The Half-Brothers

There are very few settings involved in this story, there is the home of the narrator’s mother at the beginning, the home of the narrator at his farther farm and the fells which the narrator describes it as, “It looked dark and gloomy enough; but everything was so still that I thought I should have plenty of time to get home before the snow came down.” And, “The right path was clear enough in the daytime, although at several points two or three exactly similar diverged from the same place; but when there was a good light, the traveller was guided by the sight of distant objects, - a piece of rock, - a fall in the ground - which were quit invisible to me now.” This is where the narrator gets lost.  I think that the narrator choose these settings because this is were the narrator grew up and so new the most about.  I think these settings achieved the purpose of the story  because the last setting illustrates the difficulty faced by the eldest brother to find the narrator at great risk.

There are few main characters in this story, the narrator, his brother Gregory, his mother, his aunt fanny and his farther William Preston.  The narrator describes himself as, “I suppose I was a cleaver lad; at any rate, I always got plenty of praise; and was , as we called it, the cock of the school.” He also says how everybody thinks of his brother, “But everyone said he was stupid and dull, and this stupidity and dullness grew upon him.” And also he says that his farther, “My farther was glad, and proud, and sorry, all in a breath; glad and proud that a son was born to him; and sorry for his poor wife’s state, and to think how his angry words had brought it on.  But he was a man who liked better to be angry than sorry,”.  The hero of the story is obviously Gregory, the narrators older brother because he is saved by him.  Gregory does not really have any heroic qualities however, he had the courage to go out and gave his brother his muad to save his brother I quote, “ ‘It is of no use,’ said he, as if to himself. ‘We are no nearer home than we were when we started, as far as I can tell.  Our only chance is in Lassie.  Here! Roll thee in my maud, lad, and lay thee down on this sheltered side of this bit of rock.  Creep close under it, lad, and I’ll lie by thee, and stride to keep the warmth in us.”

I think that if the story was to have a villain of the story; it would be William Preston simply because of the way he ill treated Gregory I quote, “One day, he gave way to his temper, and cursed and swore at Gregory, who had got into some mischief, as children will.”  I think that the author has chosen William Preston to be the ‘Villain’ and Gregory to be the ‘Hero’ because it make the story more of a tragedy because when it seemed that life would have got better for the narrators mother and Gregory, Gregory is faced with a new problem that makes his life worse after losing his mother.

I think that the language is relatively descriptive but the narrator fails to describe most of his surroundings.  However, the narrator is very descriptive about what he has learned from his aunt fanny about his mother, “When my aunt came back from the funeral, she found my mother in the same place, and as dry eyed as ever.”  I would describe the language as mostly formal I quote, “One day - it was Aunt Fanny who told me all this about my poor mother, long after her death - as the sisters were sitting together, Aunt Fanny working, and my mother hushing Gregory to sleep, William Preston, who was afterwards my farther, came in.” The story is written in dialect because I think that the phrase cock of the school  that the narrator said is a phrase known only in Cumberland, “I suppose I was a clever lad; at any rate, I always got plenty of praise; and was, as we called it, the cock of the school.”  I think that the Author choose dialect because the story is a realist story and would not sound authentic if it was written entirely in standard English.  I think that the author uses quite long sentences, I think that the reason why the author has chosen to use long sentences instead of short ones is because the story sounds as if it is being told, I think that this makes it sound more realistic.  The author has used mostly short familiar words because it sounds like it is a person speaking, that makes the story more realistic.  I have noticed that the grammar and words used have changed, “Yet not for the world my farther have grudged him anything that money could purchase.  That was, as it were in the bond when he had wedded my mother.”  The word wedded now means spoiling and I have never encountered a modern piece of writing which has started the beginning of a sentence with, “That was, as it were,”

I think that the purpose of the story was other than to entertain the reader is more to make people realise how difficult it is for poorer people living in harsh conditions and to perhaps examine human relationships.  I think that the author has achieved the purpose of the story using realism and tragedy because it has an impact on the reader.

I found that whilst reading the story that I experienced riotous anger against William Preston and his workers for not treating Gregory with respect and because of William kicking Lassie Gregory’s collie, I also felt sympathy for the narrator, his farther and his aunt because of the loss of Gregory but most of all because of the hard life faced by Gregory’s mother because I think she had the worst life of all.  After I had finished reading to story I felt glad that I did not have to live under such harsh conditions I also felt the same about Gregory because all those felt guilty about his death, which they should have.  The story had a large impact.