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As For Me and My House by Sinclair Ross An analysis of how weather and climate can be seen in the characters.

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As For Me and My House by Sinclair Ross An analysis of how weather and climate can be seen in the characters.
Isolation and depression are constant throughout "As For Me and My House not only in the storyline, but in character development as well. Sinclair Ross creates believable characters by using the climate and weather as a way to emphasize their feelings and emotions. Depression and isolation are the obvious themes that emerge but through out the story a want for more is evident. It is not merely a desire for material possessions but more the desire for an emotional void to be filled. Mrs. Bentley displays strong feelings of the need for material belongings but it is only a mask to hide the love that is lacking in her life. Through the material things she believes she can close the gap between her and her husband. Ross uses the weather and climate to construct characters that his audience can relate to.

Both Mr. And Mrs. Bentley have the same characteristics, but the ways in which they are displayed differ. The Bentleys live on the parries where the climate is very dry, and Ross uses the dryness of the land to accentuate what is found in them. They are comparable because the dry weather affects many parts of daily life, and their dryness is a hindrance to each other's lives. When the weather is dry it affects all parts of life, and it affects the moral of all involved. At church Mrs. Bentley notices that the people are not listening to what the preacher is saying but rather: " they were listening to the wind", when they listened it was as "if they were trying to read the sky"(58). The dryness that is felt in the weather is only a reflection of what Mrs. Bentley feels on the inside. Physically she is dry because she is unable to have children. This puts a damper on her spirit because she thinks that if she could have her husbands' baby he would love her and give her the respect that she needs and deserves. She believes that in time she could convince herself that her husbands and Judith's baby would be hers: "that in time his son would become my son too"(214). Her

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