The Significance Of Ghosts In Ray Bradbury's 'Another Fine Mess'

' Another fine mess' is a short story written by Ray Bradbury. This story revolves around two middle aged women named Bella and Zelda, who have lost a sense of self love and affection. Apart from these two women, two ghosts named, Laurel and Hardy are also employed in the story to symbolically represent the unconscious longing for love and care by Bella and Zelda. These ghosts who once used to be renowned artists, had died devoid of love, appreciation and sympathy. In this text, the two women hear the voices of these ghosts every night, which turn out to be the voices of their inner heart craving for the forgotten self-love and dignity, and eventually gets faded off, upon their confession to the ghosts about how much they used to admire their

She is inquisitive about the voices she hears from down the hill and tries to find the hidden mystery behind those voices. Although this mystery is within her, yet she is unable to acknowledge it. As it goes in the story, "…. asked Bella of the darkness, the window and herself." Here, 'the darkness' reveals her sad inner self which peeps through the window of hope to find the lost self-love and affection. Zelda, on the other hand, is also gripped with her old days which is the reason why she always used to write about the past. And, she literally feels suspicious when she hears about the ghosts from Bella, which evokes her repressed memories. Furthermore, the writer states, "And the two women edged along the walk to the rim of the old hill near the old steps in old Hollywood..." Notice here, that the word 'old' is repetitiously used, in order to highlight the significance of past in the lives of these two women. Their visit to the same old hills elicits a strong connection between their forgone days and their minds. This is the mere reason why Bella and Zelda feel as if time had taken a half turn around them. The 'stairs of the old hill' which symbolically represent their past days, evokes their memories quite

Bella and Zelda not only hear the voices, but can feel those. The writer presents the ghosts in a way these two women see themselves. The melancholy of the piano dramatically represents their hearts searching for sympathy. Infact, the tone of the voices personifies the 'fine mess' going on within their hearts. On one hand this 'fine mess' is so beautiful, that the two women cannot resist to shed tears while on the other hand, it is as mysterious as it could be. Moreover, it appears in the story, that the voices are heard in contrasting tones. As the writer states, "The voices below rose and fell and one cried: 'Why don’t' you do something to help me?". Apparently, these voices are seeking for consolation. The ghosts depicting their hearts find it utterly difficult to lift the piano upstairs. Their burdened hearts are heavy and so is the piano. Also, the rising and falling tones of the voices signify the chaos and the continuous flow of emotions concurring within Bella and Zelda's