Heartache: Plot, Theme +more

A detailed Summary of Heartache: Plot, Theme +more

A) The plot in "Heartache" is an important factor that helps contribute to the readers' understanding of the story. This story is about a lonely man, Iona, who works as a cabby in the late 19th century. His loneliness is a result of his sons' recent death and a lack of people to share his grief with, which results in pathos evoked from the reader. Throughout the story Iona picks up 4 passengers, and with each he attempts to share his anguish. His attempt to share his grief with his co-workers in the stabling yard also fails. Through his behaviour it is easy to see how desperate he is to share his sorrow, as throughout the story Iona tires to share his most personal emotions and feelings with complete strangers. None of his passengers, however, ever care about his story. The passengers care mainly about getting to their destination. After Iona drops his last passengers off, he tries to start a conversation with a doorkeeper. The doorkeeper, however, harshly sends him on his way by saying: "What have you stopped here for? On your way!"(Page 316) Iona also tries telling his sleepy co-workers in th

e stabling yard about his son, they show no emotion and simply go to sleep. In this quote found on page 316 "Iona looks to see the effect of his words, but notices none", Iona realized that his co-workers aren't willing to listen. At the end of the story, Iona becomes so desperate to share his grief he ends up telling his horse everything. By having Iona resort to sharing his sorrow with his horse, the author shows how uncompassionate humans can be.

C) The two main themes in "Heartache" and are loneliness and a lack of compassion exhibited by society. Both themes appear when Iona picks up his first passenger and remain evident until the end of the story. However the loneliness in this story comes from a direct result of the lack of compassion displayed by society. A good example of this comes from a quote on page 315 "The grief which has been allayed for a brief space comes back again and wrenches his heart more cruelly than ever." Iona's loneliness returns to him once his passengers leave, because he has no hope to expressing his feelings. From this quote its also evident that Iona's loneli

Some common words found in the essay are:
, lack compassion, iona's loneliness, page 315, share grief, iona's society, passengers care, story iona, throughout story iona, quote page 315, loneliness lack compassion, sorrow horse, throughout story, main themes, co-workers stabling yard,

Approximate Word count = 741
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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Heartache: Plot, Theme +more

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