Through Sarah’s extended consciousness, the reader perceives the disparity between her vision of a fulfilling life and the limitations of her reality. She suffers from what Gail Cunningham describes as, “the conflict between, as it were, brains and breasts, between professional aspirations and social expectation” (135). Sarah explores the options that society offers, showing a pungent awareness of the inequity of the choices rendered by life itself.
Ellen Lambert maintains that Drabble’s heroines share “an eagerness, an eradicable hopefulness about life. Not contentment: they’re not particularly contented women” (31). On her journey home from Paris, where she worked as a private tutor, Sarah wonders, “what a girl can do with herself if over-educated and lacking a sense of vocation” (Drabble 8). Sarah’s intense yearning for a fulfilling life is directly expressed as she muses to herself: “I should …show more content…
Lambert comments on Sarah’s exploratory and unsettled state of mind: “But if Sarah dares to hope for more than anyone has any right to expect from life, and has little notion of how it’s all to come about, still, in one very concrete sense she has every reason to feel hopeful about her own future” (35,36). Her beauty, intelligence and education are all assets that are supposed to enhance her fortunes in life. Ironically, she experiences feelings of disquietude over her unearned good fortune. Watching her cousin, Daphne, who lacks beauty and brains, makes her question the fairness of life and feel intimidated by her “ghastly life” (Drabble 113). As Sarah engages in metaphysical speculations about the justice of the world, her meditation tends to be more focused on her own feelings towards Daphne’s shortcomings rather than on how Daphne herself feels. Sarah seems engrossed in her internal self-speculation. Her conversation with her sister, Louise, reflects her puzzled
Ellen Lambert maintains that Drabble’s heroines share “an eagerness, an eradicable hopefulness about life. Not contentment: they’re not particularly contented women” (31). On her journey home from Paris, where she worked as a private tutor, Sarah wonders, “what a girl can do with herself if over-educated and lacking a sense of vocation” (Drabble 8). Sarah’s intense yearning for a fulfilling life is directly expressed as she muses to herself: “I should …show more content…
Lambert comments on Sarah’s exploratory and unsettled state of mind: “But if Sarah dares to hope for more than anyone has any right to expect from life, and has little notion of how it’s all to come about, still, in one very concrete sense she has every reason to feel hopeful about her own future” (35,36). Her beauty, intelligence and education are all assets that are supposed to enhance her fortunes in life. Ironically, she experiences feelings of disquietude over her unearned good fortune. Watching her cousin, Daphne, who lacks beauty and brains, makes her question the fairness of life and feel intimidated by her “ghastly life” (Drabble 113). As Sarah engages in metaphysical speculations about the justice of the world, her meditation tends to be more focused on her own feelings towards Daphne’s shortcomings rather than on how Daphne herself feels. Sarah seems engrossed in her internal self-speculation. Her conversation with her sister, Louise, reflects her puzzled