Dateprofessor Essay

Choose two of the novels/novellas (the return of the soldier by Rebecca west) and ( the invention of morel by Jorge luis Borgers) and write a comparative essay examining the ways in which the problems of understanding one’s own identity and one’s place in the world play out.
In the present assignment, The Return of the Soldier and The Invention of Morel have been compared with a view to examine how these two deal with the problems that are based in understanding one's own identity and place in the world. In The Return of the Soldier, it has been pointed out that what good is the truth if it ruins a person. On the other hand, the novella, 'The Invention of Morel' deals with the nature of love and deception. In this way, both these works have dealt in their own way, with the exploration of the identity of the person and his place in the world.

Introduction

In the present in the present essay, an attempt has been made to evaluate the ways in which the problems of understanding one's identity and place in the world plays out in the two novels, The Return of the Soldier and The Invention of Morels. Both these novels appear to be vastly different but the question is if these novels can help the readers in understanding their own identity and also their place in the world.
The Return of the Soldier is a war story that has been set in a secluded cottage. It is a love story that has profound moral and psychological ramifications. In this novel, the author Rebecca West has provided a precise and powerful exploration of the battlefield. At the same time, she has also included her insights related with the medical treatment of the mind. Similarly, several complex questions have also been raised by the regarding the nature of truth and also the responsibilities, that are associated with the pursuit of truth (Rollyson, 1998). It also needs to be noted in this regard that the novel points out that sometimes these responsibilities can also be unpleasant. For example a question has been raised in this novel that what good is the truth in such a truth ruins us. Similarly can a responsible engagement with the world be considered as good if it drains the value of the world altogether.
In this regard, it has been pointed out in the novel that although the questions that these answers can be difficult to accept but these answers are nonetheless straightforward. At one point, early on in the story, it has been mentioned by the author that he was aware of the bitter rapture that is related with the discovery of any truth. In this way, first-person narrations of Jenny are being used by the author to fill the text with a number of such carefully drafted aphorisms (Rollyson, 1995). Although it can be said that perhaps the prose is not much precise but it cannot be denied that the author had written with grace and the economy. There are a number of descriptive passages in the novel which are striking.
It appears that the author has a penchant for lacing these descriptions with broader significances. For example, when Jenny looks at Margaret while thinking that “she was not so much of a person as an implication of a dreary poverty, like an open door in the mean house that lets out the smell of cooking cabbage,” the readers start to think about the deeply aristocratic air of Jenny. In the absence of such a profound sense of class, the readers would never have been writing to a description (Wolfe, 1971). In this way, these messages are not only lyrical but are also significantly revealing. In this way, these messages help in understanding one's own identity.
On the other hand, in the short fantastical novella from Argentina of 1940s, The Invention of Morel, action takes place on an isolated and mysterious Island where strange things start to happen (Seegert, 2013). The ability of Adolfo Bioy Casares to elicit a number of profound and truly enchanting take away points related with the nature of love, deception, isolation, signs, time and afterlife from the fantastical plot elements is particularly noteworthy. However, it needs to be noted that this is not a straightforward genre novel. But it cannot be denied that it is a thought-provoking novel.
Conclusion: It can be said in the present case that both these novels help the readers in understanding their own identity and also their place in the world. A number of questions have been raised in these novels, for example should we go for the truth is the truth is devastating for us. Both these novels have profound moral and psychological ramifications for the readers. The authors have included their own insights in these works in order to deal with a number of complex questions. Some of these questions are related with the nature of truth and the responsibilities that are related with the pursuit of truth.

References

Rollyson, Carl. 1995, Rebecca West, a Saga of the Century, London: Hodder and Stoughton
Rollyson, Carl. 1998, The Literary Legacy of Rebecca West. London: International Scholars Publications
Seegert, Alf. (2013), "The Mistress of Splices: Technovirtual Liaisons in Adolfo Bioy Casares’ The Invention of Morel." Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts
Wolfe, Peter. 1971, Rebecca West, Artist and Thinker, London and Amsterdam: Illinois University Press