The Arena – Analysis

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Here it finally seems as if the father has decided to move on with his life. He has a new family now, and he must be present in this life and be there for his son while his son develops through life. The story’s final line says; “It’s time to go home”[10], this could easily verify the hypothesis claiming that the father has finally moved on, and is now ready to “go home” to his current life, where he belongs.

The story in general, is, as mentioned earlier; built up through the father’s thoughts. These thoughts influence his ride, and his ride influence his thoughts, and thereby the ride and what goes on during this ride decides what information is given to the reader. For an example, the father is thinking about how his former life used to be very good, and immediately afterwards he takes an illegal U-turn, which leads to the story of Willie’s death. This shows clearly that his thoughts and what he does during this ride form the story and the information given to us as readers.

Throughout the text, we see the use of contrasts. Willie versus the new son, the former wife versus the new wife and in general the life of the father back then, compared to his life now.

Willie is, as mentioned earlier, adopted, which means a lot to the father. Willie is born by someone else, and in some unexplainable way, he ended up at the father's doorstep. Willie’s importance compared to the new son is shown clearly by the fact that we do not even get to know the name of his current child.

The wives is compared when the father says both; “Another woman’s body in my bed”[11] and “Did I mention that my second wife looks like my first?”[12]. Both these quotes tells us that the new wife is just some stranger that happens to look like his old wife. Both Willie and his former wife seems to be in focus, which makes it complicated for the father to even realize which of these lives he is currently in; “As I wrench myself out of a dream it takes a moment to remember which life I’m in, this one or the last.”[13]

This story tells us that we may experience horrible things during our lifetime, but it will be possible to move on. Moving on is a good thing, and we do not have to be afraid of moving on. The past can help you make better decisions later on in your life, but staying in your past does not help anybody.

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