The trick of logic
Bei An
ESL
Dr. Connors
Nov 9, 2014
The trick of logic
The story uses first person point of view to illustrate how a man deals with and reacts to the fact that his father’s second wife demands maintenance from him. The narrator of this story is the son of the wealthy father. At first the man takes a strong stand that he has no reason to and would never give the woman his money. But at the end of the story, due to his sympathy, he slightly changes his opinion and starts to feel bad for the woman. With several symbols, the story vividly elucidates that humanity could be tough to concur, but it can also be subtle and easy to take advantage of sometimes.
The main action of The Lawsuit centered on two characters who come from the same family and on opposite sides with each other, and a lawyer who plays a significant role in the plot. There is an interesting relationship between those three characters. First of all, the narrator and the woman are both the victims of the whole incident. The money was missing; the little son did not get any property from his father, and the woman, regardless the fact that she took away the wealthy old man’s money, is living a miserable life right now. And now, one victim is asking another victim for compensation. The situation is supposed to be crystal clear that the narrator is not responsible for the young widow’s loss, but the lawyer’s appearance and the inner change of the narrator subtly alters the narrator’s standpoint, which influences the whole situation. The narrator’s thought changes from “this woman robbed us and deprived us of our legal rights” (Mahfouz 76) to “even a farce must continue right to the final act” (Mahfouz 80)
Second, the lawyer is not trying his best to win the case for his employer as he should be. The lawyer in this story is clearly a symbol - his face does not even show up in the story, and his voice “came to me from between the files on his desk” (Mahfouz 79). Instead of representing a kind of personality,
ESL
Dr. Connors
Nov 9, 2014
The trick of logic
The story uses first person point of view to illustrate how a man deals with and reacts to the fact that his father’s second wife demands maintenance from him. The narrator of this story is the son of the wealthy father. At first the man takes a strong stand that he has no reason to and would never give the woman his money. But at the end of the story, due to his sympathy, he slightly changes his opinion and starts to feel bad for the woman. With several symbols, the story vividly elucidates that humanity could be tough to concur, but it can also be subtle and easy to take advantage of sometimes.
The main action of The Lawsuit centered on two characters who come from the same family and on opposite sides with each other, and a lawyer who plays a significant role in the plot. There is an interesting relationship between those three characters. First of all, the narrator and the woman are both the victims of the whole incident. The money was missing; the little son did not get any property from his father, and the woman, regardless the fact that she took away the wealthy old man’s money, is living a miserable life right now. And now, one victim is asking another victim for compensation. The situation is supposed to be crystal clear that the narrator is not responsible for the young widow’s loss, but the lawyer’s appearance and the inner change of the narrator subtly alters the narrator’s standpoint, which influences the whole situation. The narrator’s thought changes from “this woman robbed us and deprived us of our legal rights” (Mahfouz 76) to “even a farce must continue right to the final act” (Mahfouz 80)
Second, the lawyer is not trying his best to win the case for his employer as he should be. The lawyer in this story is clearly a symbol - his face does not even show up in the story, and his voice “came to me from between the files on his desk” (Mahfouz 79). Instead of representing a kind of personality,