How Hughes uses setting to reveal the characters psychological states and to convey their sense of loss - Essay Example

Explain how Hughes uses setting to reveal the characters’ psychological s and to convey their sense of loss.  Hughes through his short story ‘Early autumn’ brings to our attention a very regular incident – a unexpected meetings of two lovers, Mary and Bill, who separated years ago. This seemingly simple tale upon close scrutiny reveals emotional undercurrents beneath the calm surface in the brief meetings these two lovers have through the exquisite deployment of setting and manipulation of characterization.

Firstly we see how Hughes artfully selects time of his narration; the end of autumn and the initial stages of winter, a transitional period between a hot season and a cold one, to aid the readers visualize the coldness, awkwardness and emptiness between the two characters. Although on the surface they seem calm but the confusion within is reflected by their hazy surrounding. It is symbolic of Mary’s swift change of emotions from joy to disappointment. Autumn the season in which flowers start to wither but fruits are ripe, hints an element of hope of a reconciliation that Mary secretly harbors.

However at the same time it portrays her sense of loss by specifying the timings as that of an autumn dusk when the sky is becoming less bright, as does her mood. ‘People they didn’t know. Space and people’” (lines 41-42), was a depiction of how far apart they now were from each other even despite their current proximity. Whereas the inducing complete stranger’s in their surroundings could reflect their once meaningful relationship which had drifted apart due to unidentifiable reasons.

Bill’s plain and unexpected answers to Mary’s anxious and curious inquiries goes to show the changes that both the characters had undergone in the time they were apart. The author’s description pertaining to ‘the leaves fell slowly…’ and ‘fell without wind…’ (Lines 29-30) is symbolic of these changes. Lastly as the arrival of the bus brings their short meeting to a demise it could be a mere reflection of the fact that as the bus moves on so will Mary and Bill and their transient meeting will end just as their once intense relationship which was now lost.