Analyzing Demon Lover by Elizabeth Bowen - Essay Example

?Demon Lover In the story “Demon Lover” by Elizabeth Bowen Mrs. Drover is tormented by the fiancee who was reported missing without a trace of evidence aside from the trail of threatening letters he may be leaving behind for her. The present story finds Mrs. Drover alone in the abandoned house of her childhood with only memories to keep her company. The groundskeeper is not currently on the grounds. Yet a freshly laid letter lies on the desk. “Letters dropped in at doors of deserted houses do not fly or walk to tables in halls. They do not sit on the dust of empty tables with the air of certainty that they will be found”. (Bowen 13) The aura of this story is psychological because the mysterious letter is a physical element with mental and emotional implications. We all have demons; the skeletons in Mrs. Drover’s closet in this story happen to be real. The man Mrs. Drover was intended to marry, before he was sent to war told her he did not know how long he would be gone, but she had nothing to do to await his return. Months after his departure he is reported missing, presumably killed. For years she goes unnoticed and un-admired by men. When her mother and sister fear she is past all hope, at 32 she secures the affections of William Drover. They marry and have three children. Her fiance is the incarnate ghost of her past which has been haunting her since she attempted to her live her life after his disappearance. She struggles with the fact that she doesn’t know why she agreed to marry a man who was not kind to her. She still sees it as a suspension she was in and was not able to get out of. Something that still haunts her and makes her think of him, whether as a threat or as a person she left or could not wait for. She may feel guilt but it may be at her own actions. Guilt of feeling emotion for a man who did not treat her the way she wanted to be treated. When Mrs. Drover is described in her house, a house boarded-up and damaged by war, it’s painting for the reader an image of her life as affected by her long-lost fiance; like her house, she’s damaged though emotionally, and boarded up and abandoned. She also described as living in the country-side, away from the house and with her new family. If one were to see the story this way, we could also see her in the house presently to clean out the remnants of her feelings for her fiance, or to begin the final battle to get him out of her mind. This is supported by the description of the weather as we’re introduced to the deserted house: overcast, as if preparing to storm and later, we hear rain. This description has nothing to do on her doubts of her fiance’s disappearance; it just helps describe her journey in a clear way, though on her, a physical sign of her war is seen through a nervous twitch of her mouth. We should realize the fact that psychological stories such as this one are made for the reader, so we need to pay attention to the fact that Elizabeth Bowen is trying to direct our minds down certain path, especially when introducing us to the house. She is trying to set a mood that is bleak, sinister and warning of something darker being imminent. The neighborhood being described as war-torn makes the area seem tormented, “Against the next batch of clouds, already piling up ink-dark, broken chimneys and parapets stood out” (Bowen, 1). This mood is also set by the weather in the beginning of the story where Bowen is trying to build an atmosphere of tension. This story is psychological because Mrs. Drover’s evils are either a figment of her imagination, or they’re products of her ex-fiance’s threats, which are both physical and emotional. The letter she finds in her house is the first example of a physical threat, whether it is from him or not, she perceives the letter to be a threat in the way that the writer makes this whole story affect the reader: through controlled vagueness which causes the imagination of the recipient run wild and cause damage. The other physical reminder of her lover is the scar on her hand from the button o his uniform and his unkind manor. The message in the letter reaches Mrs. Drover’s feelings toward her fiance, which are obviously just under the surface of her consciousness. It touches the fears and guilt she has because of, and for her past. Whether this story is psychological thriller or ghost story depends on the reader. One can call this a supernatural tale if the letter found is truly from the ghost of a dead past-lover. Mrs. Drover can be seen as haunted, her ex-fiance can be believed to be her eternal poltergeist, following her throughout her tormented life. The taxi escaping with her at the end of the story can be translated to be the war her mind lost with her thoughts about her fiance; the passenger in the back her sanity, having given up struggling to keep her fiance in the past. If she connects the time the taxi arrives and the time written on the letter, can we not deduce that they were connected? Was she supposed to get in the taxi and was this a round-about plan by her “ghost”? If we see this as a ghost story, we can easily reason that her lover’s ghost, through supernatural powers, manipulated her through the letter to get in the taxi he had waiting for her. Ultimately, the author paints an image with ambiguity. Bowen sets an atmosphere then lays bare the past of a stricken woman and lets us decide the rest. We as readers can take in the few details of Mrs. Drover and decide if her ghosts are present or past, real or never-been. Works Cited Bowen, Elizabeth. “The Demon Lover” 1945. Writing Powerhouse. “The Demon Writer- Analysis” Web. Sep. 11 2007 Helium-British Literature. “The Demon Lover, by Elizabeth Bowen”. Web. Mar 8 2007 Read More