Writing as art is employed by authors to illuminate events that occur in society. Authors are motivated by various reasons to write their stories. However, at the end of each story, the author conveys an unmistakable message. For example, in “The Bath” by Janet Frame, the author gives readers an insight into the perils of old age by narrating the ordeal of a lonely old woman. The story challenges the notion that old age is characterized by peace and satisfaction.
The section of the short story upon which this commentary focuses starts in the third paragraph and ends in the middle of the story. It is a relatively short passage, but interestingly, it carries the weight of the story. It captures the old woman’s struggle from the time she enters the bathtub to the time she despairs and starts crying after several unsuccessful attempts of getting out of the bath. The struggle is painful and almost hopeless.
Prior to this passage, the author lays a background that gives an idea of how important a simple bath had become an old woman. She only bathed in preparation for special occasions and this case, she had to make the seventeenth anniversary trip to her husband’s gravesite the next day. As such, the bath was imperative.
As an old and frail woman who lives alone, every task became difficult to accomplish with each day that passed. Bathing had particularly become scary to her because of her trouble with getting out of the bath. It seems to be the most agonising activity the miserable woman had to endure.
She prepared elaborately for the bath and remembered to take precaution in anticipation of the difficulty she would encounter while trying to get out of the bath. It is unfortunate that after the bath, she forgets about the chair and only remembers it later. The impression this passage creates is that the old woman believed that something awful could easily happen to her in the process of trying to get out of the bath. Her fruitless efforts threw her into a state of desperation, causing her to cry helplessly.
The thoughts that surged through her mind after several failed attempts at leaving the bath give the passage a somber mood. She heard no one or traffic nearby and thought to herself that, “If I shout for help,” … “no one will hear me” (69). When she eventually called for assistance, no one responded to her call. In the end, she could not help, but imagine how her husband John would have helped her. It is as if she had been left by the world to suffer alone.
The somber mood in the passage blends in well with the mood in the rest of the story. In the introductory paragraphs of the story, the author mentions the death of the old woman’s husband and her lonely life. Additionally, the author constantly refers to the pain she feels in various parts of her body.
Further, her lonely struggle in the bath accentuates the somber mood. The only time the mood of the story changes is when she is at the cemetery. However, the fact that the woman only feels peaceful when she is in a graveyard serves to make the story sadder.
Although the passage is a short passage, the author uses it to convey a rather powerful message about society. It bears the main message and is, therefore, an indispensable part of the story. The details of the old woman’s bath help the author to paint a picture of the painful reality that marks the lives of old people.
Interestingly, they go through the agony right amid people like neighbors and friends. The author’s decision to employ the third person’s perspective in narrating the story gives it just the right feel. It is as though someone is watching the old woman’s suffering, but chooses not to assist her.
The author also uses rhetorical questions such as “Where were the people, the traffic?” (70), to underscore the state of her loneliness. This theme has been developed quite well in the story as well as the passage under examination. On several occasions, the woman talks to herself. This style also serves to build the theme of loneliness. However, although several themes appear in the story, the main message that is conveyed by the story is that old age is not as rosy as many people assume it to be.
In conclusion, both the whole story and the passage under scrutiny are full of elements of loneliness and are engulfed by a somber mood. The overall message the story conveys is that old age is not a time of peace and satisfaction as many people think. Rather, it is characterized by unimaginable suffering.
To make matters worse, the suffering occurs right amid other people, but they seem not to realize. Several literary styles such as monologue and rhetorical questions among others have been employed to build the different themes in the story and convey the central message.
Works Cited
Frame, Janet. “The Bath.” Stories of Ourselves: The University of Cambridge International Examinations Anthology of Stories in English. Ed. University of Cambridge International Examinations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 67-72. Print.