РефератыИностранный языкThThe Ballad Of The Sad Cafe Essay

The Ballad Of The Sad Cafe Essay

, Research Paper


English


The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers is a story of


love illustrated through the romantic longings and attractions of


the three eccentric characters; Miss Amelia, Cousin Lymon, and


Marvin Macy. McCullers depicts love as a force, often strong


enough to change people’s attitudes and behaviors. Yet, the author


seems to say, if the love is unrequited, individuals, having lost


their motivation to change, will revert back to their true selves.


The allure of the different characters, which is never revealed by


the author, seems to indicate that feelings of love and attraction


are not necessarily reasonable or understandable to others.


Miss Amelia is self-reliant, outspoken and very much a loner.


She stands six foot one inch tall and has a strong, masculine


build. Her grey eyes are crossed, and the rest of her features are


equally unattractive. Yet, the people of the small, southern town


of Cheehaw accept her quirkiness because of the equisite wine that


she sells in her store and for her free doctoring and homemade


remedies. Still, everyone is shocked when the handsome outlaw,


Marvin Macy, falls in love with her.


Marvin is a “bold, fearless, and cruel” man who changes his


unlawful ways to win Miss Amelia’s love. Rather than robbing


houses he begins attending church services on Sunday mornings. In


an effort to court Miss Amelia, he learns proper etiquette, such as


“rising and giving his chair to a lady, and abstaining from


swearing and fighting”. Two years after Marvin’s reformation, he


asks Miss Amelia to marry him. Miss Amelia does not love him but


agrees to the marriage in order to satisfy her great-aunt. Once


married, Miss Amelia is very aloof towards her husband and refuses


to engage in marital relations with him. After ten days, Miss


Amelia ends the marriage because she finds that she is unable to


generate any positive feelings for Marvin. Several months after


the divorce, Marvin reverts back to his initial corrupt ways and is


“sent to a state penitentiary for robbing filling stations and


holding up A & P stores”.


Just as love had changed Marvin, so too did it change Miss


Amelia. In the mid 1930’s, several years after

Miss Amelia’s


divorce, Lymon, a hunchback, comes to Miss Amelia claiming to be a


distant cousin. She readily provides Cousin Lymon with food and


board, and eventually any material object that he desires. The


people of the town grow very curious of her new guest and of Miss


Amelia’s hospitality towards Lymon which is contrary to her


characteristic untrusting and remote ways. The townspeople gather


in her store one evening to meet Cousin Lymon. Unlike Miss Amelia,


Cousin Lymon is very sociable and enjoys entertaining the townsfolk


with his patently tall tales. In a short period of time, Miss


Amelia’s store is converted into a cafe where people gather for


food, drink, and gossip. They would discuss Miss Amelia’s love for


Cousin Lymon, indicating that they thought love between cousins is


forbidden and incestuous.


Her changed behavior, in Lymon’s presence, preoccupied and


baffled them. Ever since Cousin Lymon’s appearance, Miss Amelia


would regularly wear a red dress that had been worn exclusively on


Sundays. They also noted that, before he arrived, she would only


leave her house to go to church or to pick up supplies for her


store. While, when Cousin Lymon moves in, realizing that he loves


to travel, she would often drive with him into the city and go to


see “movie-flicks” with him.


Before the story ends, Marvin Macy is released from prison and


returns to Cheehaw. Cousin Lymon, unaware of Miss Amelia’s short-


lived marriage to the criminal is fascinated by Marvin’s


adventurous life. He leaves Miss Amelia, never having returned her


love, to travel with Marvin. Broken-hearted, Miss Amelia returns


to her original reclusive style of living.


The Ballad of the Sad Cafe enjoyably and precisely portrays


the irrational nature of love in the ill-fated love triangle of


Miss Amelia, Cousin Lymon, and Marvin Macy. None of the three


characters are portrayed as particularly appealing people, yet they


were loved. People love for very different reasons, ” A most


mediocre person can be the object of a love which is wild,


extravagant, and beautiful as the poison lillies of the swamp.”


The Ballad of the Sad Cafe


Story by: Carson McCullers


Copyright date: 1951

Сохранить в соц. сетях:
Обсуждение:
comments powered by Disqus

Название реферата: The Ballad Of The Sad Cafe Essay

Слов:802
Символов:5393
Размер:10.53 Кб.