summer flower :: essays research papers

As we walked among the flowers we began to tremble. He said to her what a wonderful world. Oh my she explained to her husband of fifteen thousand years. And from there on they became universally involved. After reading Mervyn Peake’s short story â€Å"Same Time, Same Place,† it is apparent that the author intended to create a story based around fantasy. Customarily, fantasy is mistaken for stories that include abstract creatures and inconceivable story lines. Under these circumstances one would then conclude that Peake’s short story may not in fact be categorized to such an extent. However, when the formal definition of fantasy is applied to this story it becomes evident that Peake does more than hint at a story based around make believe. Fantasy can be better understood as one of two types of non-realistic fiction, the other being science fiction. In this case fantasy resembles the psychological state of fantasy in that it provides the reader with an experience of liberation similar to that provided by a daydream. Fantasy typically contains 1) a magical world in which liberating events can plausibly take place and 2) main characters with whom the reader closely identifies and through whom he or she enters the magical world. Now, in order to relate this formal definition to Peake’s short story, it is more applicable to break down the definition of fantasy and apply necessary parts from the short story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Of the many characters mentioned in the story, only one proved identifiable. From the opening lines, the narrator and main character is the first character the reader is able to identify. The young man we first come across seems responsible for the curious and sympathetic feelings the reader obtains. The narrator proclaims that his life of twenty three years has been nothing more than a bore to him, and perhaps he is having trouble with his own personal identification among his family. His time spent at home has left him to deal with hatred that has accumulated from being around his parents and not knowing his role in the family. Specifically, he deals with a father who is constantly consumed with cigarette smoke and a moustache that drives him crazy. He hates his mother who wears â€Å"tasteless and fussy† clothes and he even hates â€Å"the way the heels of her shoes were worn away on their outside edges.† The way in which he describes his hatred p rovides more reasoning as to why the reader is apt to feeling sorrow and sympathy.