Short Story To Set Our House In Order

In the short story To Set Our House in Order, written by Margaret Laurence, the story took place in Grandmother Macleod’s house during the depression of the 1930’s. Ewen the son of Grandmother MacLeod and his family Beth and Vanessa moved in with f=Grandmother MacLeod when Ewen who is a doctor couldn’t afford the persistence for his family. Ewen wife Beth was pregnant which was not easy during this time but also because Beth had a miscarriage once before however Grandmother MacLeod and her iron-fisted, stern attitude caused much more tension .Vanessa, Grandmother Macleod’s granddaughter was teaching who her grandma really is .Vanessa learns that her grandmother has been through some difficult times. Grandmother MacLeod controls her son Ewen
and how he raises his daughter Vanessa. Also when Ewen was young he had a younger brother named Roderick and when they went out to fight in the war he was shot and killed however Ewen always felt that sort of guilt that Roderick was already at a disadvantage because when they were young kids Ewen air rifle took one eye of Roderick’s out and maybe if Roderick was not handicapped with only an eye to see he would f survived the battle..
However Grandmother MacLeod always puts it on Ewen for what has happened to her son. When she lost her son grandmother MacLeod thought she would also die but didn’t. Grandmother MacLeod tells Vanessa “God loves order and wants each of us to set our house in order”.pg. (--------------) Grandmother MacLeod is very controlling however also a very difficult life had. Grandmother has control of her son Ewen however she has a difficult like due ti her loss of her husband and her son Roderick and this difficult change in economy wan not easy on anyone especially Grandmother
MacLeod
One that is head of the family and acts in a way that portray power and dominance over everyone else can also have tough time and it is sometimes what makes them so demanding in the first place.
Grandmother MacLeod is so controlling over Ewen Grandmother MacLeod shows this when she criticizes Ewen for not having a maid that could help Beth around the house work and also when she slowly but aggressively forces Ewen to name the new baby boy Rod. Although Grandma MacLeod is always at home, she decided that Ewen was being ridiculous for not listening to her and Grandma MacLeod always thought she was right. Especially the actions of Ewen. She just assumes that he should do everything she asks of him although he is a grown man himself, She also feels that Ewen will always have this responsibility to do as she says because of what happened with his brother Roderick. Grandmother MacLeod has so much control over a, that all she has to do is give him sort of a glare and Ewen will give in. Grandmother MacLeod also feels that she has to control Ewen because she only has such few things that she has control over. Grandmother MacLeod has also had many difficult times in her life, this is shown when we learn that she has lost her husband, her grandchild and also the loss of her son Roderick. throughout the story , shows how grandmother MacLeod always gets these migraines and headaches showing that the losses that she had in her life was a big reason why to grandmother McLeod is always
very controlling and difficult with the other family she has. The change in economy was definitely not making Grandmother Macleod’s life any easier quite frequently it much more difficult. It was the luxury of depression. examples of this is when Vanessa says to her mom Beth, how is Grandma McLeod going to take care of her when all Vanessa life she has never seen grandmother McLeod cook anything. And also because of the economy grandmother McLeod no longer has a maid or anyone to take care of her or the family. This was difficult for grandmother McLeod because she had maids to take care of her and dinner parties were held and she had excitement in her life but the economy has token grandmother MacLeod to bottom of the chain and has made her life change very quickly and drastically. When one does not have to do any work and is used to the good life it is very difficult to change to having almost close to nothing. You will feel this sort of emptiness in you just like grandmother McLeod.

Grandmother McLeod is very organized and is strict about her order in the household. She wants things to be proper and have things be the way they were before however through the difficult times she sees that nothing so is going to be how it used to be. But that does not stop Grandmother MacLeod from controlling the few things she can in her life.