Passport To Hell Analysis

In the case of Passport to hell there is no doubt in who the narrator is as it is autobiographical although seen through the lens of a female author who invents things to form to her vision of the book and the tendency to flatter oneself the text is generally factual. This doubt in the narrator is seen most clearly in Living in the Maniototo the narrator Mavis Halleton, Barwell, Furness, Alice Thumb and Viloet Pansy Proudlock to name the most prominent narrative figures split the narrative up into shadows, reflections, distortions of Mavis. This amalgamation of names attitudes and inclinations creates an often hard to decipher narrative where the reliability, sanity of the narrator is constantly being questioned particularly in the trickster …show more content…
The shadow of Puritanism and its effects on George Plumb are seen in other lesser forms of conformity such as geniality. These views of pleasure or the in-ornate as somehow indicative of having a worse character are shadows of Puritanism trauma on not only George but allegorically the whole nation of New Zealand “maligned by the ignorant and self-indulgent” George notes when referring to people who dine out at fine restaurant or partake in the excessive, luxuries of life. The spaces in the text such as Georges study come to represent his mind but the gaps and silences become just as important with Georges obliviousness to Meg and his families suffering mainly shown through the silences which become a language of their own within texts of trauma. His skepticism of his children 's decisions is linked to their inability to change their values or hesitation to. The lack of a direct mention of the post-colonial condition creates a novel that feels absent of the European settler this like many other silences, silences of judgment and approval. The central issue of religion and its effect at tearing families apart gives an atheistic angle which can be seen in the silences of the