Fly in the Ointment free essay sample

How does the writer bring out the atmosphere in Fly in The Ointment? A: The story *Fly in the ointment* , written by V. S. Pritchett ,focusses essentially on a critical father-son relationship where the father and son are solely supportive of each other outwardly and have lost all respect for each other. The setting of the story is that of the 1930s, which was a time of great economic depression in England, specifically in London- which is the hometown of the english writer. People were unemployed and were losing their homes and jobs. This was the time of Pritchetts existence, and he grew up in such an atmosphere- his father had failed his business and was unemployed, and nothing was going very well. Therefore, In my opinion, the story is rather autobiographical and depicts the hardships in the poets own life . The writer begins the story on a very dark and gloomy note. The atmosphere in this part of the story is extremely bleak and dreary. The use of visual imagery like *Mud Coloured Cloud* (page 112, 1st paragraph) in the very starting of the prose foreshadows the rest of the story, indicating that things are not going well, and will go worse in the future. The imagery also acts as a symbol of sadness and problems. Another meaning that can be drawn from the phrase is that urbanisation has occurred in the city, and due to such tremendous change in ways of life- the cost of living has increased by such an exorbitant amount, people are unable to support their families and buy basic needs necessary for survival. The neighbourhood is poverty-stricken and is in ruins. Another important aspect when discussing the atmosphere is that of depression,death and sadness. The writer has used words and phrases like Dead hour (page 112, 1st line ) and Like New Tombstones (simile, page 112) These phrases depict diminishing prosperity of the neighbourhood, and how all that was in the town in the past, is now ending. This could be used in context of the fathers business, which was coming to an end. An atmosphere of a financial crisis is created throughout the story, which leads to unemployment and death of people due to starvation, suicide and so on. The concept of death could have also been used to show that happiness is coming to an end, sadness and grief has taken over. There are various metaphors and similes in addition to the ones mentioned above, which help in bringing out the atmosphere of the story. Some include desert of public buildings (page 112, 1st paragraph) which expresses the fact that no public buildings are flourishing and there is no money in the economy. This also relates to the fact that the fathers business has recently failed. There are parts of the story which very clearly refer to poverty, which is yet another main focus when talking about atmosphere and mood of the text. There is a sense of loss and scarcity, which is shown by the author by the phrase unemployed men and one or two beggars (page 112, 1st paragraph) . This shows that the people have no money or food, and are wandering aimlessly in the neighbourhood, for food and other means of livelihood. It is also shown that in a rare case, people have even taken to begging, which in turn expresses the extremely dreadful situation of the exhausted economy. The mood and tone, which makes up the atmosphere has also been brought out through the conflict,which is expressed in the lines Better not arrive in a taxi,he was thinking. The old man will wonder where i got the money (Page 112, 2nd paragraph). These lines show that the protagonist, Harold, is not very supportive of his father and that he does not want to provide any financial support to his father. The only reason behind his visit to his father is to perhaps get the so-called *old man* off his nerves, and to get him to stop nagging him about a visit, in addition to acting outwardly supportive of his father. The line provides a good overview of the content of the entire story, drawing attention to the theme of a shallow, yet critical father-son relationship. This provides the readers with a good understanding of the story and its theme, along with expressing the mood of the story. Consequently, there is a lot of Figurative language and several literary devices used by the writer to bring out the meaning and theme. There is no optimism in the exposition and the imagery is so vivid that it can be drawn and pictured. Therefore, in conclusion, the atmosphere of the prose is just straight out depressing, and has no specific moral or message to it, that would help the readers progress in life or make it an interesting read. In my opinion, a story should be one which teaches us how to deal with a certain situation in life, rather than just stating the obvious well known facts-which in this scenario is my interpretation of this story. It gives its readers the message that human nature is unchangeable. The aforesaid is a fact, and everyone knows it- its basic human psychology. There is no indication of what one should do to become a better person, nor is it pointed out that having a split personality is a bad thing. In fact, the story ends where the resolution to the conflict should have begun. What happens next? , Does Harold give his greedy father the money? - these are all questions that will remain unanswered. Leaving the story like this makes me not want to read it, as it is boring and I already have enough problems in my life and would not want to read about someone elses. Providing a solution to the conflict would have really turned the story around and my opinion would have been the absolute opposite. All in all, i did not like the story at all (since i like stories with a real solution that can be reused when dealing with the same situations in life) and felt it was somehow incomplete and that the conflict wasnt resolved. I sincerely feel V. S. Pritchett could have done a better job at bringing meaning to the prose, making it an easy and much more interesting read.