'In the Museum' short story analysis

In the dictionary memory are one of the definitions “a mental capacity of recalling or recognizing previous experiences”. These prior experiences or memories are often remained untouched in our hearts and minds, but at rare occasions, maybe with family, friends, strangers or alone, we unfold them and remember. The memories can be beautiful and happy and they can also be haunting reminiscences but either way they show that the past have had some kind of effect on you. That is what the short story “In the Museum” is about, how specific situation can stir up memories from one’s youth.

The story takes place in a museum where the narrator spends some of his free time, but instead of looking at many different pictures he chooses one to enjoy in the free hour he has, the picture is of a horse made by a painter named Stubbs. Suddenly an elderly man and what seems to be his pupil sits next to the narrator, “about sixty years old, well dressed, a well-presented man absorbed in his contemplation.” (Page 1, line 9-10). The narrator admirers the elderly man when he tries to learn the younger man something about the painter Stubbs, but the younger man doesn’t share the man or the narrators interest and he definitely doesn’t want to hear about this painting or the artist who painted it. That is also when one of the main themes in the short story shows up as the story progresses. The younger vs. the older generation, and the problems the coexist between the two different groups, and example of these problems is when the younger man stands up and proclaims that “you can’t make a silk purse out of me” (Page 1, line 23-24). These two generations have different interest because of their age, and they have different views on the world. After this outburst the elderly man turns his eyes to a little group of French schoolgirls as the rest of the room do, “.., but talked loudly and laughed, expecting attention, which they were getting.” (Page 1, line 36). After looking at the school girls the elderly man turns his attention on one of the girls in the group, and this is the first time that the man talks directly to the narrator, because that particularly girl reminds the man of a painful memory about his young love that wasn’t returned, “She’s like a girl I was in live with once. But I was just a boy.” (Page 2, line 71-72). And there might be some heartache in the memory that was still haunting him, “Ah, then she would be in love with a young man of twenty and to her you would be just a little kid” (Page 2, line 77-78). A remembrance of the elderly mans youth of possibly his first love, and that is why it is so clear, because you never forget your first love, “Exactly. I remember every detail of that summer” (Page 3, line 108). After the trip down memory lain, the school girls starts laughing at the art, the old man forget about his old love, and “.., got up and stood in front of the horse, as if defending it.” (Page 4, line 123-124), which takes us back to the problems between generations. The offend man takes toward the exit, but he suddenly comes face to face with the school girl who reminds him – the narrator tells us that even though they are face to face she still doesn’t she him and the memory of grief and heartache are still with him when she leaves, “She stood just in front of him. And still she did not look at him.” (Page 4, line 145-146). When the school girl leaves the room to go with her friends, the elderly man follows her because it seems like he doesn’t want the memory to despair or maybe he needs finishing on the memory, but we as readers never knows what happens to the elderly man.