Compare and contrast the view that 'An Arrest' is a tale of nature rejecting a human villain with the view that it is concerned only with a vengeful superego

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Raheel Idrees 11da

Compare and contrast the view that ‘An Arrest’ is a tale of nature rejecting a human villain with the view that it is concerned only with a vengeful superego

‘An Arrest’ is an ambiguous story. You can look at it in different ways. One way to see it is as a tale of nature rejecting a human villain. This view is put forward right from the beginning. When the narrator uses words such as “confined” and “fugitive” to describe the state of Orrin Brower, he creates the image of an animal isolated from human society. This is because ‘confined’ is usually a word to do with animals or mad people who are not allowed to be in contact with humans Further evidence to support the argument of Orrin Brower being portrayed as a savage beast comes when the author writes that he had, “recovered liberty,” which is like an animal being released into the wild. Orrin Brower does not feel guilty for beating Burton Duff or think of the consequences of his actions, as a human would; he only feels and acknowledges his freedom which is an animal-like thing to do. When he is on the run he decides to escape to the forest which may be as he is treated like an animal he starts to believe that he is one. The fact that the narrator states ‘he had the folly to enter a forest’ suggests that even though he thinks of himself as an animal, Brower is not and therefore does not belong in the forest- this proves that nature will inevitably try to discard him. As he enters the forest, we are told that ‘the night was pretty dark with neither moon nor stars visible’ which could be seen as a nature trying to confuse Brower. We begin to doubt Brower’s animal-like image when Bierce writes, “Brower had never dwelt thereabout, and knew nothing of the lay of the land” as, being portrayed an animal, he should be home in the wild. This idea builds up as he is, “naturally, not long in losing himself,” which shows that he is a human as he gets lost naturally as any human would in a forest where they do not belong. This shows that despite how he has been treated and what he believes, Brower is still human.

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The reader is pulled up short by the adverb ‘suddenly’; we become aware that the ‘road’ represents man’s intrusion into nature; it is a turning point in the story. Here, Brower meets a strange figure; ‘there before him saw, indistinctly the figure of a man, in the gloom’ which, because of the description Bierce uses, makes it hard for the reader to picture him- suggesting that the figure is less than a real person. The narrator says that “the two stood there like trees,” which is ironic as they are the complete opposite; they are not things which blend in ...

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