Life By Liam O Flaherty Analysis

When we become entirely aware and conscious, we understand, perceive, and recognize how life involves interaction and emotional connections. Essential to nourishing life, humans require a connection beyond basic needs. In the short story “Life,” author Liam O’Flaherty contrasts the interconnection between infancy and old age. The story revolves around an infant emerging into self-awareness, the grandfather, declining towards death, and the family that cares for both. In the context of life, awareness describes bringing people together, enhancing relationships and fostering emotional connections. The family dynamic presents an interesting irony. Speaking of the infant, O’Flaherty writes, “He was completely unaware of all but the solitary instinct that he had brought with him from the womb” (117). To explain, unconscious of his surroundings past the fundamental needs to sustain life, the infant lives in a state of mere survival. Likewise, the family's solution when he felt unwell; rocking his cradle until he
Early in the story, infant and grandfather exist emotionally separated from the family. The infant, due to youth and lack of self-awareness, the grandfather withdrawn, resulting from old age and emotional neglect. As the child approaches his first year, the two share gestures, sounds and giddy behaviors fostering a conscious, emotional connection. The irony being, the actions of one viewed as foolish, the other encouraged. The writing concludes with the infant, grandfather and grandmother sharing a spring day on the porch feeding birds. The weak grandfather, recently recovered from illness, contrasts the infant, growing stronger with each passing day. Unfortunately, this he connection between young and old does not last, as the grandfather succumbs to a heart attack while both are occupied with "silly" behavioral exchanges, imitating the jumping birds in competition for