Analyse af Colm Tóibíns novelle 'The Journey'

The short story `The Journey´ written by Colm Tóibín in 2006 is a piece of literature which explores the obstacles, questions and acceptance of life. The story opens, when a young naïve boy asks his middle aged mother `how do people die? ´. The raising of this sensitive question sets in motion the theme of the short story, life as a journey, and sets the atmosphere of the story. Mary, the main character, describes to the reader specific events that have shaped her life, from when her only son, David was unexpectedly born, then jumping to a time where both her son and husband are suffering from illnesses. Mary’s´ life is the focal point of the analyses. From a young age Mary´s son David was always a seeker of answers `wanting to know how everything worked and why´ (line 8), until he was diagnosed with teenage depression and was admitted to hospital. The story then becomes situational, with a car ride from the hospital; delivering us to the present day. David is now 20 years old, and Mary has come to collect him from the hospital, after his treatment for the depression. As they drive, memories begin to swirl in Mary´s mind, `she tried not to think, tried to keep her mind fixed on the road ahead, but random images of places of the past kept coming to her´ (line 51). Fragments of her past lives, her parents, her old house, her young son. Flashbacks which put her life in perceptive. When they final arrive home, after the awkward silent drive, Mary goes up stairs to see Seamus, her husband, who recently suffered from a stroke. As she pauses to see his elderly face she glances at herself in the mirror and has a disheartening realization; `She notices how strange her well-kept blonde hair looked beside the wrinkles around her eyes and mouth…she was struck for a moment by a glimpse of a future in which she would need to muster every ounces of selfishness she had. She shut her eyes before she turned to face him…It was time, she thought, to let the gray appear. ´ (Line 155-160) At this point in `The Journey´ Tóibín underlines an important truth; we all must grow old and die, and leave behind our past. Overall `The Journey´ is a confronting story of the truths that life has to offer, and through analyses and interpretation has many relevant and significant messages to present to its readers.