The Eighty-Yard Run - Book Report/Review Example

Christian Darling: Character Analysis Christian Darling: Character Analysis. Irwin Shaw’s “The Eighty-Yard Run,” is a short story which focuses on the life of its protagonist, Christian Darling. Although it appears to be an action story about an athlete, deeper reading reveals it to be a comment on attitudes towards life. Darling is a football player in a Midwestern college, whose moment of crowning glory comes in 1925, when he makes an eighty-yard run during a practice session. The story takes the form of a flashback, with Darling looking back after fifteen years on this incident, and also relating the subsequent course of his life. Darling marries Louise Tucker, his beautiful college girlfriend, and moves to New York. He works for his wealthy father-in-law, an ink manufacturer, who commits suicide after the Crash of 1929. Louise goes on to become a successful magazine editor. On the other hand, Darling is unable to find his way out of the changed circumstances of his life. He admits that he is a failure. The story is built round Darling’s and Louise’s contrasting attitudes towards life. Darling’s characterization is the main thread of the narrative and the action of the story revolves round it. “The Eighty-Yard Run” details how Darling’s personality ruins his marital relationship and leads to his acceptance of failure at the age of thirty-five. The characteristic trait of Darling’s personality is his immaturity and his refusal to adapt to new circumstances. Darling’s failure in life is due to his immaturity and resistance to change. Darling demonstrates a very immature attitude towards life. He is childishly pleased with his ‘eighty-yard run’ and imbues it with undue importance. He recalls “feeling wonderful,” ---“listening to the applause and shouts of the students along the sidelines” (Shaw, Year, 1-4). He basks in the congratulations, the fussing of the managers and the captain’s approving forecast: “Darling, youre going to go places in the next two years” (Shaw, Year, 2-1). He imagines his entry onto the field in the coming game against Illinois, confident that, when the spectators cheered, “part of that enormous salute would be for him” (Shaw, Year, 2-5). He is very smug about his run and boasts to Louise, “I got the coach in the palm of my hand” (Shaw, 3-2). His ‘eighty-yard run’ gives him a passing fame with the college crowd, and he is complacently aware of being “an important figure” on campus (Shaw, 3-9). As a matter of fact, Darling’s brilliant run occurs only at a practice session. It moves him from being a second stringer to a starting player, but he never matches it again, and falls far short of this standard in the actual matches. He is completely overshadowed by Diederich, and his role in the team is to open the field for the German. Darling admits that his college football career “had never been as satisfactory as it should have been” (Shaw, 3-4). In spite of this realization, Darling holds on to this run as the crowning achievement of his life. Even after he realizes that it is not as significant as he makes it out to be, and admits to “The high point, an eighty-yard run in the practice, and a girls kiss and everything after that a decline” (Shaw, 10-2), he refuses to put it behind him, and childishly holds on to it. This immaturity is also reflected in Darling’s selfishness and pettiness. In spite of token protests, he accepts expensive gifts from Louise. He is okay with enjoying his father-in-law’s generosity and lives a luxurious life in New York. Although Louise faithfully continues “loving him completely” (Shaw, 4-6), Darling indulges in several extramarital affairs: from a friend of Louise’s to a chorus girl, with various others in between. This adultery is “more for curiositys sake, and vanity” (Shaw, 4-5). This shows that he remains proud of his past ‘eighty-yard run.’ After the Crash, Darling irresponsibly remains at home, indulging in alcohol, while Louise goes out and gets a job in a magazine. He is content with the role reversal: “Louise went out to work every morning and Darling sat home and drank and Louise paid the bills as they came up” (Shaw, 5-17). He does not stop to think that Louise herself is the daughter of a wealthy man who is used to a life of luxury. Darling is like a selfish child who expects its needs to be taken care of. Like a spoiled child, he peevishly says, “I dont feel like going down to Fourteenth Street, --- Its gloomy” (Shaw, 8-7). He refuses to put Louise’s wants before his own, even in simple matters such as accompanying her to a show. Darling is jealous of Cathal Flaherty and the other sophisticated men in Louise’s social milieu, although she makes it a point to include Darling in their circle. Even after fifteen years, Darling is perversely pleased to hear that Diederich has a broken neck and wears an iron brace: “Darling smiled. That, at least, had turned out well” (Shaw, 9-5). Like a spoiled child, he broods over his jealousy through fifteen years. Darling is as insecure as a child in his attitude towards life. It is his insecurity which makes him fear new experiences. This is seen in his relationship with his wife. He is insecure in the knowledge that Louise, once a “middle-western beauty,” is now one of the “big city, smart and knowing women” (Shaw, 6-12) who is comfortable in the company of modernist painters, writers, politicians, communists and Negro short story writers. He reacts with childish protestations of hatred towards anything new, as symbolized by the pictures in their apartment and Louise’s new hat. Louise responds by treating him like a child: “in a way, loving and kind” (Shaw, 9-1) and calls him “Baby,” although Darling asks her not to. After their only fight, she “apologized as she might to a child” (Shaw, 9-1). Louise treats him with the weary patience of a busy adult towards a spoiled child. When Darling becomes aware of the distance between them, he fears that Louise might leave him. He combats this insecurity with a child-like obedience to her wishes, being “good, completely devoted, ready at all times to go any place with her, do anything she wanted” (Shaw, 9-1). When Darling gets the offer of being a travelling representative for tailor’s suits, he lets Louise make the decision as to whether to accept it, asking her, “What do you say? --- “Should I take it?” (Shaw, 9-11). Although he does not want to be away from her for long intervals and yearns for her to reassure him of her love, he lets Louise decide the course of their lives and submits to her wishes. Darling’s resistance to change is the predominant trait of his character. After the Crash, it is clear that Darling and Louise must break out of their luxurious cocoons and make a living. However, Darling takes to drink as a sedative and refuses to change. Louise tries to cajole him out of his drinking, but Darling is like a stubborn child and insists “I have nothing else to do” (Shaw, 5-1). His puerile responses demonstrate his stubborn resistance to change: “I dont want to walk along the river,” “I dont want to walk along Fifth Avenue.” “I dont want to go to any art galleries” (Shaw, 5-3,5,7). Darling is determined to remain the mid-western college athlete and refuses to adapt to life in New York. He is aware of his own boredom, his wife’s disappointment in him and the deterioration of his marriage. In spite of this, he is unable to change and “finally he gave it up” (Shaw, 9-1). The tragedy of this is that, although Darling realizes that it is his inability to change which is at the root of his problems, he persists in clinging to his memory of his day in the sun fifteen years ago and refuses to let go and move on. Christian Darling’s character is the moving force in Shaw’s “The Eighty-Yard Run.” By demonstrating the contrast between Darling and Louise, Shaw clearly depicts two different attitudes towards life. It is clear that Darling’s character makes him remain a boy, while Louise’s positive attitude ensures that she evolves into a mature, successful woman. Darling is childishly pleased with his ‘eighty-yard run’ and gives it disproportionate importance. He exhibits a childish selfishness and jealousy. He is insecure and this makes him avoid new experiences. Above all, Darling shows a stubborn resistance to change. This immaturity leaves him mired in the past. Darling is so obsessed with a spectacular run on the football field that he allows the wife he loves to move ahead and away from him. Darling’s characteristic immaturity and resistance to change are at the root of his failure. References. Shaw, Irwin. (Year of publication).The Eighty Yard Run. In Editor (Ed.), Title of book (pages of story). Location: Publisher. Read More