The Half Husky :: miscellaneous

The Half HuskySocietys firewoodA literary essay on Margaret Laurences The Half-Husky by Mark Rozema What is it that determines what a individual is to become? Is it our genetic makeup or is it our milieu the sum of our experiences that brings our personalities upon us? In the short, loosely autobiographical story The Half-husky the author Margaret Laurence, gives her say on this. Harveys attitude and personality correspond with his environment genus Vanessas attitude is in tandem with her environment, and Nanuk has both a loving and a savage side. Is this simply his nature or is it the sum of his experiences? Margaret Laurence is suggesting that it is our experiences the environment we personify in that determine what we are to become. There is al closely a conduct correlation between Harvey and the environment in which he spent most of his bread and butter, more importantly the early years of his life, the developing years. Harvey is described as lethargic and pallid. This i s reflective of the area of town, the environment that he grew up in the north end of town. The north end of town is fill with shacks and shanties. An unhealthy environment like this saps one of their health and vitality reservation them like Harvey, pallid and lethargic. Harvey torments Nanuk on a regular basis, make him deliberate and pointless pain. He has no desired end, the pain he causes Nanuk is both a means and an end. This is the same as his home life where his aunt causes him pain when she hits him across the face with an explosive quickness. Harveys neighborhood is the kind of neighborhood where there is a mentality of do now and think later, so this is what Harvey does. Harvey is symbolized in this story by the unwashed poplar, he, like the wood is considered of little value and so is put into an environment in which there is little chance of him gaining any value. He is displace into a sinkhole, created by society. Harveys personality is reflective of his life expe riences he is a plebeian poplar log that is being stored outside. Like Harvey, Vanessa responds to situations in ways very similar to the ways her main influences would react to those same situations. When talking to her brother about what to name her new frankfurter she notices that her voice carries a disturbing echo of her grandfathers voice.