Relationships of female characters with male characters
Relationships of female characters with male charactersFinal Paper Hasib Hossain
5 / 9 / 2001 112-72-8712
English 192.2
Final Paper
There’s a famous saying that goes like this: “Behind every great man,
there is a great woman.” However, not all men are great. All men have flaws
and women help men get through tough times and problems so they can come to
resolutions. In the novels The Man Within, Lord Jim, and The Catcher in the
Rye and in the movies Fight Club and American Beauty, the female characters’
relationships with the male characters are important and help the male
characters with their respective problems.
In The Man Within, Andrews’ problem stems from the fact that he has two
separate personalities. In the novel, Andrews said, “He was, he knew,
embarrassingly made up of two persons, the sentimental, bullying, desiring child
and another more stern critic. If someone believed in me- but he did not believe in himself. Always while one part of him spoke, another part stood on one side and wondered, ‘Is this I who am speaking? Can I really exist like this?’” (Greene 24). What he was trying to say is that 2 personalities dominated his life. One of his personalities was called the coward. This personality of his was really emotional. He would look at ordinary things and stare at them for long periods of time and see a lot of beauty in them. This personality also prevented himself from standing up for himself and against his fears. One of those fears was his nemesis in the novel, Carlyon, who he was trying to flee from because he
betrayed him by giving the local authorities information about his smuggling ring.
Another one of his fears was the fact he couldn’t live up to the legend of his
Father, who was known as a great smuggler but never treated Andrews the way
he wanted to be treated. The critic in Andrews always second guessed
everything he did. Whenever Andrews did something or was thinking about
doing something, the critic in him would question what he did. One example of
this was when he was about to tell Elizabeth why he was running and he was
about to fabricate a story but his hard, critical self said, “You fool, she’ll see through that. Haven’t you enough gratitude to speak the truth” (Greene 70)?
These personalities are polar opposities and Andrews lets them confuse him to
the point where he doesn’t know what to do sometimes. This is where Elizabeth
helps him a great deal.
Elizabeth’s relationship with Andrews affects him a lot and helps him
come to a resolution at the end of the novel. Half way through the novel of The Man Within, Andrews falls in love with Elizabeth. Not just because she’s beautiful,but because she has attained a balance in her personality that Andrews wish he had.
Elizabeth has found a median and that interests Andrews a lot and is...
To view the complete essay, you be registered.