The Sound Of The Singing

A detailed Summary of The Sound Of The Singing


The short story, The Sound Of The Singing, deals with conflicts and how they effect the people in them and around them. Vanessa McLeod is a dynamic character who changes her perception of herself in the course of the story. Through her changed perception, Margaret Laurence is suggesting that a person's identity is change by their surroundings and the conflicts they fight through in there lives.

Vanessa, still naive, consciously resists the "upright" values of her family and believes she has control of her own identity therefore she, purposely attempts in many early parts of the story, to show ways of opposing her entire family. "I was prepared, for the question was the same each week. I rarely listened in Sunday school, finding it more entertaining to compose in my head stories of spectacular heroism in which I figured as a central character, so I never knew what the text had been." This shows that the reason she does not listen in Sunday school is because it doesn't hold any interest for her. But openly knowing the question before it is asked ea


She is shocked, therefore, when she finally becomes conscious of her similarities to her grandfather, thereby having to accept that her identity has been irrevocably shaped without her knowing it. "Yet I veer away from his touch, and that was probably not fair, either." She realized that she was very simular to her grandfather and is shocked. She reacts and tries to not accept it. But she realizes it is to late to change it and has to accepts what she has become. Although she runs after Uncle Dan at the end....

Many years later, Vanessa admits the full impact of her upbringing in shaping her character. "In the presence of other kids he embarrassed me. His serge trousers were polka-dotted with spilled food, and when his nose ran he wiped it with a sweeping motion of his claw hand. He never cleaned his finger nails," And Vanessa's thoughts are influenced by the rest of her family quite clearly here. Through this maturing of Vanessa's perception, Margaret Laurence suggests that throughout the story people are altered by events, conflicts, and the people around them in different ways. The So

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 738
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

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