The writer begins the story with hope of having a new life waiting ahead of her as she sees 'a path' 'outside' showing her expectations on what could be waiting for her close at hand. 'A path' symbolizing the road that will take her to a brighter future and 'outside' referring to a place which is far away from the situation she is in. a place with light and happiness where she can remain happy forever. thus showing the readers the disappointment she feels in her weak and fragile relationship between her husband and herself.
The writer greatly emphasizes on the extent of her compromise by getting married and expresses her frustration over her rocky relationship with her husband. She reaches the 'sea'; symbolic of the dead end she has come to,being unable to go any further, almost certain of her loss. She observes the nature of the rough waters and notes how the unknown 'fingers' point towards her, and local 'tongues' that constantly wag about her. She feels deeply offended as she is unable to find the 'next clear space' to fit in. The readers understand that her attempts to adapt to the family are miserably failing yet, she continuously tries to build her relations out of nothing. She describes how her feet sift 'another layer of sand' below her; throwing light on her loss of hope and instability as to not being able to fit in society and get along with her husbands family.
The writer begins the story explaining certain aspects of her life. There has been a drastic culture shift and she is finding it difficult to live in a new style. She has a completely different lifestyle to adjust to; we understand that the adjustment to this new environment is difficult for her when she writes “never was much room”; there was never enough space in the family to accept her as their own. When she was displaced from the surroundings she was used to, her life changed for the worse. After marriage, the love that the husband had once shown would just “brush away” and go along with her happiness. Her position is greater emphasized by the description of the waves and each one that comes in is “different”. This shows how every circumstance with the family is different from the other, making things increasingly unstable in terms of relationships.
From the start of the story, the reader is hinted about Soueif's plight and eventually grows to realize that she herself is the only one responsible for her pitiful predicament. When most people say that they miss something, they imply the fact that a certain sector of their life they enjoyed has come to an end but the author feels 'no great sense of loss' when she misses something confusing the reader about her intent. Soueif conveys to the reader that these memories are not gone and are there any time to be 'called upon' and 'lived again' ingeniously dispatching her thoughts to the reader that she is stuck in the past unable to move on. Eventually the reader learns that the author is suffocating herself in the elapsed time and She has drowned herself in these massive expectations she created imprisoning her happiness and thus justifying why she tends to visit this alternate reality so often.
Even as the story begins,Soueif sets the sad and disappointing atmosphere of her being unable to cope with her husband and his family due to the cultural differences which she had experienced in her marital life.The writer'separates herself from the vast moving blue',just as each wave of the ocean is different.This can be used to symbolize how she is seen separately,and not together with her family,or the 'vast moving blue'.This can also mean that the writer will probably never be acknowledged as a local woman and will always be seen separately or differently by the people or the masses, hence contributing to why her husband drifted away from her.
Souief movingly portrays the disappointment of the fading relationship between the writer and her husband by creatively bringing forth the “mirage” as a metaphor of her brittle, dysfunctional, unsuccessful relationship and her life in general,the “mirage” symbolizes the illusion she lives,she is engulfed by false hopes as she gets sucked into over-romanticizing about being accepted into her one sided,rocky relationship, not only with her husband,but the people around her as well , despite obvious cultural differences. She allows her perfectly delusional figment of imagination, , her fairytale dreams to cloud the nightmare that her reality was,but in the end feels deceived and cheated by her belief and judgement.I feel the writer tries to bring to light that the fact that she saw a mirage is her moment of realisation where she acknowledges and embraces her delusional mindset and moves on.
Souief empathetically portrays the plight of the Englishwoman after listening to her and his heart, and thus getting stuck with the Egyptian man, hence evoking sympathy in the readers minds. Each "wave coming in" for the Englishwoman is different as the problems do not seem to end and also when one problem ends(which rarely ever happens) an other one arises. Her husband drifts apart from her partly because her efforts to fit in the family fail and partly because women are not given equal status and rights as to men. She is therefore confined within the four corners of her household with Um Sabir taking care of the household and leaving her to watch her lover and daughter drift apart from her, leaving her on the verge of pain. Despite her sacrifices, her family treats her in an awkward and unacceptable way and when she plans to leave, she has Lucy to think about, her one last connection to that household.
