the sweet hereafter

A detailed Summary of the sweet hereafter

If there is one aspect of the novel The Sweet Hereafter that has been overlooked by many readers, it is the method in which Russell Banks coincides the major events of the novel to the seasons of the year. More particularly, to the seasonal extremes of the year, the chilling frost of January and the suffocating warmth of August. It is within these two points of the year that the story unfolds, and takes us with the town of Sam Dent on its journey of resolution.

The event that originally sets in motion the entire course of the book is the accident. This accident, which took the lives of fourteen children, is truly a disaster of monumental impact. In a small town like Sam Dent, N.Y. , this is almost an entire generation of this town. When the school bus left the unplowed and snowy road for the deep and frozen sand pit, it occurred at a time of the year when death is all around. Since winter is thought of as a season of ending, of stillness where nothing grows or blooms, it automatically evokes a sense of loss. This season gave Russell Banks a natural starting point from which to convey the sense of desperation that the town is feeling. Winter is also the darkest season of the year, with the longest nights and sho

rtest days of the year occurring within it. This aspect also helps to express the darkest part of the lives of the parents who have lost their children. The lenghthly time without light shows how the parents no longer have many sources of joy or warmth within their lives. The winter brings out the harshest and cruelest of all of lives realities.

Dent. They are able to come together at the annual demolition derby. This ritual brings the town back together and lets slip any skeletons left in the closet of the town. This time of the year provides nature with her most radiant sense of life throughout the entire year. Again like the seasons, Banks writes his characters as if they were almost reborn. Billy Ansel, the man who has lost two children and a wife, seems to be full of life, even though he is slightly intoxicated at the time. But the entire crowd at the the demolition derby was swimming in life. They were bathing in all of natures beauty, while reliving their past months of loss and sorrow with every smashing fender, and every gunned engine.

The winter also brings out some of the worst in people. Many of the citizens of Sam Dent went as far as to higher a lawyer, as if a lawyer would somehow ease the pain of their loss. Banks shows how, in this great time of devastation to the town, many of the population fall to the darker and more vengeful feelings that the lawyers tap into. Mitchell Stephens is the worst of the lawyers. He inspires the grieving parents, while really only

Some common words found in the essay are:
Sam Dent, Russell Banks, Nicole Burnell, Billy Ansel, Mitchell Stephens, Dent NY, sam dent, russell banks, Sweet Hereafter, , town sam dent, citizens sam dent, nicole burnell, winter brings, town sam, demolition derby, survive spring, citizens sam, lost children, mitchell stephens,

Approximate Word count = 1019
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English