Formal Definition To Peake's Short Story example essay topic

As we walked among the flowers we began to tremble. He said to her what a wonderful world. Oh my she explained to her husband of fifteen thousand years. And from there on they became universally involved. After reading Mervyn Peake's short story "Same Time, Same Place", it is apparent that the author intended to create a story based around fantasy. Customarily, fantasy is mistaken for stories that include abstract creatures and inconceivable story lines.

Under these circumstances one would then conclude that Peake's short story may not in fact be categorized to such an extent. However, when the formal definition of fantasy is applied to this story it becomes evident that Peake does more than hint at a story based around make believe. Fantasy can be better understood as one of two types of non-realistic fiction, the other being science fiction. In this case fantasy resembles the psychological state of fantasy in that it provides the reader with an experience of liberation similar to that provided by a daydream. Fantasy typically contains 1) a magical world in which liberating events can plausibly take place and 2) main characters with whom the reader closely identifies and through whom he or she enters the magical world. Now, in order to relate this formal definition to Peake's short story, it is more applicable to break down the definition of fantasy and apply necessary parts from the short story.

Of the many characters mentioned in the story, only one proved identifiable. From the opening lines, the narrator and main character is the first character the reader is able to identify. The young man we first come across seems responsible for the curious and sympathetic feelings the reader obtains. The narrator proclaims that his life of twenty three years has been nothing more than a bore to him, and perhaps he is having trouble with his own personal identification among his family. His time spent at home has left him to deal with hatred that has accumulated from being around his parents and not knowing his role in the family. Specifically, he deals with a father who is constantly consumed with cigarette smoke and a moustache that drives him crazy.

He hates his mother who wears "tasteless and fussy" clothes and he even hates "the way the heels of her shoes were worn away on their outside edges". The way in which he describes his hatred provides more reasoning as to why the reader is apt to feeling sorrow and sympathy. The imagination explored through the narrator's character substantiates the idea that the author has intended for the reader to enter a magical world. In this specific story, the moment the reader first enters the magical world is more or less the first time which the narrator meets the lady. She represents his escape from a world that is filled with harsh reality consumed by hatred for his life with his parents.

He feels that in finding love in her he has faded out his life at home, which in turn makes it possible for him to find his identity among his family. In the end his love for her is unmistakable, and as readers we are left with feelings for him and the liberating events that have taken place. Certainly, no longer does he have to be consumed by hatred for his parents and the life he has with them, he is forevermore liberated from a dull lifestyle, and he is liberated from personal seclusion through finding his identity.