6-May-14
"The Lost Explorer" by Patrick McGrath
"The Lost Explorer" by Patrick McGrath
First paragraph: What is your overall impression of the story? Did you like the story or not? Use details from the story to show that you read the story closely.
The story is a beautiful piece of psychological acts and choices depicted with the support of the character of the young girl. I like the story on a number of grounds. To me the story was very much a reality, as modern innovations have dragged individuals far away from each other. Parents, children and friends are all technology bound. In such a state, if an individual does not have access to the technological supports or he / she is not interested in using them or because or any other option these innovations are not being utilised by a young child than such responses are obvious products of self indulgence. Particularly, in the provided excerpts where the young girl does not have any child friend, her choice of a soldier as friend displays her limited vision of the choice of an adult as a friend. Hence, to me this choice is deeply embedded with real life occurrence in such a state.
Second paragraph: What is the girl preoccupied with? This response needs to analyze the "The Other" for the little girl.
The character of 'the other' in this short story is that of ' the lost explorer' convened by the young girl. In the course of her family routine, she is almost ignored for her psychological cravings. Hence, with the character of 'the other' she creates the imagery of the aspired friend or caretaker who spends quality time with her in seclusion. Thus, the very idea of friendship preoccupies the girl and cater her psychological needs.
Feedback 1; I am convinced with the idea because even though the girl is grown enough to take care of herself, but her desperations of being required and being cared as a child amongst the adults made her visualise the character of a soldier.
Feedback 2; However, this statement can be countered on the ground that if the loneliness of the girl has been the reason of her imaginary friend then she would have never allowed the lost explorer to leave him. Thus, I will rather comment that the envision of the other character was the result of the ignorance of the desired attention that turn into a rebellious depiction of the character of the other.
