Social Irony in Connell’s Short Story “The Cage Man”
Sarcasm can be defined as a dual significance which arises from the contrast in values associated with two different point of position ( Leech and Short. Style in fiction ; 223 ) . The most usual sort is that which involves a contrast between a point of position stated or implied in some portion of the fiction. and the false point of position of the writer. and hence of the reader. In the Richard Connell’s short narrative entitled “The Cage Man” it is Horace Nimms. the chief character of the narrative. who is involved in contrast societal value ; between Horace Nimms point of position and my point of position. What makes this short narrative unique is that when in another Connell’s short narrative like “The Most Dangerous Game” where merely a individual sarcasm occurs. that the chief character. Sanger Rainsford. is being hunted change by reversaling the Rainsford claim that he is a 1 of the huntsmans non a huntees. in “The Cage Man” there is a dual sarcasm occurs ; with the historical and societal issues environing it. Horace Nimms is told inside the narrative as a teller. The definition of teller in this narrative has a different significance if it is compared to cashier significance presents. In the narrative this occupation takes attention of payments and disbursals which related to put where he works. similar to accountant. He works for a company named the Amalgamated Soap Company. It is a company which is famously known in the narrative as Suds Trust. Working with manner. he wears his glistening Alpaca on his working twenty-four hours. The company coop Horace with all the money of the company indoors. Even though most of the teller is observed as a crabby adult male passing out money and salvaging small for personal usage. “he is non of that ilk” is the manner storyteller describes Horace. The first sarcasm happens when the storyteller tells the reader that “When the door of the coop clanged shut in the forenoon he ( Horace Nimms ) felt soothed. at home” . This is dry to believe what this adult male feels while we are comparing Horace working topographic point with the commissioned Efficiency Expert Extraordinary of Amalgamated Soap Corporation. S. Walmsley Cowan.
The steel-barred coop where Horace Nimms is locked up inside it connoting he is a reticent adult male while the goldfish-bowl office. the working station of Cowan. is a topographic point where everyone can see through it and. of class. he is free as please to travel anyplace he wants or has to. The perplexing fact could take to another decision. Horace has his ain perceptual experience about the freedom. Being free is non ever all about topographic points where you can inhale and expire fresh air to take a breath or bask your twenty-four hours without surrounded by long bets of Fe. He assumes that the coop which seal him from outer universe is his defender and at the same clip as a resort area for him. He besides ironically sees the coop as his first place though his house in Flatbush was the topographic point where he kip and a topographic point where he is fed by his married woman. The coop is a topographic point where his psyche truly belongs. If the coop is the topographic point where he feels free. so how does he show it? It is the figure. which is a portion of his occupation. which acts as a medium to show the freedom that he holds indoors. The combination and substitution of figures amused him in the best manner. “Those 10 small Arabic symbols and their combinations and substitutions held a captivation for him” is the manner of the storyteller depicting how figures affect Horace. It was likely why he realizes the coop as “a temple of figures. a shrine of minus. an communion table of addition” . It may be considered that figures and the systems associating to it has become an of import portion of his universe. inside and outside the coop. Furthermore. as a measure of apprehension is taken farther to the narrative. a dual sarcasm may be found attached in the narrative. In the predating paragraph it has been explained although he is kept behind the coop. he certainly acts as if he were non behind coop at all ; he feels his freedom inside the coop. But at the same clip the coop itself is a large barrier which separates Horace from Oren Hammer. the president of the Amalgamated Soap. It was the coop that didn’t license Horace to talk up his thought about cost-accounting system which. as Horace provinces. will salvage one-ninety-fifth a cent a bar and therefore the coop itself prevented Horace to acquire himself get the better of his ain foreman. holding a 45 dollars salary a hebdomad and having a bungalow in Long Island. Furthermore. the ground of being of S. Cowan. the Efficiency Expert Extraordinary. really is to do Horace out of the coop. Cowan took the portion in the narrative as a “stimulus” for Horace and hence for the narrative itself.
