Sunshine Sketches Of A Little Town Analysis

When one reads “As For Me and My House,” (Ross), a book such as this can be read in multiple lights and dissected with several tools of context. In the previously studied text, “Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town,” it spoke of false fronts and who the human being actually is on the inside and how that reflects on the external environment. This book is no different, and especially so in the character of Mrs. Bentley. Mrs. Bentley, even though she is the typical, small-town preacher 's wife, she is more than that. For instance, she always thirsts for something more than the miserable existence she schleps out daily. This is made clear in the Lorna Crozier poem Beauty when Lorna, in the persona of Mrs. Bentley, states that “If he were strong, …show more content…
In the beginning, Philip seems to have had this quality in abundance. But, “In her diary entry on April 6, Mrs. Bentley is describing the personage after Philip, as he is wont to do, has ‘retreated to… [his] study’ and ‘significantly’ closed the door” (Bentley 3). It’s through the numerous townships that he and Mrs. Bentley have gone through that the excitement in their lives has gone. They both have felt it, but Mrs. Bentley is the one who has taken it upon herself to explicate her life and transcribe her thoughts. She is in need of this escape, this revitalization, which is why “… she is entertaining Steve and trying to interest Philip in the music” (Coleman-Hull 7). But even then she is running on the proverbial fumes, in that she is "...Remembering how strong and real it used to be, having to admit it means so little now…. My fingers are wooden. Something’s gone dead” (Coleman-Hull 7). Through music and painting Ross depicts what makes the two main characters tick, each of their livelihoods if you will. But for Philip, it has become more of a pragnanz in the sense that when he retreats into his study, he forces himself to paint at the wrong time when, accordingly, he should have let his feelings flow freely and let the brush and paint flow as such. But each one has turned to another path, to become “confined” in a prison of their own …show more content…
To truly understand the greater compass of the oeuvre, one must absorb the complete breadth of wisdom that Sinclair Ross has imparted in this, what is surely one of the greatest pieces of Canadian literature of all time. One property of this prominent, small-time opus is the grand scale of the human condition it takes a brief study on. The experience of humanity takes upon itself many forms and facets, and this novel is a prime example of such experiences; even if not primarily evident at first. Another example that can validate the station of this book in the annals of Canadian literary legend is the fact that it shows just how much Mrs. Bentley wants a better life for her and Philip, away from the doldrums and vitality that they once had. Taking into consideration the previously mentioned “human experience,” it would only be fair to mention that one of the more sordid facets would have to be that of greed; a slippery concept that can progress either on the avenue of mankind’s survival, or to herald the dawn of his destruction. Mrs. Bentley, as most readers can see, is a very greedy woman. Although it is in the aspect of her marriage’s survival that she uses this neutral power. And yet she seems to not fully realize the immense restorative power that greed can sometimes have, but she does understand the corrosive powers