Writer's beautiful use of words and phrases enriches the moment of downcast and the uneven relationship which is seen to worsen day by day. He portrays her as a helpless being, lying in hope of luck and in hope for a magical change. The comparison of 'each wave......different' to that 'vast blue' acts as an real life image to the two sides of her life.The 'vast blue' seems to remain as her expectations as she dreams of such a 'low growl', it being calm , soft and natural, moreover it being the behavior she expects from her husband remembering it to be there 'six years ago.' Her wants seem totally perfect as she settles in complete love with her partner, but such a one sided relationship seems to be taken as granted.Readers come to learn of the husband as a lost and selfish creature, who has lost the flame within him and now intends to kill the flame in her too. A relationship where one acts and one sits unaware , ruining the charm of it all , is what Soueif portrays with his deep yet memorable insights into every aspect of the lady's life , hence making the plot fade with utter disappointment.
The relation between the writer and her husband is empty but she stays on for the sake of her daughter. It can be seen that she loves her daughter as she says 'My Lucy, Lucia, Lambah’. Her daughter is like a treasure as well as a trap for the writer. The writer is trapped in this worthless and meaningless marriage because of her daughter. She also visits the ‘sea’ which resembles her life which is not worth living more as her relationship with the husband is not smooth. She can see that the ‘fingers’ are pointing towards her causing her to feel uncomfortable thus living a worthless life. Thus the writer brings out her plight in the story ‘sandpiper’ successfully.
The disappearing relationship of the speaker and her husband is seen when the author describes the situation of both their hearts making the readers feel the depressed state of the author. Her partner’s ‘heart……simply broken’ which can be inferred as her spouse’s heart is split into two, one big part for the family and others and the other tiny part for the writer while the writer’s heart is just shattered into a million pieces which can mean she has love for everyone equally and is soft-hearted. Unfortunately it is really pathetic that no one seems to understand this instead bluntly criticises her. This purely causes a huge difference in their personalities causing a rocky relationship between the two. Hence through these descriptions, the speaker overtly portrays her deteriorating bond with her husband which makes the readers empathise with her.
Saadhna I fully accept your POV but I think that you should refrain from explaining the literal meaning of the evidence you are explaining but should explain and evaluate the contextual meaning in the lines "heart......broken".
The author slowly realizes the weak and flimsy relationship she has with her husband. Joyous days for her were over, and she knew it. She knew , because she ' had been there'. Soueif knew that her relationship is going down the 'hole', and it was the 'last of' their 'happiness'. Even after understanding and grasping the idea of her failing relationship, she stayed, because she wanted to be there for her daughter. The mortifying relationship did overwhelm Soueif, and even the readers, but she had no choice, but to let go.
Dhruv I fully accept your POV but I don't think that it was Soueif's relationship as indicated by the responses above. It can be possibly changed to "The woman" or else Englishwoman.
The writer movingly portrays the disappointment of the fading relationship, by depicting how powerful the speaker’s love is for her husband. To the speaker, her husband is a ‘talisman’, the being she kept close to her in both life and death, the most important factor of her life. To her husband, on the other hand, their love is just ‘wet clay’, to be ‘easily’ brushed off after the initial joy trickles away. It is the difference between the affection the two partners hold for each other, and the way the one who is truly in love’s heart is ‘broken’ that captures the reader’s mind.
