Garden of Eden
In his memoir Night, Elie Wiesel recounts the horror of witnessing his own father physically disintegrate after they together have endured so many months of suffering in Nazi death camps. During the last days of his father's life in a death camp, Elie desperately tries to comfort his father by telling him that "this was not the end, that we would go back to the house together" (102). Elie tells his father that little white lie, just as Willy Loman's wife Linda indirectly does in the Death of a Salesman and just as Catherine's husband David indirectly does in The Garden of Eden. In a modest way, Linda "lies" to Willy by saying soothing words to him, words that he wants to hear, and by never confronting him about his continuing denial of reality. Likewise, David "lies" to Catherine at the beginning of their marriage by going along with her wishes rather than giving honest, straightforward answers. David thus enables Catherine to believe that nothing is wrong, that she is indeed stable. Neither Linda nor David "lies" spitefully or intentionally; however, because of their tolerating silence, they enable their spouses to come closer and closer to their collapse and ruin. Although Linda consistently exhibits her care, love,
But although both David and Linda are at fault for enabling their spouses to mentally deteriorate, David remains more at fault because he intentionally convinces himself that nothing is wrong, just as a scared spouse of an alcoholic or abuser at first denies reality. Even in the beginning of his marriage with Catherine, David suspects a problem but smothers it with his optimism, "But maybe it would be a happy change and a good surprise" (14). Deep within, David knows that he is playing with fire, "But he was very worried now and he thought what will become of us if things have gone this wildly and this dangerously and this fast? What can there be that will not burn out in a fire that rages like that?" (21). But instead of listening to his heart, he tries to extinguish the fire by doubting his own conscience, "And who are you to judge and who participated and who accepted the change and lived it? If that is what she wants who are you not to wish her to have it? You're lucky to have a wife like her and a sin is what you feel bad after and you don't feel bad. Not with the wine you don't feel bad, he told himself, and what will you drink when the wine won't cover for you?" (21). When David can no longer ignore his own conscience, he turns to alcohol for its numbing effect on his thoughts. Unlike Linda, who knows the
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Approximate Word count = 895
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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