english waterland

In "Waterland" Swift writes and elaborate on many characters but one in particular is showing a very interesting point regarding the mental instability and the fragility ones mind can reach. The character in question is the one of Mary Metcalfe.

Swift, in “Waterland”, is writing in a very mysterious way, he only describes people at the most important and pertinent portion of their lives and the remainder is left to the readers imagination. He also surprises the reader by censoring fundamental information about a character for a couple chapters than quickly revealing it therefore changing the reader's perception completely. This style of writing allows the author to build up formidably complex minds in very short periods of time.

Mary lives a disturbingly strange life that ends with her kidnapping a baby. the transformation of her personality following the abortion and her increasing mental instability shows the fragility of the human mind. Her character is remarkably realistic and therefore one of the most real characters in the novel.

The first insight we have about Mary Metcalfe is of an innocent village girl seemingly shaped to look in contrast to the "land-girls" who had come to help on her father's farm, they appear as "simmering in sexuality" and Mary as the "little Madonna" of her Roman Catholic father.

However we do already know at this point in the novel that she later on kidnaps a baby and is going to be married to Tom Crick. Swift tricks us into thinking that she is the typical scholarly "convent girl" however this view is quickly pushed aside as we hear of her sessions with Tom. We learn of her 'curious' side when she "explores holes" with Tom in the old windmill, Tom says: "this itch of Mary's was the itch of curiosity". In nine pages and to the reader's amusement Mary has gone from being the innocent "convent girl" to the bold woman who already controls men through sex. Her curiosity which plays such an important part in her life until the abortion even pushes her to investigate Dick. The way Swift completely transforms Mary in our mind is a proof of her effectiveness as a character. She also fits the stereotype of the naughty village girl who controls the entire teenaged boy population of the village with her looks and teasing. Later on we learn that Tom first took notice of her and her curiosity when they all get drunk next to the river and she manipulates them into first undressing then racing each other. It is then that she first becomes curious of Dick and his over-whelming physique. She also realises here the power her body can exerce over males and particularly Tom Crick. Swift portrays Mary as a girl capable of a lie to her own boyfriend if it is to her own advantage thus we suspect that "It was too big" is a lie, however Swift brilliantly never tells us the truth about this.

Next, Swift shows us the fragility of the human mind through Mary's guilt. The beginning of her madness starts when Dick kills Freddie because Mary told him that Freddie made her pregnant. She finally realises the harm her manipulating can do and as Tom says, "[her] Curiosity's gone", she suddenly loses her freshness and "seems three years older than me, as if she's become a hard featured woman with a past". This transformation in her personality that marks the beginning of her insanity makes Mary an incredibly believable character. Mary's madness is not evident after Freddie's death however we suspect that it was then that it was created and until the abortion it is lurking somewhere inside her. The abortion we later learn is the breaking point, Swift does not describe it in full, however we do get the impression of medieval ruthlessness from the atmosphere of gothic horror he creates and are left to imagine the minute by ourselves. After the abortion Mary realistically loses all interest in life and sex, at first Swift tricks us into thinking she has recovered when Tom comes back from the War but then we learn the truth about her 3 years of celibacy and are told of the mysterious voices she hears. Here again Swift offers us interesting insight on the human mind as he shows how people look back at the happiest moments of their lives and try to understand why all went wrong and often look at God as a solution to their problems, thus Mary looks back at the times when she was a pupil at St Gunhilda school and all was on her side, the only possible explanation for her bad luck is that she gave up her faith in God thus she becomes once again religious. We also see in "Waterland" how for some women having a baby is a necessity, almost an obsession and as Mary's knows that scientifically she can no longer have a baby she turns to God and asks for a miracle and when nothing happens her state worsens into what Tom calls a "condition called schizophrenia" and her mind hears a voice telling her to steal a baby. She deals with her inability to have a baby by imagining voices, which sadly marks the complete breakdown of her mind. Her desire to have a baby which was "always there, lurking, latent, ripening like some dormant forgotten seed" is more powerful in her than her real character which is curiosity, boldness and hunger for power and love. This battle inside her between what she wants, reality, what her father wanted and what Tom wants makes her completely lose her mind in so realistic a fashion that one can not help but think that Swift modelled her on a real person.

Ironically the two most interesting characters in "Waterland" finish their lives mad! This has a lot to say about what Swift thinks of society and people in general. Waterland is not only a masterpiece of beautiful writing it is also a deeply philosophical novel that deals with human weaknesses. However it is the characters with the forever-present Fenns that make "Waterland" the intensly touching novel that it is