I felt as if Bowles was taking a break from reality. It is told in third person but you feel disconnected from the characters because he just is talking about this old woman. He glazes over her existence based on the length of this story as compared to others. I think it kind of serves as a warning or like one of those scary stories that your parents use to put you to bed. First off, the old lady living in a cave makes me laugh because it just reminds of someone who could not handle society. The whole story just creates mystery behind the context of why she is there. Why have her sons let her live in this cave? What happened in the village that she feels more comfortable with scorpions in a cave?
It lets the reader create a story. And my story is her sons created a cave for her because maybe the mom just needed to be on her own and she didn't need to worry about her children. I think one of her sons may have passed and now she has to come to the village for his funeral.
Or i could be completely wrong and missed the whole point of this story.
Welcome to the blog for Prof. John Talbird's English 220 class. The purpose of this site is two-fold: 1) to continue the conversations we start in class (or to start conversations before we get to class) and 2) to practice our writing/reading on a weekly basis in an informal forum.
I'd like to know what the son means at the end by telling his mother she's lying when he asks her who the man near the cave is. But that isn't the only mystery. Like you said, it's unclear to me why she is living in this cave and why her sons let her do so.
ReplyDeleteAt some point in the story I got a sense that the woman was blind. This almost sounds like a mythical tale. The old lady that lives in a cave amongst scorpions. People see her but don't come near, and she never leaves.
I did not get the message in the story or maybe it just went right over my head. Maybe Bowles leaves it to the reader to create the story. Either way I enjoyed the read,
Yes, Erin, I see it as a modern day myth too.
DeleteI agree this stories a big mystery the entire time I was reading the story I was thinking why's she hear and what is going on. Also the only really big thing that struck me was the person sitting outside the cave because it was another mystery who was he why was he there why didn't they acknowledge each other . It's surprised me at the end when he said goodbye and looked surprised as she left did he want to meet her? Was he waiting for the opertunity ? So many unanswered questions
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