Mule Killers Essay

Mule Killers, 2004 by Lydia Peele is the gripping report card of heat and the difficulties around it. It deals with issues such as set outhood, friendship and marriage, including the conflicts surrounding these. Lydia Peele presents the story of a commence give tongue to his countersign, who is the narrator, an anecdote from his early life. The anecdote is an unhappy delight story of the narrators fathers love life, and the relationship to the narrators gramps. In a story with its roots in coarse America, a much deeper story appears. This is a story of love, hope and the decisions of life.It is the story of the struggles and difficulties that argon a fracture of life. The story, set in the countryside of the USA, presents a group of interesting characters with strong personalities, that each rich person their expression of participate to the story. It is especially the father and the grandfather that have great signifi rout outce to the Lydia Peeles short story. The gran dfather is presented as a human beings who is afraid of letting go of his usual surroundings and habits. This is seen on line 77-78, rapscallion 4. The grandfather tells the father Youre gonna see a future I cant steady stretch my mind around. Not whatsoever of it. I cant even begin to theorize.The fact that he has such difficulties imagining the future, points towards the conclusion that he would sort of live in the present. He would rather live his old fashioned life and not worry ab proscribed the future. The grandfathers way of thinking seems old fashioned and generally conservative. When his son explains how he accidentally impregnated a young woman, without having any intentions of marrying her, the conservatism shines through. The grandfather replies on line 86-87, page 4This is wrongYou got no choice except to take care of it. This is wrong. The two different worlds of son and father clash, and the true differences are orientn. notwithstanding though father and son l ook upon the world with different points of cyclorama, the son still has massive take to be for his old man. His father is actually his role model, which is also shown throughout the text My father has his fathers height, and he carries it apologetically(line 7, page 2). The word apolegitacally points towards the fact that the son is aware of the superiority that his father possesses. The son has difficulties living up to his father and his way of life. He wants to possess his fathers ability to show no emotion and how to be a real man. He hides the feelings that strong men traditionally do not feel He is trying hard to keep certain things inside his knocker things like fear, sadness, and uncertainty. (line 7-9, page2).This could very likely be a typical trend of the time and environment that the story takes vest in. The final main character in the anecdote is the narrator, who is the son to the young man with love problems in the short story. The son is a first person narrato r, so the point of view is limited to him. His main function is to tell the story. An actual presentation of his personality is not included. As give tongue to earlier, the setting has great importance for the personalities of the main characters in the story.The setting is in Nashville, just before industrialization novelized the farming life with tractors. The father in the story carries typical traits of a farmer dedicated to old norms, such as no illegitimate children. A possible explanation of this could be that the asseverate of Tennessee is located in the al-Quran belt, which is known as a highly religious area. There are also other elements of the setting that point out the religious beliefs that the two main characters have At church she always sits with the same girl (line 14), page 2.The use of the adverb always proves that the son and father view church on a regular basis. Whilst reading Mule Killers several obvious themes jump out on the page. The main theme seen in the short story is the generational difference between father and son. As stated earlier, the father tries to hold on to his old norms and principals, whereas the son believes in a modern way of life. The difference is illustrated when the son decides not to marry the girl whom he impregnated. The father regards this as detached and irresponsible.The views of the son seem to relate to the modern world of today. It becomes more and more ordinary to have a baby outside of marriage without the intentions of helping the mother nurture the child. A specific example is seen in MTVs Teenage Mom television program where several teenage girls give birth. The program also shows the way the father typically tends to leave the mother after birth. If this had happened in the time where the Mule Killers takes place or prior to it, it would have had major consequences for the father of the child.One can therefore conclude that the times constantly change and some people will always be caugh t in the past, which in this flake is the father. This could also be a possible message of the story. The message could be that norms change throughout history, scarce not all people follow the change. Regardless of this, it is still important to respect the people who have a hard time dealing with the future. Lydia Peele manages to take the reader on a journey of love and the relationship between the narrators father and grandfather.She also shows the reader the different norms and beliefs that the two generations have, and the clashes than can rise to the surface due to this. She also presents the stereotypical religious middle class farmer at this time. This is done by using a small farmer town located in the Bible belt as a setting. The short story is a touching and mind bobbling tale characterisation the relationship between two sets of father and son. It tells the tale of the relationship between the narrators father and grandfather. The relationship between the narrators f ather and grandfather is presented as a relationship construct on a general respect for the elderly.The narrators father respects the grandfather since he listens to what he says, and obeys the rules that the grandfather upholds. It is also the tale of how the setting, which is the farmer community in the US during the industrialization, has a major importance for the outcome of the story. The highly religious setting is represented in the Narrators grandfathers point of view regarding childbirth. All in all the short story shows the difficulties surrounding love and how to deal with it in a sensible matter.