My father, the Englishman, and I ." ccrweb. N.p., 1999. Web. 9 Oct 2012. . Read More