Differences Between the Traditional and the Modern World in Alistair McLeod's "The Return" (ePub)

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Didactics - English - Literature, Works, grade: 2,7, Technical University of Braunschweig (Englisches Seminar), course: Canadian Literature, language: English, abstract: Alistair MacLeod, born in 1935, is a famous Canadian short story writer, who published three short story compilations, a novel and an illustrated Christmas story. He spent most of his youth in the maritime province of Nova Scotia, which lies on the Atlantic coast of Canada. Putting all of his passion into his work as a writer, he created several short stories which take place in rural maritime areas he knows from his youth. All his stories deal with similar themes and characters, showing their lives, the hardship and their work circumstances as fishermen, farmers or miners, providing an insight of maritime life and culture. Nature, family tragedies and differences between traditional and modern lifestyles are also recurring themes.

Certain contrasts are especially obvious in the short story "The Return" from the short story collection "The Lost Salt Gift of Blood" published in 1976. The storyline is about the little boy Alex and his upper class family from Montreal, who make a journey to Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia to visit relatives, and contains many examples about how the urban and rural areas differ. Narrated and perceived by Alex, whose father Angus has his roots on the island, this theme is dealt with in many cases. The contrast "[...] is not only limited to the Maritime culture [though]; it is something that can be universally understood" (Mallorylee 2008). It is the general way of life of the people which is so contrasting even though they live in the same country.

First of all, I am going to show the general characteristics of the two distinct worlds the protagonists live in. Afterwards, the focus lies on the several differences between the two worlds according to clothing, alcohol, gender roles, time, family structure and language. Analyzing the characters, I am going to point out certain characteristics, which show clearly, why the people belong to two contrastive worlds. Finally, I will conclude the analyzed contrasts and try to determine which world is the better one in the end.