Soueif compels readers to empathize with the marital plight of the speaker who seems a manifestation of the 'Sandpiper' . Like the 'Sandpiper ' she spends most of her time with the glistening 'Sand' and 'Sea'; perfect metaphors to portray her disillusionment and melancholy as they seem to be the only things that can understand her state of mind. She is under the spell of a 'mirage' of a smooth sailing marriage but suffers in silence for there are 'tongues' of malice that speak of her shortcomings ,'fingers' that point at her being socially out of place. The 'sand grains' a personification of her husband's family 'drift' away from her unable to accept the foreign addition to their family along with Lucy, her lovely daughter , her priceless 'treasure' but ironically a 'trap' to keep her connection with the family alive
The author portrays the difficulties faced by the woman due to the change of cultures between them. She tries to adapt to the change but fails every time as the family members treat her like a guest rather that a family member. Her “love” for her husband and his family starts to fade slowly. The reader is made evident that the woman is staying with her husband only for her daughter Lucy. Her “foreignness” nature made her stand-alone among the people and shopkeepers would take advantage of this to treble their “prices.”
The speaker finds herself isolated and unloved by her husband as the latter is fed up with the fragile nature of the speaker and how she is unable to adapt from her previously luxurious life style to the 'Heart of his country' forcing the speaker to leave all her belongings and all her living values behind, and compromise life as she knew it all for the sake of her husband's love and the opportunity to live with him for the rest of her life.This creates a disappointing tone due to the husband's unwillingness to sympathize with the speaker, or at the very least do his duty as a husband and try to understand and solve the cultural rift that is present between them.However the husband's lack of care to do this gradually causes the love to subside both from the speaker and her husband.
The author vividly portrays the collision of the two cultures in the fading relationship between her husband and herself. Like the 'water', she was oblivious or unaware to the incoming collisions with the 'sand';her husband, leading to great disputes due to the cross cultural implications. The speaker expressed her confusion by saying that the 'white foam knows nothing better those sands which wait for it', showing the loss of knowledge in both, the speaker and her husband about the implications of the uneven relationship.
Perhaps the most apparent portrayal of the result of the setting on the narrator is the "fading love" experienced between her and her husband. The flashbacks present within the story, "My second summer here was the sixth of our love - and the last of our happiness." allude to the vast differences between their relationship at various times. This allows the reader relationship wise, to sense the regret and deep emotional state experienced by the narrator.
With a command of language and an expressive tone, Soueif gracefully presents her lamentable situation, hence making readers sympathise the speaker. The writer gives special emphasis on the phrase, "Eight Summers", instead of eight years, indicating that the speaker has lost the warmth and the love from her husband, considering the fragile situation. Readers can infer the fact that cold and dark winters lie ahead of her, which could be full of insecurities and instabilities. Furthermore her independent nature due to the fading connections is evident from the lines, "The white glare.." which shows readers that the speaker is dry,empty, carrying on with her own journey and is no longer heavily influenced by her husband.
Soueif vividly portrays the circumstances the speaker is in while she tries to adapt into her new family. She has tried before but with failed attempts so she is scared to try again. As she is walking down the beach she thinks about her happy family as the “white sands” and that she places only the “ball of her foot” without disturbing the pattern of the sands. Readers can see that she is trying very hard to adapt into the family without ruining the peace within it;she is scared that people will not accept her and even though there is enough space to walk, the speaker thinks she does not have “much room” like she has given up and cannot try further. She thinks that she is invisible and has no space in the family which points out the fading relationship between the speaker and her husband’s family.
Souief portrays how her cultural differences have broken the love that her husband and she had cherished. She wants to change in order for the family to finally acknowledge her but however she tried but things “never worked out”. As she is walking down the beach she thinks about all the different hurdles she had to cross like “each wave coming in was different”. She tries to “decipher” the way to solve these problems but always fails. She tries to fit in but she cannot as her problems are all different and even if she overcomes one another will appear. I believe that how much ever she tries she will not be able to overcome her problems as she has come from a very different culture and thus cannot understand the place.
