In Jeanne Althouse’s short story “The Redwood Grove” the main character is Will. Who is a middle aged man and has recently been fired from his job at the bank. Will is in a dilemma between reality and fantasy. Contently battling with his emotions and guilt. Will is battling his personal conflict with having to deal with being fired from his job along with his boyfriend Jack being the cause for losing his job.
Will was in a relationship with another employee at the bank he worked at by the name of Jack who was married. Will has always loved men since he was in high school. He also like to write poetry, which his mother disliked. “Mama told him poetry was for ladies, for greeting cards or pillow covers. Not a real man’s job” (Althouse 57). His …show more content…
His poetry was written on a journal he would keep between his mattress and box spring “thinking of words relaxed him, and the process forming the cursive letters, the moving of this hand, feeling the pen rolling against his fingers, the pause to think the murmur of his voice, reading the words out loud, the delight and sounds, the beat, the rhythm, and the surprise at what happened on the page” (Althouse 57). He also continue to visit redwood grove looking to hopefully meet someone else. This was his way to get away from reality and hopefully meet someone else. He told himself that he would only go once a week, but he always found himself at redwood grove. Every time he was there he would start to lose sense of reality and begin to fantasies. Several times he tried to relate to a damaged tree that had been vandalized. The tree was hacked into strips on one side of it and he could relate to it because he felt the same way as the tree. “A beautiful redwood, wounded. He saw an image of the dark bark cut away to real the bright vermillion inside thick with tannin. He reached down, drew his hand along the skin of this arm, imagined it peeled off, revealing the vessels and bones, the shock of disease, death. He thought of jack that day at the office” (Althouse
Will was in a relationship with another employee at the bank he worked at by the name of Jack who was married. Will has always loved men since he was in high school. He also like to write poetry, which his mother disliked. “Mama told him poetry was for ladies, for greeting cards or pillow covers. Not a real man’s job” (Althouse 57). His …show more content…
His poetry was written on a journal he would keep between his mattress and box spring “thinking of words relaxed him, and the process forming the cursive letters, the moving of this hand, feeling the pen rolling against his fingers, the pause to think the murmur of his voice, reading the words out loud, the delight and sounds, the beat, the rhythm, and the surprise at what happened on the page” (Althouse 57). He also continue to visit redwood grove looking to hopefully meet someone else. This was his way to get away from reality and hopefully meet someone else. He told himself that he would only go once a week, but he always found himself at redwood grove. Every time he was there he would start to lose sense of reality and begin to fantasies. Several times he tried to relate to a damaged tree that had been vandalized. The tree was hacked into strips on one side of it and he could relate to it because he felt the same way as the tree. “A beautiful redwood, wounded. He saw an image of the dark bark cut away to real the bright vermillion inside thick with tannin. He reached down, drew his hand along the skin of this arm, imagined it peeled off, revealing the vessels and bones, the shock of disease, death. He thought of jack that day at the office” (Althouse