Engelsk stil, terminsprøve 2020

‘Man lying on a wall’ painted by L.S Lowly can be interpreted in many ways. Lowly says that he painted the piece after seeing the man from a bus. Why was he lying on the wall? What was he thinking about? Personally I like the fantasise that the man has lost his job and wife. He lost his job unexpectedly. there had been rumours of major cutbacks at the office, but he never thought that they would fire him. His wife hadn’t been too pleased when she found out. In practically no time his normally picture perfect life had been turned upside down. His wife got very frustrated with him when he couldn’t find a new job. Almost every day they would fight about money. He suggested that she might be able to find a job. I imagine she wasn’t too pleased with that idea. Before everything went downhill they had been thinking about getting pregnant. They lived in a nice neighbourhood in a home with a big lawn where their dog happily ran around most of the day. They had fallen madly in love at college. They got married after about a year of knowing each other. Her parents were very supportive because they had done the same thing. They helped them pay for their home. I guess it was all too good to be true. They had gotten married too young. Him getting fired had been exactly what they needed to fall apart. Eventually the man became too worn down and stressed to even ?look ?for a job. He was officially at the lowest point in his life. He and his wife had stopped showing affection. They didn’t say ‘I love you’, they didn’t kiss each other hello or goodbye and they definitely weren’t having sex anymore. One day when he was relaxing on the couch, his wife came home from grocery shopping she broke down in tears. “I’m sorry, I can’t do this anymore. I’ve slept with someone else. I’m so sorry. I guess it just happened, I don’t know.” Initially the man didn’t really have a response. “Say something for God’s sake!” she couldn’t help but yell out in frustration. She hadn’t expected him to be silent. He was supposed to be had at her. Why wasn’t he had at her? She deserved it! She couldn’t wrap her head around it. “Well get through this.” he said. “What?” “I love you. I know we can get through this.” “No, you don’t understand. I think I’m in love with him.” “Oh…” “Yeah.” That was all there was said. The next morning she filed for divorce. She ended up taking both the house and the dog. He moved into a one-bedroom apartment. His life had never been more depressing. Eventually he got himself a job. He could be happier with it, but it was better than no job. Now he had something to do. he didn’t have any friends to hang out with. He had lost all his friends in the divorce. They were all married couples that he and his wife were friends with. Some days, when the loneliness got really bad, he would lie on the wall and listen to people and traffic pass him by. Those were the days where he finally relaxed. He felt peaceful. He just needed to feel like he was a part of something bigger.