How Does Bernard Maclaverty Show The Circle

Of Life In His Story ’secrets’ Essay, Research Paper

????????? The

circle of life is a phrase used to describe how we are born, grow up, fall in

love, have children, grow old and then die, meanwhile the next generation is

being born and goes on to complete the natural circle of life. ????????? Bernard

Maclaverty uses the theme of the circle of life to tell his story of the

relationship between an old lady and a young man, which is told by referring to

the past, through memories and to present events. ????????? Aunty

Mary and the boy are representative of two different eras, the story is set in

two different times to show time passing. Reference is made to the past era -

Aunt Mary?s younger days – the postcards that the boy looks at are????????? ?….

Brown photographs of town centres, dull black ????????? and

whites of beaches backed by faded hotels ….?????????? The

photo of the young Aunt Mary was ????????? ?….

Very old fashioned but he could see that she ????????? was

beautiful. The picture was a pale brown oval ????????? set

on a white square of card. The edges of the ????????? oval

were misty ….??When Aunt Mary was young she had long dark hair and beautiful

eyes. By contrast as she ages her skin is still fresh but her hair has turned

white but she is still described as ?beautiful?, this shows the boys affection

for her. ????????? References

to a past era are also shown by the Aunts use of a pen with a nib, blotting

paper, ink well and her papers being kept in a walnut bureau. ????????? Through

the ?secret? pages of the love letters that Brother Benigus has sent we are

transported back to the First World War and relive the mud, horror and death

that he must of experienced, an experience that we learn led him to become a

priest. ????????? The

letters tell of a past love but a love so deep that it is still remembered with

hurt by Aunt Mary, it is as if he had been killed in the war.????????? ?…..

Was your friend killed in the war? ….?????????? At

first she said no, but then she changed her mind.????????? ?….

Perhaps he was ….? she said????????? In

contrast to the past and to the generation of Aunt Mary, the boy is seen as

young and in his prime. He is studying for his ?A Levels? and has a girlfriend

whose home he has been at while his Aunt is dying. Guilty feelings cross his

mind when he smells his girlfriends handcream on his own hands and he thinks of

her. ????????? He

has his own life ahead of him, full of promise, but the circle of life for his

aunt is just ending while his has just begun. In this way the boy and his Aunt

represent life and death. Maclaverty uses the personification of the vase of irises,

her sitting room dying in sympathy with her.????????? ?….

They were withering from the tips inward, scrolling ????????? themselves

delicately, brown and neat. Cleaning up after ??? themselves

….?????????? The

plant has reached the end of it?s circle of life. In the next room is the Aunt

who is also dying, her face shrivelling up.????????? ?…..

Her face seemed to have shrunk by half since he ????????? had

gone out earlier that night ……. the lower half ????????? of

her faced seemed to collapse …..?????????? The

boy cannot watch his Aunt die. He is still filled with guilt from opening and

reading the forbidden and secret letters and he desperately wants her

forgiveness.????????? ?….

He cried silently into the crook of his arm for ????????? the

woman who had been his maiden aunt, his teller ????????? of

tales, that she might forgive him …..?????????? Finally

when his Aunt is gone her precious letters are tossed on the fire by the boys

mother, she keeps the worthless but ?useful? elastic bands that hold the

envelopes together but discards the letters, while the boy watches. The letters

were so precious to Aunty Mary but just ?rubbish? to the mother, they are

things from the past that are not important. ????????? But

the boy knew just how special the secret memories were to his Aunt and the

thought of what he had done is hard to bear, he feels he has ruined her love

for him.????????? ?…..

You are dirt she hissed, and always will be dirt. ????????? I

shall remember this until the day I die …..?????????? But

life must carry on? in the natural

circle of life and the boy will have to cope, life carries on after someone you

care about dies.