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Sunset Song By Lewis Grassic Gibbon Sparknotes

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The following essay is a social analysis of the character of Chris Guthrie in Sunset Song written by Lewis Grassic Gibbon. Chris Guthrie is a character who possesses many other admirable qualities alongside her independent thoughtfulness; including her confidence, resilience, sensitivity and sexuality to name but a few. The main and recurring theme throughout this novel is that of change, and Gibbon cleverly depicts this theme through the eyes of the character Chris Guthrie. Gibbon uses advanced symbolism to portray these qualities to the reader and to explain the character's development process from childhood to adulthood. In Sunset Song, Chris Guthrie is introduced as a fifteen year old Scottish peasant girl living in the small Scottish …show more content…

Like many young girls, Chris was of the opinion that she ought to follow her mother's way of living. However she also felt a duty to listen and obey her father's instructions. Torn between two opposing paths Gibbon uses this to show the reader how Chris had two conflicting sides to her character; an aspect many readers may be able to empathise with. Primarily, Chris had a passion for land and the farm life through her relationship with her mother, Jean Guthrie. In a bid to link Chris's life with the land, Gibbon divides the middle of the novel (The Song) into sections; Ploughing, Drilling, Seedtime and Harvest, each section is symbolically represents of a specific stage in Chris' life. She had developed a close bond to the farming way of living and highly valued the fact that the farm was the most important aspect in their lives: 'The land was forever, it moved and changed below you, but was forever, you were close to it and it to you, not at a bleak remove it held you and hurted you.'1 Chris's close relationship with her mother is representative of her closeness to the land; Gibbon uses this notion to introduce the impact the land has on Chris's character and explains the way she finds safety and solace in it in times of need or

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Certain places and things caused certain things to happen, such as the attacks on 9/11, when 2 planes dove into the world trade center. If the world trade center were not there, then no planes would have crashed into them killing the people that they killed. Possibly the attacks never would have happened or even more people would have died due to the planes crashing into other places. Much like how in the novel Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech the house and farm in Bybanks Kentucky is important to Sal because, that's where the sad death of Sal’s baby sister accord, where Sal’s mother lived and left. The farm also left an imprint in Sal’s heart.

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Through her use of a changing narrative perspective, Margaret Laurence creates a contrast in character development. Laurence shows the reader the male protagonist of the story, Chris, through the eyes of a child first, then of an adolescent, and finally through an adult’s eyes. At the beginning of “Horses of the Night,” the narrator, Vanessa notices that Chris looks completely oblivious towards Vanessa’s Grandfather’s belligerence, as he is displaying “no sign of feeling anything.” This is the first sign Laurence provides about Chris escaping in order to cope with reality. Next, when Vanessa visits Shallow Creek she comes to a realization that most of the stories Chris has shared with her about the farm, only exists “in some other dimension.”

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Chris McCandless was a man who was unhappy with the society he lived in. He hated when his parents bought him expensive things, like cars, when there were people in the world that can't afford to feed themselves. He also dealt with that fact that his father was having children with his old wife when he was married to another woman, which greatly upset Chris’s opinion of his father. Another person who was upset with the society he lived in was William Wallace.

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As terrible as it must be to lose a son the way they did, the Mccandless’ know that their behaviors and actions throughout Chris’ childhood is what would lead to the tragic end to a boy with a kind heart, a strong work ethic and just wanted to be a little different

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Under the eyes of a young child, the modern society looks so innocent, fills with limelight, but as one grows up, he realized the world that he about to explore is not the same as he once thought. Deep under the layer of that pure, virtuous view is the layer of darkness, corrupted, complicated society in which people changed completely-from a sheep to a wolf-to adapt to the tough environment. Most people will accept the transformation, but there are also others who want to resist the change. Chris McCandless belongs to the resistance group as he decided to leave his society to find a better world, a world in which he could live a simple life, with no money and other materialistic objects. With his tragic death, he was criticized by the public

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