The Arena
Trying to let go of the past
One of the worst things a parent can ever experience is to loose a child. Such a loss can be very difficult to overcome, but it is very important that you keep living your life especially if you have a family and people, who need you and your attention. The main character in the short story “The Arena” written by Martin Golan in 2008 is struggling with the loss of his son. He is still living in the past and is finding it hard to forget about his dead son even though he knows that his new wife and son need his attention. The story gives us an insight into any parent’s worst nightmare and also the struggle to overcome this loss.
A first person narrator, who is also the main character, tells the story. The narrative technique gives the story the dimension that it needs for the reader to really understand the main character and his problems. We get to know all his thoughts and feelings towards the life he had before the death of his son. The structure of the story is special because of the fact that the drive isn’t important, but rather the things that are going on in the main characters mind. We are actually following two different stories about his life at the same time. But the short story is divided in passages so we know when it is present time and when he is thinking about the past. It is sometimes difficult to make a distinction between, what is happening now and what has happened in the past. But this structure is showing the reader, how his perception of reality is after his son died. Everything is merging together and it is very confusing for the reader. You can say that the structural confusion is a symbol of his state of mind after he lost his son. “I was confused for a moment which life I was in.1” He as well as the reader is confused at this particular point in the story.
The main character is a male, who is now married to his second wife, whom he has a son with. We don’t get to know much about his family, but
One of the worst things a parent can ever experience is to loose a child. Such a loss can be very difficult to overcome, but it is very important that you keep living your life especially if you have a family and people, who need you and your attention. The main character in the short story “The Arena” written by Martin Golan in 2008 is struggling with the loss of his son. He is still living in the past and is finding it hard to forget about his dead son even though he knows that his new wife and son need his attention. The story gives us an insight into any parent’s worst nightmare and also the struggle to overcome this loss.
A first person narrator, who is also the main character, tells the story. The narrative technique gives the story the dimension that it needs for the reader to really understand the main character and his problems. We get to know all his thoughts and feelings towards the life he had before the death of his son. The structure of the story is special because of the fact that the drive isn’t important, but rather the things that are going on in the main characters mind. We are actually following two different stories about his life at the same time. But the short story is divided in passages so we know when it is present time and when he is thinking about the past. It is sometimes difficult to make a distinction between, what is happening now and what has happened in the past. But this structure is showing the reader, how his perception of reality is after his son died. Everything is merging together and it is very confusing for the reader. You can say that the structural confusion is a symbol of his state of mind after he lost his son. “I was confused for a moment which life I was in.1” He as well as the reader is confused at this particular point in the story.
The main character is a male, who is now married to his second wife, whom he has a son with. We don’t get to know much about his family, but