Theme of Contradiction and Loneliness in Ann Beattie’s “Janus”
Themes play an important role in enhancing the quality of a narration and they also play a crucial role in increasing the degree of appeal to the readers. In the realm of literature, different stories have been composed based on several different themes and each of those themes represents a single specific facet of the human life. The themes of contradiction and loneliness have been the ones which have been widely and quite often used in the myriad of stories. Contradiction and loneliness are the two primary essences of human life as every individual is, to some extent and in some way, lonely, and every individual possesses an ideology which might contradict her own behavior or …show more content…
The description of the bowl acts as a means of establishing contradiction. The first line of the story, “THE BOWL WAS PERFECT” (Beattie’s, 1986), indicates that there must be something contradictory to perfectness because without such contradiction the notion of perfectness could not have emerged in the story. This perfectness of the bowl contradicts the imperfect married life of the central protagonist, Andrea, and the author has implicitly hinted on the contradiction between the perfectness of a life of freedom and the imperfectness of a life dominated by societal conventions, marital norms, and patriarchy. The theme of contradiction has been again implicitly hinted on by Beattie by making Andrea speak of her mind about the bowl – “The wonderful thing about the bowl, Andrea thought, was that it was both subtle and noticeable – a paradox of a bowl” (Beattie, 1986). This paradox is one of the greatest truths of life because it is not always what people get out of desire because desire and reality often contradicts, and as Beattie has conveyed this truth through her narration, her short story has got turned into a universal commentary on some specific aspects of human life. The theme of loneliness is also to be found to be a recurrent one in Beattie’s story, “Janus.” The loneliness of the bowl and the rejection of Andrea’s husband to actually examine the bowl to appreciate its beauty represent the
Themes play an important role in enhancing the quality of a narration and they also play a crucial role in increasing the degree of appeal to the readers. In the realm of literature, different stories have been composed based on several different themes and each of those themes represents a single specific facet of the human life. The themes of contradiction and loneliness have been the ones which have been widely and quite often used in the myriad of stories. Contradiction and loneliness are the two primary essences of human life as every individual is, to some extent and in some way, lonely, and every individual possesses an ideology which might contradict her own behavior or …show more content…
The description of the bowl acts as a means of establishing contradiction. The first line of the story, “THE BOWL WAS PERFECT” (Beattie’s, 1986), indicates that there must be something contradictory to perfectness because without such contradiction the notion of perfectness could not have emerged in the story. This perfectness of the bowl contradicts the imperfect married life of the central protagonist, Andrea, and the author has implicitly hinted on the contradiction between the perfectness of a life of freedom and the imperfectness of a life dominated by societal conventions, marital norms, and patriarchy. The theme of contradiction has been again implicitly hinted on by Beattie by making Andrea speak of her mind about the bowl – “The wonderful thing about the bowl, Andrea thought, was that it was both subtle and noticeable – a paradox of a bowl” (Beattie, 1986). This paradox is one of the greatest truths of life because it is not always what people get out of desire because desire and reality often contradicts, and as Beattie has conveyed this truth through her narration, her short story has got turned into a universal commentary on some specific aspects of human life. The theme of loneliness is also to be found to be a recurrent one in Beattie’s story, “Janus.” The loneliness of the bowl and the rejection of Andrea’s husband to actually examine the bowl to appreciate its beauty represent the