The world of literature is abundant in works disclosing life problems and obstacles depicted through the troublesome fates of the characters. The themes of unsuccessful love and frustrated marriage are considered to be quite spread and thoroughly examined by well-known authors. The example of marriage theme determination and inner fight with one’s feelings is clearly shown in the works The Country Husband written by John Cheever and Janus by Ann Beattie. Comparative analysis of two completely different stories allowed uniting them by the common representation of personal inner sufferings and attempts of the characters to find themselves and determine their sense of life.
Janus and The Country Husband are aimed at disclosure of successful characters’ fates but their unhappy inner state because of life instabilities. The story Janus tells is about the life of a prosperous real estate agent whose name is Andrea. Her troubles are closely connected with unhappy love affairs and marriage frustration. The theme of moral instability is presented in the story The Country Husband on the example of Francis Weed’s like fate. The character used to suffer a plane crash and staying alive he happened to think over his destiny and frustrations. The common theme of inner personal trouble caused by unhappy love and marriages resulted in the melancholic style of the stories. The authors managed to show the fact that people can live in moral harmony only in case of reaching what they wish. Thus, Andrea has lost her love and even career success could not bring her complete satisfaction; Francis could not find himself and his life role trying to evaluate the significance of his marriage.
“The feeling of bleakness was intolerable, and he saw clearly that he had reached the point where he would have to make a choice.” (Booth, p. 86).
Francis realizes that his marriage is really unhappy as his Julia is not the person to share his inner troubles and sufferings; that is why he finds his calm and harmony only with Ann who is always there to listen to and understand him.
Both stories are considered to be symbolic as the authors managed to introduce the basic element to determine the reason or consequence for the character’s self-realization. In Janus, the readers can observe the symbolization of the bowl. Andrea brings it from house to house for her buyers to see it. The symbol of the bowl meant duality as the bowl contains two faces. It is the reason for her sufferings as it remembers her of unhappy love and frustrated marriage with the beloved person who had presented this bowl to her. The symbol of the story The Country Husband is considered to be a plane flying, to be more exact its crash. It is so, because only this accident helped Francis to open his eyes on his family life and evaluate his marriage. The crash was his chance for the better future; the fate gave him one more opportunity to realize what had been wrong in his life and what people played an important role for him. Anne became a part of his soul but he managed to understand it only at the end of the story. Once experiencing plane crash Francis cannot stop and is eager for something dangerous and unusual in order to see the deeper sense of his life. Thus, the symbolic representation of the theme unites both stories through common style and idea of showing characters’ life problematic.
Despite the similarities and common manners in style used by the authors, the theme of marriage is presented through different angles. Thus, Ann Beattie strived to show a might-have-been marriage with a beloved person which was broken because of human life mistakes and disabilities to identify one’s goals. Andrea could not understand her feelings to her husband and as a result, she has to suffer having no strength to forget everything and begin to live a new life.
“Sometimes, Andrea wants to talk to him about the bowl, but she does not, and that makes her feel guilty.” (Booth, p. 249).
Because of the weak character, Andrea makes herself suffer sharing her life only with the bowl. As to the Country Husband, John Cheever managed to show a wholesome family life of Francis; but the marriage appeared to be frustrated indirectly.
“He had been lost once in his life, coming back from a trout stream in the north woods, and he had now the same bleak realization that no amount of cheerfulness or hopefulness or valor or perseverance could help him find, in the gathering dark, the path that he’d lost.” (Booth, p. 86).
Francis and his wife Julie were not happy together being united by their children. When Julie ignored the story of her husband as to the plane crash he understood the value of their marriage and family life. The author demonstrated the significance of mutual harmony which should be present in every family.
Thus, the comparative analysis of two stories The Country Husband written by John Cheever, and Janus by Ann Beattie allowed us to evaluate the way the authors presented their basic theme. They managed to show the values of relationships between ma and woman disclosing the threat of selfishness and self-confidence to mutual understanding. The style and manner of presentation of the stories under analysis are considered to be similar. The contrast lies in the marriage vision by the authors. It is important to stress that both authors used symbolism as the manner of the theme presentation which allowed the readers to see the deepness of the problems and examine possible ways of their solutions. The stories under analysis managed to describe the tragic fate of their characters through an unhappy marriage and frustrated love.
References
Booth, A., Hunter, P. & Mays, K. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 9th Edition. New York: Norton, 2005. (The Country Husband by John Cheever (p.71-88); Janus by Ann Beattie (p.248-251))