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Life And Death In Harding's Short Story

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The use of a symbol has the ability to profoundly address a potent message while challenging the mindset of the audience. In Harding’s short story his main character George Crosby, is plagued with Parkinson's disease and renal cancer. Harding imposes an alternate reality despite Crosby’s terminal illness and final days of life. Opening his novel with “George Washington Crosby began to hallucinate eight days before he died” leaves an impacting affect that helps the audience create an emotional connection to Harding’s overall message (Harding 7). Harding’s novel Tinkers, uses symbolism to highlight the juxtaposition of life and death. Lying in a rented hospital bed in the living room of a house he built, Crosby envisions his house collapsing in on him. “The cracks widened into gaps. The locked wheels of his bed sank into new fault lines opening in the oak floor beneath the rug” (Harding 8). As cancer robs Crosby’s control, he is unable to protect himself. “All of it came crashing down into the cellar, he unable to even raise a hand to protect his face” (Harding 9) . The severity of Crosby’s hallucination paired with his inability to control the situation come to symbolize Crosby’s transition between life and death. Despite inching closer to death, Crosby is forced to feel very alive. …show more content…

The audience comes to learn that in spite of Howard leaving his son, he kept track of his whereabouts.The last thing Crosby remembers before his death is him and his father sitting on a couch during Christmas dinner catching up on things. Crosby and Howard’s reconnection does not last long, but in Howard’s final word he states. “It was good to see you again, George” (Harding 191). Over the course of the novel, Crosby’s opinion of his father as “a madman about to be taken to the madhouse.” fades as he matures and ages. Remembering his consolidation with Howard allows Crosby to continue his life through

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Holden’s unusual fantasy metaphorically displays this desire to save children’s innocence on his quest, and literally displays his obsession with death and preventing it, as being the catcher in the rye would accomplish both goals. F. Literary Critics also note that Holden’s catcher in the rye job is a dream of his that he pretends to be a reality to hide the fact that he secretly knows that he is unable to save the innocence of all children. G. Authors James E. Miller jr, and Arthur Heiserman explicitly state that, “Holden delights in circles – a comforting bounded figure which yet connotes hopelessness” (Miller, Heiserman 496). H. The “comforting bounded figure” is Holden’s catcher fantasy that he literally uses to comfort himself against the reality he refuses to believe because it “connotes hopelessness” and he is still too innocent and naïve to accept that. I. Holden possesses this dream as a weak attempt to save the innocence of children and to avoid a hopeless reality of defeat he has yet to accept.

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