“Horses of the Night” by Margaret Laurence Essay
How an single expressions at life makes all the difference in how it will turn out. In the narrative. “Horses of the Night. ” by Margaret Laurence. a immature and guiltless storyteller. Vanessa. befriends the much older Chris. who deals with his jobs by concealing in his ain fantasy universe. Chris and Vanessa are character-foils of each other. and their positions are represented consequently. Vanessa’s perspective keeps her grounded to world. and Chris’s is a really negative force in his life. Laurence shows that the unnatural position that Chris holds has really tragic effects.
Merely as the clip in which “Horses of the Night” is set infuses the narrative with an ambiance of desperation. so does the quandary that Chris faces from the beginning of his visual aspect in the narrative. Although Chris has at least high hopes on the exterior that he will do it to college. the reader. his household. and perchance even him know that. “the reply is a bygone conclusion” : he won’t be able to afford it. Vanessa is cognizant that she is populating during the Depression. but it affects her much less than it does Chris. From her position. “the Depression and drouth were external and abstract. malevolent Gods whose names I in secret learned although they were concealed from me. and whose immorality I sensed merely superstitiously. ”
Chris attempts to get away from his adversities by taking a point of view of optimism. and frequently heightening things to look better than they are. For illustration. Chris tells Vanessa he is traveling to be a universe traveller when in world he is merely going a going salesman. Chris wants people’s judgements of him to be good. and besides believes his ain mistruths to make a better sense of dignity for himself. One of the grounds he is fond of kids younger than himself is because of their worship for him. Vanessa is besides cognizant of being judged ill. but more so by Chris than anyone else. From her position. the relationship between Chris and her is tarnished by the age difference.
Although Chris is ever hopeful on the exterior. on the interior he is utterly pessimistic. On the dark when Chris and Vanessa stay at the lake. he expresses his true feelings for the first clip. When he is speaking about the stars. he points out that. “we won’t of all time get to cognize [ about the stars ] ” . We besides learn that he is acrimonious about the nature of the existence. “People normally say there must be a God. ” he said. “but that’s pathetic. ” On the other side of Chris is Vanessa. Vanessa is comparatively unresponsive to Chris’s harangues about the universe. She was non traveling to reason with him at the clip. but we learn that she does non take his misanthropic position when she hesitatingly says. “sometimes. ” when mentioning to his position of the stars.
Laurence shows that as a character thinks. a character’s life unfolds. Vanessa and Chris. although good friends. have really different positions of the universe they live in. and for Chris. his negativeness ends up destructing his head.