Through his “unusual” anatomical and psychological observation Cowan decides to put Horace from his “mathematical cage” to “mechanical cage” . replacing his place with the old lift adult male of where he worked at the minute. He makes Horace battle to acquire back his “altar of add-on and subtraction” . in which subsequently in the narrative acted as the chief ground on how Horace eventually got the ear of Oren Hammer. a adult male who washes the faces of 40 million people every forenoon. The loose of his coop motivates Horace to take what the Efficiency Expert Extraordinary had taken from him which used to be his brooding for the last 21 twelvemonth. In hunt of the manner to “get his place back” Horace crucially confronts a opportunity while he is escorting his auto. His avidity and desire on acquiring his elevated temple back braces him to declare his being. disregarding the cutaway coat and the dazzling top chapeau and the deserving fifty-thousand-a-year protrusion jaw which used to be look up toing and intimidating. and eventually distributed his cost-accounting system thought to Oren Hammer. The event implies that Horace’s strong purpose to acquire back into his coop eliminates the evil side of the coop which one time imprisoned his bravery. The coop destroys the coop. Furthermore. as to do sarcasm of Horace more contrast. even though he has overcame the boundary that the coop one time made and had his cost-accounting thought imparted and installed for the company. it is really ill-defined whether he gets his coop back or non. Furthermore. alternatively of acquiring Horace wage raised as he has expected earlier. as the storyteller provinces. ” He sometimes thought. while Subwaying to his office. that if he could merely acquire the ear of Oren Hammer some twenty-four hours and state him about that cost-accounting system he might acquire his wage raised to forty-five” . for the ground that his echt cost-accounting thought would assist the company. it is S. Cowan who acquire his wage raised. as Hammer. the president of Amalgamated. says to him at the terminal of the narrative. ” Before you go I want you to run into Mr. Nimms. He is traveling to put in a new cost-accounting system for us. Just step down to the cashier’s coop with him. will you. and acquire your wage to day of the month. ” Furthermore. there is a societal issue reflected from Horace Nimms sing his inclination being shut inside the coop and acquire his wage raised. This issue responds the American economical growing which started to lift following United States’ engagement in World War I. The economic growing of America was marked by the booming of industrial production in order to assist U. S win the war.
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Therefore. the development of new engineering demanded more employees and speed uping U. S economical development as the consequence. In the United States. protected from the physical devastation of the war. the Industrial Revolution had begun to carry through some of its obvious potencies withdrawing U. S triumph in World War I. High rewards and mass-production techniques had eventually brought a rise in the criterion of life to the working and in-between categories doing great economic and widespread society. and therefore had its ain impact for the American society ( Easton. the Western Heritage ; 776 ) . The philistinism and individuality spread over the state. and Horace is one illustration. In the capitalistic societies of the West. adult male has become dependent upon the ownership of adequate money to run into what he believes to be his demands ( Easton. the Western Heritage ; 875-876 ) . this philistinism inclination makes Horace’s aspiration acquiring his wage raised to 45 dollars much clearer. which can be seen. as it has been mentioned before. from the undermentioned sentence: ” He sometimes thought. while Subwaying to his office. that if he could merely acquire the ear of Oren Hammer some twenty-four hours and state him about that cost-accounting system he might acquire his wage raised to forty-five” . Horace’s individuality feature can be tracked by his solitaire propensity. close alone inside the coop for about 21 old ages. Horace unusual manifestation type of freedom can likely be related to his individualistic and mercenary attitude. While his status shut inside the coop is considered by Horace as “soothing” . the former and the latter can be realized as cogent evidence for his another signifier of freedom. as his type of freedom is based from fiscal involvement. Therefore. in western twentieth century’s societal state of affairs. low-income and high-income workers find that their freedom is non every bit meaningful as might look. The quest for money is forced upon them by the societal universe in which they live. So why non accept the place. like being shut inside a coop in Horace’s instance. be gently tolerant toward himself and his society. but recognize at the same clip that one time his debt to society is paid. he is thenceforth free? ( Easton. the Western Heritage ; 876-877 )
Plants Cited
Easton. C. Stewart. The Western Heritage. Holt. Rinehart and Winston. Inc. 1996.
Leech. Geoffrey. Short. Mick. Style in Fiction. Pearson Education Limited. 2007.
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