Essay for the Sandpiper Essay

Tragedy, in multiple views leads to grief, misery and whitethorn even pull in emotional desensitization. However this solely depends on the cause of such(prenominal) tragedy. A unproblematic tragedy exists as a result of the irony of combining diverse religion and cultures and is especially express in the reputation Sandpiper. Here author Ahdaf Soueif expresses cultural differences through the breaking relationship of a European writer and her Egyptian keep up. Acquiescent undermine passivity Being the protagonist, the narrator becomes the view point type in the horizontal surface and this is where audience criticisms take place. From the beginning she castms to display a sort of weakness and deference towards events observance the waves swoop dorsum into the sea conforming to her lack of work and loss of identity watching (her preserve) vanish, and watching her daughter grow outside(a) from herself. The guts image, as the story opens portrays her compliance-The way s he did non wish to obstruct natures pattern of one grain of sand because of her movement. Later as Um Sabir (her husbands old nanny) prevents her from doing any work, her feminine independence also appears to be deplored to date she simply accepts this fact and though seeming solemn, does not take any action. The reviewer soon becomes critical about such fragility. Notice how the writer mentions -watch her husband vanish. Due to her inquisitiveness, she seemed to slowly fade outside from her and her husbands relationship and displays severe grief. However it appears thusly so absurd for the reader, because this narrator does not develop any sort of resistance to her dilemma. Furthermore her despondency grows gradually, and it seems that her daughter is macrocosm torn away from her the same way as with her husband. She simply pines her heart and the narrator grows a sort of dissent for the protagonist. Sandpiper a coastal bird which cannot fly too high nor too far from the coa stal region (due to its habitat and feeding habits) is a perfect name for this story it seems. The way the protagonists life appears limited and restricted is definitely the main cause. However the reader may wonder why the narrator does not rebel to this lifestyle. There may be numerous causes. Firstly notice the narrators patience as she sits by the rim observing the waters frilled white edge nibbling at the sand. As she displays no qualms to her situations (for example cosmos deprived of work as previously mentioned) it seems she still retains hope- of a sharp lifestyle. This exaggerated patience she conforms, may possibly be one of the reason shedoes not rebel. Another may be simply her slam of and to sustain the happiness of her daughter.These causes all sum to the habitat and ability of a Sandpiper, its only restrictions. Therefore it seems that the protagonist subsists in a self imposed jail, like a sandpiper and indeed does not soar beyond the beach which could momenta rily give access to another sort of granting immunity, mentally, from her proclaim conscience. However if we pay attention to the situation the author rejects such criticisms-instead condemning the readers as absurd. Certainly pursuance antithetical cultures is not the protagonists fault. The consistent confusion and grief of the narrators situation is perhaps the cause of her helplessness. This way the author deems the protagonist as universal for humans which either are NOT exceptions, to displaying corresponding responses, in such emotionally grim situations and though her image is portrayed as weak it is not held true to how we asses her. In some way the writer creates ambivalent views one portraying the theme of set and the other free will. A customary feature, to be noticed in this story is the authors continuous image of the beach. Obviously this picture signifies the present and therefore, perhaps, alludes to the narrators cheat oning thoughts. It also seems, the des criptions of the sand and the sea reflect her emotions. As the story opens, observe the serene albeit somewhat somber, descriptions (of the beach), in the past participle I used to see patternsI did not want . I used to sit. Definitely the narrator is affectionately feel back at nostalgia, yet with regret. Her emotions drift in melancholy as a compliant menstruation of conscience guides her and perfectly we imagine a somber weak character, in passivity to not trouble a single grain of sand from its natural pattern. This is where the readers display an interest to this characters matters. tardily her emotions begin to frill as the descriptions become gradually violent the sea unceasingly shiftssurges forward with a low growl like thousand snakes .By now the reader is absorbed into the personas feelings. The role of the personal pronoun I becomes highly universal to the reader and definitely induces sympathy. Finally, as she revert(s) to (the) dry grains that would easily showd own away the emotions are returned to the previous