CRITICAL APPRECIATION

Critical Appreciation of the Extract

Critical Appreciation of the Extract

Theme of the Text

The theme of the text is distress and grief of a lady whose lover has passed away. Her actions and dialogues are guided by the overwhelming tragedy she has faced. She is mourning her loss and cherishing her memories about certain past things.

Summary of the Extract

The excerpt starts with the narrator's description of the funeral at Island of Wight. Then the narrator talks about Anna and Tom who are at her home for the funerals. She deeply praises the strong grip of Tom at her arms to console her. The narrator expresses relief to her dead beloved for not having children like Anna and Tom by thinking Anna and Tom passing away leaving two innocent children behind. Then she scrutinizes Anna and Tom's stay at her home as they would not have stayed this way if her dead beloved were alive. She suspects by having an imaginary conversation with her dead beloved that he would not have found anything astonishing about his death because he expected it. She remembers the Isle of Wight where she had been once with her deceased beloved and remembers of the cliffs, stone tress and hotel. She is sad as she has to spend day with the Robertsons instead of her beloved. She describes the straight-faced people outside the crematorium checking tickets and then pathetic thought that her beloved's coffin is around falls her apart. The extract ends at conversation of two young women who were talking about their rights and emphasizing that woman should get rid of man and enjoy their life.

Critical Appreciation with Reference to Text

The excerpt is beautiful, natural and original in its nature. It has enclosed the crushing pain of a lady who has just lost someone she deeply valued. It strikes heart when she compares the current situation with what it could be with her beloved. The extract has been composed in a brilliant manner with a fine blend of sentiments and feelings. From the very beginning to the last word author has successfully created an environment of misery and grief that provokes readers' emotional attachment with the narrator. The narrator's drastic grief, immense pain and feeling of loss is conveyed with such perfection that readers heart keep pounding with narrator's every moment full of grief.

The whole extract is actually a conversation of narrator with her beloved, who exists no more. This adds a dramatic effect to the story as reader feel more affiliated to narrator. She mourns her every single moment without her beloved and shares her heartbreaking misery with him as she could feel his existence. The line when she finally breaks out crying, “Sweet I miss you so. Now that you are-. Oh my God!”

The characterization is simple and it mainly relies on a lady who is narrating her misery, a deceased guy and Anna and Tom who seem their friends. Another appreciable thing is the pragmatic and practical approach of the author ...