The Role of Society
The Role of SocietyElizabeth Li
July 29, 2000
American Short Stories
Essay
The Role of Society
It is without doubt that society is an integral part of our lives, as demonstrated in the stories ¡°A White Heron¡± by Sarah Orne Jewitt, ¡°He¡± by Katherine Anne Porter, and ¡°There will come Soft Rains¡± written by Ray Bradbury. At first glance, these stories seem to have little in common, yet there is one main thread that weaves them together, and that is¡ªthe role of society. In all of these stories, society has great impact on the story, and affects the characters in different ways.
In ¡°A White Heron¡± written by Sarah Orne Jewitt, society plays the role of the seducer. Represented by the charming ornithologist, it beckons to Sylvia and attempts to lure her into submission, which met with her refusal. ¡°¡when the great world for the first time puts out a hand to her, must she thrust it aside for a bird¡¯s sake?¡±, but ¡°she remembers hoe the white heron came flying through the golden air and how they watched the sea and the morning together, and Sylvia cannot speak; she cannot tell the heron¡¯s secret and give its life away.¡± In choosing bird over man, Sylvia is in truth making the decision between society and nature. In this particular story, nature triumphs over society.
In the story ¡°He¡± by Katherine Anne Porter, society is portrayed through the mother, Mrs. Whipple, who represents all the hypocritical values in our world. The mother in ¡°He¡± is the very epitome of hypocrisy. While pretending to favor her ¡°simple-minded¡± son over the other children, she encourages him to do extremely toilsome, and sometimes even dangerous work. Even during the incident with the bull¡ªeven then, Mrs. Whipple is thinking, ¡°Lord, don¡¯t let anything happen to Him. Lord, you know people will say we oughtn¡¯t to have sent Him. You know they¡¯ll say we didn¡¯t take care of him.¡±
Mrs. Whipple is praying not in fear for her son¡¯s safety but of what others will think?! Unthinkable! The above scene exposes her hypocrisy to the fullest. Towards the end, when she has to give Him away and is holding him for the last time, she feels that ¡°He seems to be accusing her of something.¡± This again shows Mrs. Whipple¡¯s personality. The society she is in and her culture had taught that one ¡°ought to¡± love one¡¯s own son, so she felt that she should love Him. This does not stem from affection, but a certain sense of duty that society had imposed upon her.
If ¡°A White Heron¡± can be interpreted as a story of society verses nature, and ¡°He¡± one of society verses love, then ¡°There will come Soft Rains¡± is about society verses itself. This story serves as a warning addressed to society. This narrative implies that by becoming overly dependant on technology society would bring upon itself its own destruction. The author, Ray Bradbury, is ¡°a poet of ominous prophecies¡ªwhose vision of a hellish future begins to seem, as the twentieth century reels to a close, ever more like realistic fiction and not fantasy.¡± Indeed, ¡°Not one would mind, either bird nor tree/ If mankind perished utterly.¡±
In all of the above stories, society plays an essential role. What struck me as most interesting is that in these stories, the authors all seem to assume a cynical view upon society. I guess that does say something about our society in general.