Tragedy And Isolation In The Harp By Carol Shield

Tragedy is just the beginning of common festivities for the protagonist in the narrative, “The Harp”, written by Carol Shield. With continuous annual commemoration of occasions, isolation may lead anyone into a depressive downfall. The nameless central character begins to feel isolated when she is overwhelmed by the full attention of the entire crowd. In specific, the harp landed on her as she recalls with irony, “The crowd around me applauded. What could they be thinking? That I, wounded on the street, ambushed, had decided to perform an impromptu concert?” (Shields) There were abundant numbers of witnesses; In result, she immediately feels that she had no support throughout the public and continues to isolate herself due to her self loneliness.
Overall, she believes that happiness is only found in her sleep. As she ponders in the hospital on her traumatic event occurring, she states: “Only my dreams are benign”. The woman isolates herself from her own reality when she suggests that the only source out of the pain, is the true graciousness of the unconscious mind. This can only occur when she is asleep therefore, residing to a depressive lifestyle. The woman's ironic tragedy could have been anyone;Tragedies spontaneously occur, those who accept past life events are then able to recover.