By talking about certain aspects of her life, the author vividly conveys to the readers her inability to adjust to the different lifestyle due to the presences of the cultural differences between herself and her husband. Sorrow builds within herself as she is unable to find the 'next clear space' to fit in. Despite knowing that whatever was left between herself and her husband would 'brush away' one day, she decides to stay and not let go . On reaching the 'sea' , which marks the end, she is almost certain that nothing is left and repents when she thinks about how much better life would have been if she would 'have gone'
the author portrays the love and affection that had and still has towards her husband and 'his child' in the story. she conveys her love and sorrow as she realizes the true meaning of their relation, the fact dawning over her that she has always loved him from a distance as he 'carried his nephew on his shoulders' and as he 'played' with his father. she sees a 'new him' who turns out the be the one side of her husband she never knew about. thus getting to know all this we see a change in the whole marriage after his new face is revealed.
prerna, I don't agree with your point of view completely as the writer doesn't realize that she loves him instead we as the readers see it. according to her she is detached from her husband and thinks she doesn't sense too much of a loss after not being with him
Ahdaf Soueif explains how her identity is in the process of being shaped by this foreign land she has moved into, by taking the minutest aspects of life as an example. When she “tried” to shop, the “prices trebled” which conveys that even the local merchants took advantage of her foreignness, due to her incapability of altering herself to meet their demands. Not only does this scene have a backward effect on Soueif herself, but it also gradually contributes to the fading relationship between her husband and her indirectly.
Adhaf made it clear to the readers that the speaker had a very profound idea that her relationship was asphyxiating.The speaker was melancholic as she had realized that she had created a 'pattern', a 'pattern' which required the speaker to adapt and sacrifice. The speaker admitted admitted that it was 'not easy' and thus the relationship like 'the beach' would soon end, and right after, a blank phase, permeated with hardships and estrangement would start, just how right after the 'beach', starts the 'sea'. I personally feel sympathetic for the speaker, as she loved her husband and her daughter and tried to keep the relationship going but there is a point where one can adapt and sacrifice,regardless of how much you love them.
The melancholy and the affliction of the Englishwoman is celestially portrayed by Adhaf and her entrancing descriptions of the exact pain suffered by the woman makes the readers comprehend and feel for the European. She brings about the notion of the woman's new family as a beach with areas without sand and which 'do not want one grain of sand, blown by a breeze'. The author's portraiture of the woman's new family's incapability to add a new member into their family, distresses the readers and makes them empathize with the Briton's plight. The author depicts the poor woman as "a breeze...feel", describing the woman's minimal impact on the life of her new family and her husband. Despite the aforementioned properties, her adaptation goes into vain, as the family fails to grant her asylum from the treacherous heat of Cairo, and this leads her to depression. She is hence shown to be seeking the healing power of nature whilst comparing her life and sacrifices with that of nature's
In conclusion, I would like to say that the poet has given a very significant title sandpiper, A sandpiper is a bird, and here it signifies their Daughter Lucy, she is the neutral factor in this land(husband) vs sea( the wife), as even though they are unified, they can be never be together, also Lucy seems to fit in more on the land ( the father) as living organisms are better of land then In water. This is backed by the various examples of her being on a “beach” Sir can we say this?
The writer begins the story with hope of having a new life waiting ahead of her as she sees 'a path' 'outside' showing her expectations on what could be waiting for her close at hand. 'A path' symbolizing the road that will take her to a brighter future and 'outside' referring to a place which is far away from the situation she is in. a place with light and happiness where she can remain happy forever. thus showing the readers the disappointment she feels in her weak and fragile relationship between her husband and herself.
ReplyDeleteB Grade. Serious language errors. Get it in writing for feedback.
DeleteThe writer greatly emphasizes on the extent of her compromise by getting married and expresses her frustration over her rocky relationship with her husband. She reaches the 'sea'; symbolic of the dead end she has come to,being unable to go any further, almost certain of her loss. She observes the nature of the rough waters and notes how the unknown 'fingers' point towards her, and local 'tongues' that constantly wag about her. She feels deeply offended as she is unable to find the 'next clear space' to fit in. The readers understand that her attempts to adapt to the family are miserably failing yet, she continuously tries to build her relations out of nothing. She describes how her feet sift 'another layer of sand' below her; throwing light on her loss of hope and instability as to not being able to fit in society and get along with her husbands family.
