Интерпретация произведения

A Woman without a Country.

The text under analysis is called «A Woman without a Country». The author of the text is John William Cheever. He was born in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1912. John William Cheever was an American novelist and short story writer. His story combine an insightful analysis of American everyday life with the use of symbolic imagery and individual elements of magical realism.

The title of the story is associated with the main character Anne Tonkin who being publicly humiliated in America, leaves her homeland and moves from place to place.

The story begins with the author's narration that he could see Anne in different places in Europe. The anaphora «I saw her that spring between the third and fourth races at Campino… , I next saw her at the Tennerhof in Kitzbuhel… , Then I saw her at the Passion Play in Erl» emphasizes that Anne was a wanderer and could not find a home. Then the author tells the story of Anne's life. She was a daughter of the mill agent worked for the Tonkin family. The anaphora «they owned a great deal, they owned whole counties» shows the wealth of this family. The young Marchand Tonkin fell in love with the modest and accommodating Anne, they got married and lived for six quite years. In the seventh year, an event occurred that completely changed their lives. Marchand had a meeting in New York, but his car broke down and he asked Anne to take him to the station. They were in a hurry and Anne did not get dressed but just put on a jacket over her nightgown.

When Anne was returning home, her car ran out of gas near the house of her friends. Anne hoped for their help because she was almost naked. The anaphora «she blew the horn and blew it and blew it» expresses her despair and impatience. But her friends were not at home and Anne had to wait for someone to help her. Unfortunately Jack Burden, the village rake, came to her aid. The simile «seemed drawn magnetically to the car» describes his appearance. The last thing Anne wanted was to accept his help. The rhetorical question «What else could she do?» underlines her hopeless situation when she got into his car. The allusion «thinking of Lady Godiva and St. Agnes» explains Anne's hope that everything will be fine. Anne felt sleepy because that day was lightless, close and oppressive. The simile «like the climate of a harrowing dream» underlines Anne's bad condition. This condition of sleepy contributed to the fact that she was unable to resist when Jack Burden took possession of her. Anne's husband saw her adultery and died ten days later, and her parents-in-law sued for the custody of the only child Anne, out of the kindness of her heart, said in court that there was high humidity that day and therefore she committed such an act, referring to her poor health. This was a fatal mistake. The tabloids immediately seized her words, ridiculed and even composed an ironic song «Humid Isabella». The headlines of the newspapers «It wasn't me, it was the humidity» show that Anne was publicly humiliated. After that, Anne renounced her rights and went to Europe.

Anne thought she was unfairly disgraced. The metaphors «she had been pilloried», «she had been made a scapegoat», «she had be burned» and the epithets «bitter memories», «unrealistic and savage» express her resentment towards her country. In Europe she moved from place to place and finally bought a villa in Italy and her behaviour was Italian. The onomatopoeia «aiiee» instead of «ouch» underlines it. However, she still felt lonely. The epithet «spiritual sufferings» emphasizes that she is very homesick. She pretended to be Italian and when one day a worker called her an American she lied that she was Greek. The simile «Her passport was as green as grass» proves that her lies was clear to everyone. Anne realized the tragedy of her situation. She felt like an absolute stranger. The rhetorical question «What have I done?» highlights that she lost her identity.

Then she met an old man from America and talking with him further increased her longing for her country. The allusion «The Stars and Stripes seemed to break out in the air above his head» is a reference to the American flag. In Anne's opinion, this American atoned for all the shortcomings of her homeland, even his speech seemed better than any music. Listening to him, Anne recalled her childhood when she looked out at the passing trains and read their inscriptions. The onomatopoeia «clackety-clack» expresses understanding to Anne that it is very easy to return home and it is time for her to do it. She got the plane. Ann trembled. The ordinary repetition «she was going home, she was going home», the metaphor «her heart was in her throat» express her excitement at approaching her homeland. Everything seemed unusually beautiful to her. The phrase «how dark and fresh the water of the Atlantic looked, after those years away» proves Anne thoughts that she has been away from home too long. She imagined that she would eat a bacon-lettuce-and-tomato sandwich. The clarification about her umbrella from Paris and shoes from Rome emphasizes that Anne has become a stranger in America. Ann euphorically stepped into her native land and immediately heard the familiar song «Humid Isabella» that was performed by a worker at the airport. She realized that her shame was not forgotten. She return to Europe and mingled with a crowd of the same Americans, sometimes cheerful, sometimes sad, who wandered around like people without a fatherland. She again moved from place to place and dreamed of a bacon-lettuce-and-tomato sandwich.

I liked this story because it shows the sad fate of a woman who defied society. Anne was an honest and kind woman, but society was not ready to understand and accept her. As a result, Anne was left without Country because she did not want to become part of a world where irony and ridicule defeat honesty. This story is worth reading for those who like the complex relationship between person and society.