The Creature

The Creature is a short story written by Edna O’Brien who is an Irish author. To me this story was a bit difficult to both understand and read, this mainly because of the language and complicity of the story itself. I had to read it throw almost three times to even understand the whole story .Therefore it ‘s a bit hard for me to pinpoint the main message in the story but if I would give it a good guess I would say that it’s a psychological story about betrayal, hope and despair. But first if all I’m going to fresh up your memory with a short summary of the plot.
The story is narrated by a young woman who has come to a village in western Ireland as a substitute teacher. In the village there is an old woman whose story is well known in the community. Evidently because of her poverty and the series of losses that have plagued her throughout life, she is called "The Creature,". Which I guess suggests a less than human status. The neighbors know that the old woman is utterly alone, but seems to pay no attention to her. Perhaps the local people believe that God must have cursed her, because "you sow what you reap."   The narrator is fascinated with this widow whom everyone calls the “Creature,” and she seeks to befriend the woman. During visits to the Creature's house, the narrator, hears the tales of the woman's meager, sorrow-filled life and eventually becomes a regular visitor at the Creature’s hut.
She learns that the Creature is a widow who has two childen: a daughter who lives in Canada and a married son who lives a few miles away on a farm. Her husband had been shoot to death just two years after their marriage and thus she had to raise the children alone.
The farm her son lived on, which originally was the Creature’s farm, used to be relatively prosperous. But unfortunately all the animals developed hoof-and-mouth disease and all died.   Nonetheless, she managed to keep body and soul together and managed to send the children away to school. Her son returned from...