ReplyDeleteA Grade
DeleteThe writer begins the story explaining certain aspects of her life. There has been a drastic culture shift and she is finding it difficult to live in a new style. She has a completely different lifestyle to adjust to; we understand that the adjustment to this new environment is difficult for her when she writes “never was much room”; there was never enough space in the family to accept her as their own. When she was displaced from the surroundings she was used to, her life changed for the worse. After marriage, the love that the husband had once shown would just “brush away” and go along with her happiness. Her position is greater emphasized by the description of the waves and each one that comes in is “different”. This shows how every circumstance with the family is different from the other, making things increasingly unstable in terms of relationships.
ReplyDelete>B Grade. Certain inaccuracies. Get it in writing to get feedback.
DeleteFrom the start of the story, the reader is hinted about Soueif's plight and eventually grows to realize that she herself is the only one responsible for her pitiful predicament. When most people say that they miss something, they imply the fact that a certain sector of their life they enjoyed has come to an end but the author feels 'no great sense of loss' when she misses something confusing the reader about her intent. Soueif conveys to the reader that these memories are not gone and are there any time to be 'called upon' and 'lived again' ingeniously dispatching her thoughts to the reader that she is stuck in the past unable to move on. Eventually the reader learns that the author is suffocating herself in the elapsed time and She has drowned herself in these massive expectations she created imprisoning her happiness and thus justifying why she tends to visit this alternate reality so often.
ReplyDeleteSoueif's plight??? No. Speaker's.
DeleteDo not take author to speaker. Avoid author's name. Use speaker. More evidences required for such good views but not seen. Find them and include.
Even as the story begins,Soueif sets the sad and disappointing atmosphere of her being unable to cope with her husband and his family due to the cultural differences which she had experienced in her marital life.The writer'separates herself from the vast moving blue',just as each wave of the ocean is different.This can be used to symbolize how she is seen separately,and not together with her family,or the 'vast moving blue'.This can also mean that the writer will probably never be acknowledged as a local woman and will always be seen separately or differently by the people or the masses, hence contributing to why her husband drifted away from her.
ReplyDeleteSoueif's plight??? No. Speaker's.
DeleteDo not take author to speaker. Avoid author's name. C Grade
Souief movingly portrays the disappointment of the fading relationship between the writer and her husband by creatively bringing forth the “mirage” as a metaphor of her brittle, dysfunctional, unsuccessful relationship and her life in general,the “mirage” symbolizes the illusion she lives,she is engulfed by false hopes as she gets sucked into over-romanticizing about being accepted into her one sided,rocky relationship, not only with her husband,but the people around her as well , despite obvious cultural differences. She allows her perfectly delusional figment of imagination, , her fairytale dreams to cloud the nightmare that her reality was,but in the end feels deceived and cheated by her belief and judgement.I feel the writer tries to bring to light that the fact that she saw a mirage is her moment of realisation where she acknowledges and embraces her delusional mindset and moves on.
ReplyDeleteWriter??? No. Speaker's.
ReplyDeleteDo not take author to speaker. Avoid author's name
One Evidence ???? Need 3-5. But good response. B Grade due to no good evidences to support your views.
Souief empathetically portrays the plight of the Englishwoman after listening to her and his heart, and thus getting stuck with the Egyptian man, hence evoking sympathy in the readers minds. Each "wave coming in" for the Englishwoman is different as the problems do not seem to end and also when one problem ends(which rarely ever happens) an other one arises. Her husband drifts apart from her partly because her efforts to fit in the family fail and partly because women are not given equal status and rights as to men. She is therefore confined within the four corners of her household with Um Sabir taking care of the household and leaving her to watch her lover and daughter drift apart from her, leaving her on the verge of pain. Despite her sacrifices, her family treats her in an awkward and unacceptable way and when she plans to leave, she has Lucy to think about, her one last connection to that household.
ReplyDeleteSir could you please tell me my areas to improve and the grade I would get for this PEEP?
