Creative Critical Response To Sympathize

Discuss About The Creative Critical Response To Sympathize?

I hope you are in good health of mind of body. While leaving your room, I saw that you were depressed. This made me concerned about you. In response to it, I am writing this letter to express my guilt and sympathize with you. Firstly, let me tell you that your depression is justified in terms of remembering the happy moments with your son. This depression is natural and obvious in terms of the circumstances, which we are compelled to encounter in our daily lives. Mention of the demise of our loved ones makes us sad and depressed, engulfing us within the sea of obstacles (Harris). This entrapment makes it difficult for us to perform our basic tasks.

As far as your son’s demise is concerned, it fills me with sadness. I know it is very pathetic and difficult for you to accept this harsh reality. However, I would like to say that if you think that your son has died for his motherland, you might feel proud about the sacrifice which he has given for his country. I am using might as this thinking is a little tough for you. However, once you think it in this way and convince your family members, I think it would be easy for you to accept the absence of your son (Kimber).

I have also experienced the demise of my son. It was very difficult for me to accept the fact. However, I have convinced myself that in comparison to the harsh blows of fate, we are mere human beings, lacking the capability to alter what is destined for us. Therefore, we do not have any other option than to accept the events which occur in our life. In terms of this predicament of ours, our names are just useless. Instead we become members of a class full of foolish people, the puppets in the hands of the fate. Inability to alter our fate makes our existence meaningless, questioning our position within the society (Mounic). Here, our predicament equalizes with that of the fly, which is small in size but bigger in its capability. Its struggle to fight the blows of the ink resembles our futile efforts to fight the harsh blows inflicted upon us by fate.

Upon the mention of your son’s death, you cancelled all your meetings. This might be for half an hour but it made the freedom of your life into halves. For this entrapment, you refused to meet anybody. These actions reflect your fear about the taunts and mocks of the people regarding your inability to cope up with the events which occur in life. What they fail to understand is that sudden occurrences can happen in anybody’s life and difficulty in accepting it is natural. However, when it comes to the others, they just search for opportunities to make fun of others in such a plight (Cross). Here, we should try to ignore these talks and do what is ethically and morally right. You are a boss, if you get weaker like this, what example will your subordinates get from you? But this does not mean that you should not have emotions. You are a man of flesh and blood, you have your emotion, but you need to regulate them when you are in public. This regulation would justify your designation as a boss.

Lessons from Katherine Mansfield's The Fly

Getting influenced by these suggestions and advice would distract us from the goals which we have set for our future. This does not means that you have to forget your son. Instead, if you move on in your life, your son would also be free in terms of taking rebirth as a good human being. Herein lies the appropriateness of the statement that we should not get emotionally attached with anybody, as this attachment would not remain forever. This is due to the difficulty in life after death (Kimber).

I think at some point, I am responsible for this situation of yours. Had I not mentioned about the visit to your son’s grave, you would not have become depressed and cancelled all your meetings. Rather you would have performed your office tasks as in the normal other days. Along with this, you would have conducted meetings with your clients, without getting distracted. This behavior of mine makes me weak and questions the things, which I told to console you. I think this dilemma is because of my aging. Now I forget most of the things which I say to the persons around me. I seriously need to consult a doctor. See, I have started narrating my problems, deviating from the aspect of empowering you in terms of the inevitability of the aspect of death.

I know the things which I have said are very meager in terms of the intensity of your grief regarding your son’s death. However, life goes on. So you also need to convince yourself and make yourself strong. I pray that that may the Almighty give you the strength to bear with all the harsh realities, which comes in our life. If you need any help, I am always there to help you.

Katherine Mansfields’ The Fly is an inspiration for the people in terms of coping up with the sudden circumstances, which come in their life. The boss’ character is a live example, which conveys the message to the readers about the persistent struggles which they have to make in terms of adding meaning into their lives. Woodifield is an epitome of how to move on in life instead of being entrapped by old age and forgetfulness. Countering this, the protagonist of the short story is the fly which enhances the awareness of the people to confidently encounter the things which are stored for the people. Ink droppings on the fly resemble the impositions of harsh blows by fate.

Letter from a Friend to Console

After going through the story, I express my pathos for the meaningless existence experience by the people nowadays. The main reason for this is the incapability to cope up with the harsh blows of the fate. In view of this perspective, I can state the plight of the boss to be like the ordinary people, struggling to make their lives meaningful. Here, the identities of boss and fly merge in terms of the incapability to adjust within the sudden circumstances. This perspective fades away the differentiation between man and animal, keeping the struggle for life consistent. The only difference is in the way of expression. Humans can express it in words, but the animals lack the freedom of speech, which aggravates their suffering.

The letter written here is from a friend to another friend, consoling for sudden remembrance of the son’s untimely death. I can say that writing letter to a friend is apt in terms of enhancing the stability in the relationship between them. On the other hand, I think writing a letter instead of having face-to-face conversation is a kind of hesitation and guilt, which Woodifield undergoes upon the discussion of his son’s demise. I feel this kind of hesitation and guilt is quite obvious and natural in case of people who perform acts without thinking the after effects.

The subject of the letter, “cursed personality” attains peak position in the letter. The adjective “cursed” is attached to the personality of individuals, when they do something wrong. In other times, this adjective is imposed upon the predicament of the individuals, which most of the times proves wrong. The incident, where the boss inflicts ink on the fly, its personality is worth mentioning in terms of its struggle. On the contrary, mere mention of son’s demise makes the boss depressed. Here the boss’ personality is weak in terms of incapability to cope up with the sudden instances, which is quite natural.

One of the other issues, which can be pointed out is the relationship between father and son. For the son, father is a source from where; they get power, strength and energy to struggle for his rights. Absence of son or father generates the feeling of loss, which means a loss of strength and power. In view of the boss’ perspective, son’s absence makes the father weak. This connotation might be a distorted one; however, it makes the son, a protector of his parents and sisters.

Here, absence and presence are like two sides of the life; similar to the phases of happiness and sadness. The aspects of absence should not be an obstacle in the present life of the people. This does not mean that people should not express grief at the loss of their loved ones. Instead, they should try to cope up with the loss by engaging themselves in some other things. Capability to do this would assist the people to move on in their lives with new vigor and strength. The “people” in the earlier sentence generalizes the classification of the individuals into a class of foolish people, who lack the basic understanding towards the partial capability for coping up with the aspects of “loss”. Here, the curses, taunts and mocking attain a backseat, as the injury inflictor also falls within the group of foolish people, searching the ways and means to fight the blows of fate.  

References

Cross, Ashley. "To “buzz lamenting doings in the air”: Romantic Flies, Insect Poets, and Authorial Sensibility." European Romantic Review 25.3 (2014): 337-346.

Harris, Diana R. "Milk, blood, ink: Mansfield's liquids and the abject." Journal of New Zealand Literature: JNZL 32 (2014): 52-67.

Kimber, Gerri. "Relationships." Katherine Mansfield and the Art of the Short Story. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2015. 53-56.

Mounic, Anne. "To tell and be told”: war poetry as the “transmission of sympathy." Études anglaises 68.1 (2015): 70-83.