OTHER AUTHOR'S CHOICES

Other Author’s Choices

 Margaret Laurence does an excellent job in the entire collection of showing how the environment people grow up in can influence their choices in life. Everyone that comes through the Brick House is a result of their environment in one way or another. We see this in the first story, in the juxtaposition of Uncle Dan and Grandfather Connor, in the Half Husky when we begin to understand why Harvey acts the way he does, and in this story, we see how Aunt Edna, Beth, and Vanessa have adapted to suit living in their environment-specifically, in living with Grandfather Connor. Not necessarily that they all adapted the same way. Beth has developed a gentle spirit to counteract how hard her father is. But she has also been influenced greatly by her mother, like how it says on page 171, “...something in her voice reminding me of the way Grandmother Connor used to speak, gently but with certainty.” Comparatively, Aunt Edna hides behind her humour to deal with him, and Vanessa turns to the world of her imagination, making up stories and creating things. These things are also a reaction to the time period they live in (the Depression).