Sunday, 2 August 2009

How would you characterize the narrator's feeling for Mangan's sister? Why does he want to buy her a present at the bazaar?

The narrator feels
nothing less than a complete childish infatuation with Mangan's sister. He views her with almost
saint-like reverence, and indeed, the way she is described through the first person point of
view makes her appear ethereal, almost angelic:

She was
waiting for us, her figure defined by the light from the half-opened door... Her dress swung as
she moved her body and the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to side.


The narrator's fascination with Mangan's sister borders on the
obsessive - he waits for hours starring at the house trying to catch a glimpse of her and
engineers situations where he can walk past her. He is clearly entranced by her even though he
admits:

I had never spoken to her, except for a few casual
words, and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.


It is because of this infatuation that he is willing to risk the
anger of his uncle by going toand buying something from the bazaar - he imagines himself as a
knight embarking on a quest for a treasure that he can present to his true love. It is this
childish, romantic notion that is dismissed by the epiphany at the end of the
story.

No comments:

Post a Comment

To what degree were the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, the USSR, and Japan successful in regards to their efforts in economic mobilization during the...

This is an enormous question that can't really be answered fully in this small space. But a few generalizations can be made. Bo...