We can estimate Doris to be 50-60 years old, if we figure her son, John’s age and his status as a married man. Doris’ relationship with the young couple is difficult, because she is an outsider, she is old, and they are young, both John and his wife Annette. “When Doris visited, Annette never found her jobs, or asked favours. If there were children, it might be different, but in her heart Doris doubted it. ”(p. 1, ll. 11-12). According to this line, we easily get to know what Doris experience is with Annette. And we get to know that Doris want to involve herself more in the young couple’s life. She had half hoped that John, at least, would say he really wanted her to come. But no. Certainly her daughter-in-law did not need her. “(p. 1, ll. 8-9). And it comes to express, that Doris also not want to be alone, not needed. John and Annette, mostly Annette, tread Doris like a child. “They saw several more beaches that Doris wanted to explore on foot, but she was imprisoned in the back seat. ”(p. 1, ll. 34-35). And they, John and Annette keep saying that Doris needs to relax and take it easy. The Island we are on is called Tiree. Tiree is an island off the west coast of Scotland.
As long as Doris stays on the island, she becomes freer. First of all, she meets an elderly man, carrying fish in a basket on the beach. They small-talk, and she looks at the nature around her and the man. ” Standing here she felt that her house in the busy Anchusa Road belonged in another world. ”(p. 2, ll. 48-49). I can imagine this feeling Doris feels, because I had stood in a directly situation like her. The busy world is far from you, and you are flying. You have no concerns about anything, you’re not bound to anything and you’re feeling like you’re flying.
It is an inexpressible moment. And it gives you the taste of freedom. That’s why we, in the end of this short story, hear that Doris want to live on the island. And after this boost of freedom, she sees an otter. ”She breathes a sigh of pleasure. ”(p. 2, l. 53). After this experience John and Annette observe, that Doris becomes very obstinate. In the short story it sounds like, John and Annette are forced to live with Doris, because else where they can’t get her house, after she dies of course. The nature has a big role in this short story.
Feature Article - The Plane of the Sleeping Beauty AnalysisBecause it helps Doris to see the freedom, and to be free. We can see in different sections that the nature has an effect at Doris: The next morning it was raining but Doris went out all the same. A mist had come in from the sea and every blade of grass was hung with silver droplets. It was, to Doris, even more beautiful than the day before. She found a patch with creamy mushrooms. She picked one, peeled off the delicate skin and ate it. ”(p. 2, ll. 65- 68). According to these lines, we can tell, that the nature has a big influence on Doris. I think she never tried to eat a mushroom, uncooked.
And we can tell, because she lives in the city, she had too much influence from it, and that shows us, people like Annette and John. And that’s why they flip out in the end of the short story, because they hear Doris wild idea to sell the house in Anchusa Road, and move to the island:” ”You’ll do no such thing. ” Annette was startled into open bad manners. ”(p. 3, l. 116). This clearly shows us, what kind of people they are too, compared to Doris, especially Annette. We can conclude the short story ‘The Island’ as a released giving story to people without freedom and to those people who is still in chains, and can’t get out.
The short story shows a lot of things, we can categorize as the themes of this short story. Freedom, relationships in the family and identity, but the most important of these themes is freedom. Over and over again, we can reed trough the lines, that Doris doesn’t has it, and wants it, and the only thing, in her case, who can give it to her, is the nature. Therefore the nature plays a big role in this short story, and we know it from our own lives. The nature gives and shows us, the humans, freedom.