DeleteSagar, your POV is good but refrain from using language like 'getting stuck with' instead use marrying or wed
DeleteWriter's beautiful use of words and phrases enriches the moment of downcast and the uneven relationship which is seen to worsen day by day. He portrays her as a helpless being, lying in hope of luck and in hope for a magical change. The comparison of 'each wave......different' to that 'vast blue' acts as an real life image to the two sides of her life.The 'vast blue' seems to remain as her expectations as she dreams of such a 'low growl', it being calm , soft and natural, moreover it being the behavior she expects from her husband remembering it to be there 'six years ago.' Her wants seem totally perfect as she settles in complete love with her partner, but such a one sided relationship seems to be taken as granted.Readers come to learn of the husband as a lost and selfish creature, who has lost the flame within him and now intends to kill the flame in her too. A relationship where one acts and one sits unaware , ruining the charm of it all , is what Soueif portrays with his deep yet memorable insights into every aspect of the lady's life , hence making the plot fade with utter disappointment.
ReplyDeleteThe relation between the writer and her husband is empty but she stays on for the sake of her daughter. It can be seen that she loves her daughter as she says 'My Lucy, Lucia, Lambah’. Her daughter is like a treasure as well as a trap for the writer. The writer is trapped in this worthless and meaningless marriage because of her daughter. She also visits the ‘sea’ which resembles her life which is not worth living more as her relationship with the husband is not smooth. She can see that the ‘fingers’ are pointing towards her causing her to feel uncomfortable thus living a worthless life. Thus the writer brings out her plight in the story ‘sandpiper’ successfully.
ReplyDeleteShe also visits the ‘sea’ which resembles her life which is not worth living more the relationship with her husband is not smooth.*
DeleteThe disappearing relationship of the speaker and her husband is seen when the author describes the situation of both their hearts making the readers feel the depressed state of the author. Her partner’s ‘heart……simply broken’ which can be inferred as her spouse’s heart is split into two, one big part for the family and others and the other tiny part for the writer while the writer’s heart is just shattered into a million pieces which can mean she has love for everyone equally and is soft-hearted. Unfortunately it is really pathetic that no one seems to understand this instead bluntly criticises her. This purely causes a huge difference in their personalities causing a rocky relationship between the two. Hence through these descriptions, the speaker overtly portrays her deteriorating bond with her husband which makes the readers empathise with her.
ReplyDeleteSaadhna I fully accept your POV but I think that you should refrain from explaining the literal meaning of the evidence you are explaining but should explain and evaluate the contextual meaning in the lines "heart......broken".
DeleteNot to shabby
DeleteThe author slowly realizes the weak and flimsy relationship she has with her husband. Joyous days for her were over, and she knew it. She knew , because she ' had been there'. Soueif knew that her relationship is going down the 'hole', and it was the 'last of' their 'happiness'. Even after understanding and grasping the idea of her failing relationship, she stayed, because she wanted to be there for her daughter. The mortifying relationship did overwhelm Soueif, and even the readers, but she had no choice, but to let go.
ReplyDeleteDhruv I fully accept your POV but I don't think that it was Soueif's relationship as indicated by the responses above. It can be possibly changed to "The woman" or else Englishwoman.
DeleteThanks for the feedback
DeleteWill surely implement it.
The writer movingly portrays the disappointment of the fading relationship, by depicting how powerful the speaker’s love is for her husband. To the speaker, her husband is a ‘talisman’, the being she kept close to her in both life and death, the most important factor of her life. To her husband, on the other hand, their love is just ‘wet clay’, to be ‘easily’ brushed off after the initial joy trickles away. It is the difference between the affection the two partners hold for each other, and the way the one who is truly in love’s heart is ‘broken’ that captures the reader’s mind.
