Loss And Despair In Thomas Wolfe's The Far

This exemplifies how intergenerational trauma has left victims desiring to be loved. Phoenix leaves the St. Vital Center and makes her way across town to her uncle's house. Phoenix decides to walk in the cold for hours until she has "lost feeling in her legs" (Vermette 25), all to impress her uncle. Phoenix’s decision to walk to her uncle’s house instead of asking for help continues to reveal to the reader how Phoenix has adopted a mindset of not showing weakness by asking for help, all while trying to gain admiration from her uncle. Additionally, as soon as she arrives at her uncle's house, she begins to plan ways to make her uncle happy.

Whether Phoenix makes the journey because of the trauma causing her to relive experience, or because she is in denial, or if she does it to honor him, it does not change the fact that Phoenix persevered in order to reach the goal of acquiring the medicine. Phoenix makes it to her destination despite having to walk through a dead and dangerous land in order to keep the memory of her grandson alive because she is a strong and courageous women with a deep love for her grandson that was not altered simply because he is gone from the physical

When Phoenix sat down to rest she imagined a little boy bringing her a piece of marble cake and went to take it but there was nothing except her own hand in the air. Phoenix can also be declared delusional as she believes her grandson is still alive while most evidence states otherwise. The nurse at the doctor’s says some convincing things such as “ The doctor said as long as you came to get it, you could have it” and “ It’s an obstinate case” and asked if he was dead. The tone the nurse uses when asking these questions or making these comments is almost as if she’s waiting for Phoenix to accept the death of her grandson once and for

For example, “A charity case, I suppose” (90). A nurse came along and remembered what she came there for before and asked her questions about her grandson but Phoenix completely forgot. “My grandson. It was my memory had left me. There I sat and forgot why I made my long trip” (91).

Her name "Phoenix" refers to a bird who burns to ashes and then is reborn from its ashes. In the story, Old Phoenix doesn't physically die, but it happens mentally because she remembers why she went into town. In the end, Phoenix overcomes her conflict and obtains the medicine for her

For some people her journey would be seen as a very simple, but for phoenix she’s very old and not able to do the things she used to do. Phoenix is trying to get the medication for her grandson and is willing to take risk to get her grandsons medicine.

She has forgotten about the reason she came into town. After some prodding, the nurse finds out that her grandson is okay and she gives Phoenix the medicine, marking it in their books under charity. She also gives her another 5 cents from her own money, much to Phoenix’s delight.

Emily becomes remorseful that she never took the time to surely look at the true beauty of life, and now she is no longer alive to make that change.

However, this is primarily focused on the manner in which Emily is metaphorically the portion of the southern side that requires change or will experience a terrible ending. First, William Faulkner uses various literary devices in the story to convey the themes of death and change. Death is evident in the story when the narrator opens by explaining the start of Miss Emily’s

Finally, Phoenix has trouble recalling the last time she met her mother “Phoenix tries to remember the last time she saw her mother. A year, no, fourteen months ago” (Vermette 314). These examples demonstrate the lack of a strong familial bond between Phoenix and Elsie, highlighting the impact of intergenerational trauma on the characters' relationships. It also becomes

This may be an allusion of Phoenix “achieving her destination” (Bartel 289) in life. Now that Phoenix has made then trip she has been taking to stay alive, now she can die. Phoenix imagines a boy offering her cake, “and when a little boy brought her a plate with a marble-cake on it she spoke to him” (Welty 465). This boy could quite possibly be her grandson and by her having this vision it shows how much she imagines and her “desperate need for companionship” (Bartel 290). This shows that she could very easily be imaging that her grandson is alive when he is

There I sat and forgot why I made my long trip." "Forgot?" The nurse frowned. "After you came so far?" Phoenix fails to remember her grandson, who is the reason she has to make a dangerous trip. After she realizes this, she does not get embarrassed and feel defeated, like some people with memory problems.

As the story goes on, Faulkner describes Emily’s death: “When Miss Emily Grierson died the whole town went to her funeral: the men out of respectful affection for a fallen monument and the women mostly out of curiosity” (Faulkner). Faulkner emphasizes that while men are caring and respectful women act only based on curiosity. Indeed, the role of women in the southern society is less significant than the role of

Likewise, it is revealed that this journey is routine through the line “There was a fixed and ceremonial stiffness over her body.” The word ceremonial shows that this is not new to Phoenix and she does this often without even knowing why. The hospital is where the reader can truly see Phoenix is very unreliable. The nurse says “She makes these trips just as regular as clockwork” in reference to Phoenix. With the faulty memory of Phoenix and and the attitude from the nurses, the reader can infer that Phoenix’s grandson may not be alive, or if he was sick he is probably better by now, making her journey a routine as a result of her mental deterioration.

So the time come around. And I go on another trip for the soothing medicine.” Phoenix is willing to risk her own health and energy to go out and get things for others. From the insight of the nurse she comes on a regular basis. She is constant on coming because she gets the medicine to try and help her grandson get better.