serenity however now there seems to be a breaking wind of pain, a hint of helplessness.This way the writer skillfully attains the readers attention to the story, and somewhat frontward shadows incidents in the story, pertaining to the emotions. Hereby the atmosphere seems so somber, so calm slowly the reader drifts in with the thoughts of the writer. What the reader may also take notice, with hindsight, is that perhaps Soueif uses this initial beach image as an extended parable for the life of the narrator as in the beginning her life was filled with bliss (in love with her husband), which suddenly changed to desperation and somewhat anger (as he slowly slip away from her) and finally grief (of the freedom she lost). Proactive pragmatic The next imagery of the beach occurs after she mentions the second summer at the beach house west of Alexandria. Here the narrator utilizes the sand and the sea as symbols for her husband and hers elf, the way these ii entities seemed to meet and flirt and touch and establishes the theme of love. However, reading between the lines, perhaps the writer forth shadows a sort of obscurity in the relationship. Notice how the sand and the sea simply meet metaphorically indicating love although away from this edge such love does not seem to prevail as the sea and the sand form a tight boundary. Also the sea consistently drifts and the sand itself shifts, especially with the pressure level of the waves perhaps the author accentuates fluid emotions which flow and shift with due eon and therefore depicts this couple up to slowly drift apart from each other. This way another theme, of relativity of time and emotion is established here. The ending of the story also prevails with this beach image. It seems the narrator is back to the present and this picture plays the greatest significance as she sees antithetical things from those 6 years ago. Now she appears calmer yet more melancho lic. The reader can effectively behold such emotion especially in the lines the last of the foam is swallowed bubbling into the sand and with each mitigate of green water the sand looses part of itself to the sea. This definitely feels somber as if love is being persistently broken down by the force of nature. Realistically, it seems such force subsists as cultural pressure. Where the couple belonging to 2 different cultures altogether formed such a relationship, the narrators foreignnessbegan to irritate him (her husband). ethnic pressure and foreign tensions arise as a conflict due to the ignorance of each others culture and perhaps a development in this slowly weakened their relationships. Not only does the husband feel irate yet this deplored the protagonists freedom- I tried at first at least to help, but she wouldease the duster or the vacuum cleaner from my hand. Coming back to the coastal descriptions, note how the author mentions thefoam is swallowed bubbling into the san d and how these two bodies meet but never mix. Probably the author, here portrays the theme of immiscibility. As sea and sand are immiscible it appears the foreignness and its resultant family tensions never intended a strong relationship the love of both the narrator and her husband was immiscible, which would interact, yet as easily drift away. Perhaps this way the author undermines the system of religion. Indeed such a trivial matter, as exemplified is the commencement of weak relations and eventually such tragedies for certainly, every being strays ethnocentric and this simple arrogance leads to major conflicts. This is later supported as the narrator finally questions- further what do the waves know of the massed, hot, still sands of the desert? And what does the beach know of the depths, the cold currentswhere the water turns a deeper blue. .Duplicity is heavily prevalent due to ignorance of other religion, and like the sand and the sea it extends massively. What the writer Ah daf Soueif is attempting to accentuate is that this belief of worldly cultures actually constructs a sort of mistrust amongst others and its great irony is exhibited in the form of this story Another image which we can relate to this theme is the difficulty, even dislike the wife shows towards adapting to a different culture. During the second summer at the beach house the narrator mentions her nostalgia of her hometown (Europe as Georgian square is mentioned) and misses her time spent there. The moment this is mentioned suspicion rises in the readers mind of her happiness following the new culture. She does display a sort of irritation as she is not allowed to work at home. Finally (later) she appears to complain- my foreignnessmy inability to think namestruggles with his (her husbands) language, etc. Definitely the author is attempting to depict another cultural pressure here despite the passage of time, evidently she depicts, that the wife has problems shifting to the new cultu re. Ironically, though, this foreignness actually appealed her husband yet now repelled him.LorDhRUv