ReplyDeleteSoueif compels readers to empathize with the marital plight of the speaker who seems a manifestation of the 'Sandpiper' . Like the 'Sandpiper ' she spends most of her time with the glistening 'Sand' and 'Sea'; perfect metaphors to portray her disillusionment and melancholy as they seem to be the only things that can understand her state of mind. She is under the spell of a 'mirage' of a smooth sailing marriage but suffers in silence for there are 'tongues' of malice that speak of her shortcomings ,'fingers' that point at her being socially out of place. The 'sand grains' a personification of her husband's family 'drift' away from her unable to accept the foreign addition to their family along with Lucy, her lovely daughter , her priceless 'treasure' but ironically a 'trap' to keep her connection with the family alive
ReplyDeleteThe author portrays the difficulties faced by the woman due to the change of cultures between them. She tries to adapt to the change but fails every time as the family members treat her like a guest rather that a family member. Her “love” for her husband and his family starts to fade slowly. The reader is made evident that the woman is staying with her husband only for her daughter Lucy. Her “foreignness” nature made her stand-alone among the people and shopkeepers would take advantage of this to treble their “prices.”
ReplyDeleteThe speaker finds herself isolated and unloved by her husband as the latter is fed up with the fragile nature of the speaker and how she is unable to adapt from her previously luxurious life style to the 'Heart of his country' forcing the speaker to leave all her belongings and all her living values behind, and compromise life as she knew it all for the sake of her husband's love and the opportunity to live with him for the rest of her life.This creates a disappointing tone due to the husband's unwillingness to sympathize with the speaker, or at the very least do his duty as a husband and try to understand and solve the cultural rift that is present between them.However the husband's lack of care to do this gradually causes the love to subside both from the speaker and her husband.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe author vividly portrays the collision of the two cultures in the fading relationship between her husband and herself. Like the 'water', she was oblivious or unaware to the incoming collisions with the 'sand';her husband, leading to great disputes due to the cross cultural implications. The speaker expressed her confusion by saying that the 'white foam knows nothing better those sands which wait for it', showing the loss of knowledge in both, the speaker and her husband about the implications of the uneven relationship.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the most apparent portrayal of the result of the setting on the narrator is the "fading love" experienced between her and her husband. The flashbacks present within the story, "My second summer here was the sixth of our love - and the last of our happiness." allude to the vast differences between their relationship at various times. This allows the reader relationship wise, to sense the regret and deep emotional state experienced by the narrator.
ReplyDeleteNot to shabby
DeleteWith a command of language and an expressive tone, Soueif gracefully presents her lamentable situation, hence making readers sympathise the speaker. The writer gives special emphasis on the phrase, "Eight Summers", instead of eight years, indicating that the speaker has lost the warmth and the love from her husband, considering the fragile situation. Readers can infer the fact that cold and dark winters lie ahead of her, which could be full of insecurities and instabilities. Furthermore her independent nature due to the fading connections is evident from the lines, "The white glare.." which shows readers that the speaker is dry,empty, carrying on with her own journey and is no longer heavily influenced by her husband.
ReplyDeleteSoueif vividly portrays the circumstances the speaker is in while she tries to adapt into her new family. She has tried before but with failed attempts so she is scared to try again. As she is walking down the beach she thinks about her happy family as the “white sands” and that she places only the “ball of her foot” without disturbing the pattern of the sands. Readers can see that she is trying very hard to adapt into the family without ruining the peace within it;she is scared that people will not accept her and even though there is enough space to walk, the speaker thinks she does not have “much room” like she has given up and cannot try further. She thinks that she is invisible and has no space in the family which points out the fading relationship between the speaker and her husband’s family.
