Interpretation of the short story Yellow
Interpretation of Yellow The short story “Yellow by Peter Carry Is about being Insecure and how lack of self- esteem can lead a person to suicide. It Is also about changing as a person by gathering enough courage to do It. The story revolves around the mall character Jon, a second-string writer on a London listings magazine, who has been forced on a learn-to-scuba-dive trip in Egypt. Jon is an insecure, overweight man with no willpower, pushing forty and dealing with a midlife crisis. There are also two minor characters in the story, Beret the scuba diving instructor and Brian the other student n Beret’s group.
The story is told over a few days and mainly takes place in the ocean, the diving school and his hotel, though the hotel is used for nothing more than drinking liquor. The story is told by an omniscient third person narrator that gives us a better impression of Son’s way of thinking so we can tell why he in the end chooses to drown himself. Jon is lonely on the trip, the editor didn’t pay for his girlfriend to come with him and he Is envious of the other student Brian. “But he envied Brian his calm, the methodical way he assembled and clambered Into the ear. ” (p. 1, l. 9-20) Brian Is a calm, methodical person who Is In control of his own life, unlike Jon. They do not have anything In common besides knowledge of alcoholic beverages, and all conservations just lead nowhere. Son’s relationship with his girlfriend does not go well either, “The silences between them had multiplied, then lengthened into an empty continuum. ” (p. 2, l. 54-55). The primary reasons for Son’s mid-life crisis are his not-so-well relationship and his suppressed frustration over always being called “Yellow, a term meaning coward. He thought of his fear and became angry. Well, this would show them he wasn’t yellow. (p. 2, l. 128-129). He is sick and tired of his life and tries to drink his misery away but even the alcohol is not on his side, “He poured more gin, but no matter how much he swallowed it was never enough. ” (p. 1, l. 57). In the end, he could only numb his pain by drinking water. Jon actually clings to life at one point, refusing to die. “Beret grabbed him and thrust in a mouthpiece just before Jon broke the surface, gasping for life, clawing in air. ” (p. 3, l. 99-100). This shows that he is not completely ready to let go of his life, even though having contemplated suicide a number of times.
He finally transform in the end, he gathers up courage to prove that he is not a coward and let go of his old self. He starts drinking of the ocean water and look back up at himself from below. “Well, this would show them he wasn’t yellow. Then he was calm again and looked back up at himself from below. ” (p. 2, l. 128-129). He finally experiences the calm which symbolizes the transformation to his new self. He has left the old ‘Jon’ behind and has come the new, free and Ideal ‘Jon’. Longboats Hughes’ “Suicide’s Note”, where the calm face of the river asks for a kiss, fits Jon perfectly, as he accepts the river’s kiss of death. Heir nothingness part of an immeasurable emptiness, as if they has shows how he thinks of the depths as an opportunity to leave his life behind. In William Wordsmith’s poem, “Lines composed a Few miles Above Tinder Abbey’, where he feels freed by natures living air, blue sky and round ocean Just like how the ocean is Son’s beautiful escape way, which releases him from his depressed thoughts ND frees him of his misery. Man vs.. Nature William Wordsmith is a poet who lived during the Romantic era and was heralded as a genius and was the source of inspiration to many.
In his poem, “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tinder Abbey’, he is saddened by man’s inferiority when compared to natures many wonders such as the beauty of a sunset, a raging waterfall and the living air. William Wordsmith felt that nature was an everlasting source of inspiration that knew no boundaries and is astounded by Mother Nature hat fills people up with calming and positive thoughts whereas the human mind chains people with stressful and negative thoughts aiming to hurt and dominate the mind of the individual.
Jon and William Wordsmith share the same love for nature because it is their source of inspiration. Jon has grown tired of the Job, his life and the cruel and the indifferent society he lived in. Jon was inspired by the oceans deep dark abyss and felt like this was the place he could get away from it all, the place where he could be at peace.
