In the following essay I will exam how in 'The Adoration of the Mini 'the author uses the theme of conflict to explore another side to the characters and how this arises. I will do this by using description of characters, key incidents and setting. Firstly, there are two main characters, the first being the daughter and the second being the father.
The whole story revolves around the relationship between these two and develops from an early point that they have not been in contact for some time and there is a certain degree of resentment between the two.The daughter is still in her youth and seems to be made out of place when visiting her father at an old peoples hospital. When she first approaches her father and initialises a conversation, her father takes no notice to her being there. This shows how the author has established a sense of angst between the two. A possible disagreement between the two in the past which led to there relationship breaking down. This is the first point of conflict.
The father obviously shows a certain contempt towards his daughter, for one reason or another.The daughter, seeming some what uneasy about the situation continues to talk with no answer but eventually her father replies but says something completely off topic. This starts the connection between the two which leads to a bigger conflict and then to a different theme which is brought about through the writers craft. We discover the daughter had left home to follow a life highly contrasting to that of which the father had wished her to follow. She is very intelligent and could of followed school onto university, but she decided against that and led onto marry a catholic and live in London with a child on the way.The author makes a point of showing the disproval from the father of what his daughter has done which is the main source of conflict.
He wished so much more for her but she felt that life wasn't for her. This is the turning point in the theme as it is when this conflict is developing that these two characters stray onto other things in there life together. This brings about the relationship they had before the daughter moved away from home and away from her fathers guidance.The author leads the story on so that it explores the relationship of the two in the past.
We are shown that they are like minded and that she was brought up to be as smart and strong a women as possible and that her father always wanted the best for her, which is why he wanted her to follow her studies and move on to university. But the daughter had a changing point in her younger life when all the knowledge she was researching became of no use or excitement to her and that is when she wanted to change her lifestyle and move away so she could start a new life.The author has linked the theme of family relations with conflict and shows this all the way through the story. He has written the story so that it talks of both the past and the present at the same time so that we know why the conflict arose and why the daughter is visiting her father at this point.
This was a very smart way to show the relationship between the father and daughter and how it has progressed through the years. The first key incident I feel is when the daughter first starts conversation with the father and how he seems to grudge talking to her.When he enters the conversation he says something highly irrelative to the conversation: 'How do I look? ' He is wanting to talk about the simple thing in life, like why she is here? How he looks? And how she has been? As this conversation goes on this leads to the start of the conflict which shows the fathers disapproval of his daughters chosen way of life. This could be a typical argument between relations but in this story this is the soul foundation of her visit.The author shows that the father disapproves by using short descriptions of what his daughter chose to do, and writes this so that it shows no enthusiasm. After this there is another scene where the daughter is describing her fathers working days and how much potential he showed during them.
The description the daughter gives leads to the father smiling which I think is important as this shows that the relationship between the two is not all conflict. A third scene which is relevant to the story is the last in which the daughter leaves her father with a mix of emotions.This end scene shows a strong sense of conflict but also marks an end to it as well as the daughter is leaving it behind her and trying to move onto the future where she: ' ..
would fight for everything, including her husband, not knowing that at least this she could keep, as her mother had known. In the jungle. ' This shows that despite her father trying to convince her to lead the life he wished she loved the life she had already that was full of raw emotions and unexpected qualities. The old peoples home where this story is set seems to put the daughter out of place in the story.It gives of a feeling that its only for old people.
The daughter describes the place to have no young nurses which she felt was a shame because: '.. it would be better if one or two of them had the expectancy and hope of youth ' This place seems to relate to the father coming to the end of his life and that is why the daughter is there visiting him to perhaps resolve the issues they had in past, which they don't do. The setting also shows an opposite way of life to what the daughter is leading.She is out living life to its fullest potential, but in the old peoples home, life has no potential anymore as everything is put into a routine and life becomes out of your hands as things are controlled by others.
The author made this the setting so to show the generation gap even further between the father and daughter and it has worked very effectively. In conclusion 'the adoration of the mini' shows conflict between family members and has done this through the authors style and connection between family relations and how they differ through time. This short story has shown this theme very well.