ReplyDeleteSouief portrays how her cultural differences have broken the love that her husband and she had cherished. She wants to change in order for the family to finally acknowledge her but however she tried but things “never worked out”. As she is walking down the beach she thinks about all the different hurdles she had to cross like “each wave coming in was different”. She tries to “decipher” the way to solve these problems but always fails. She tries to fit in but she cannot as her problems are all different and even if she overcomes one another will appear. I believe that how much ever she tries she will not be able to overcome her problems as she has come from a very different culture and thus cannot understand the place.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBy talking about certain aspects of her life, the author vividly conveys to the readers her inability to adjust to the different lifestyle due to the presences of the cultural differences between herself and her husband. Sorrow builds within herself as she is unable to find the 'next clear space' to fit in. Despite knowing that whatever was left between herself and her husband would 'brush away' one day, she decides to stay and not let go . On reaching the 'sea' , which marks the end, she is almost certain that nothing is left and repents when she thinks about how much better life would have been if she would 'have gone'
ReplyDeleteparimal
the author portrays the love and affection that had and still has towards her husband and 'his child' in the story. she conveys her love and sorrow as she realizes the true meaning of their relation, the fact dawning over her that she has always loved him from a distance as he 'carried his nephew on his shoulders' and as he 'played' with his father. she sees a 'new him' who turns out the be the one side of her husband she never knew about. thus getting to know all this we see a change in the whole marriage after his new face is revealed.
ReplyDeleteprerna, I don't agree with your point of view completely as the writer doesn't realize that she loves him instead we as the readers see it. according to her she is detached from her husband and thinks she doesn't sense too much of a loss after not being with him
DeleteAhdaf Soueif explains how her identity is in the process of being shaped by this foreign land she has moved into, by taking the minutest aspects of life as an example. When she “tried” to shop, the “prices trebled” which conveys that even the local merchants took advantage of her foreignness, due to her incapability of altering herself to meet their demands. Not only does this scene have a backward effect on Soueif herself, but it also gradually contributes to the fading relationship between her husband and her indirectly.
ReplyDeleteAdhaf made it clear to the readers that the speaker had a very profound idea that her relationship was asphyxiating.The speaker was melancholic as she had realized that she had created a 'pattern', a 'pattern' which required the speaker to adapt and sacrifice. The speaker admitted admitted that it was 'not easy' and thus the relationship like 'the beach' would soon end, and right after, a blank phase, permeated with hardships and estrangement would start, just how right after the 'beach', starts the 'sea'. I personally feel sympathetic for the speaker, as she loved her husband and her daughter and tried to keep the relationship going but there is a point where one can adapt and sacrifice,regardless of how much you love them.
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ReplyDeleteThe melancholy and the affliction of the Englishwoman is celestially portrayed by Adhaf and her entrancing descriptions of the exact pain suffered by the woman makes the readers comprehend and feel for the European. She brings about the notion of the woman's new family as a beach with areas without sand and which 'do not want one grain of sand, blown by a breeze'. The author's portraiture of the woman's new family's incapability to add a new member into their family, distresses the readers and makes them empathize with the Briton's plight. The author depicts the poor woman as "a breeze...feel", describing the woman's minimal impact on the life of her new family and her husband. Despite the aforementioned properties, her adaptation goes into vain, as the family fails to grant her asylum from the treacherous heat of Cairo, and this leads her to depression. She is hence shown to be seeking the healing power of nature whilst comparing her life and sacrifices with that of nature's
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ReplyDeleteIn conclusion, I would like to say that the poet has given a very significant title sandpiper, A sandpiper is a bird, and here it signifies their Daughter Lucy, she is the neutral factor in this land(husband) vs sea( the wife), as even though they are unified, they can be never be together, also Lucy seems to fit in more on the land ( the father) as living organisms are better of land then In water. This is backed by the various examples of her being on a “beach”
ReplyDeleteSir can we say this?
The Englishwoman's failed struggle to fit into the family as a new member and not a burden is brought about alluringly in the story "Sandpiper". The Briton's husband's family fails to open the doors to their ménage to her, even though she was led there by a "path". She tries all in her power to be connected to the family but the family's stubborn faith that she cannot fit in leads to the "white stone" being "beaten", in an attempt to gain the trust, recognition and acceptability. As she finally seeks an end to her compromisation and sacrifice, she is still unwantingly held to the family by a minute thread of hope, which she wishes could dissolve-her daughter Lucy, thus depicting her melancholy and affliction.
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