We always want what we can’t get. People from the poorer countries in the world want to live in a world with cars and modern technology, and many people who already have these things forget to appreciate it. Furthermore, some of them actually don’t want to help people in the poorer countries, because they want keep nature values of the poor countries. Values the natives don’t appreciate. But why do so many people have this romantic idea of the opposite life? This theme is explored in the short story “Paradise” from 1995, written by Matthew Kneale.
The story is written in a third person singular, and the narrator is intrusive because Neville’s thoughts and feelings are presented, so the story is told from Nevilles point of view and perspective. The story is not told I chronological order, because it starts in the present, and then there is a flash back where Neville tells about the circumstances that lead him to Drughat and the story ends in present again. In this way a livelier frame for the text is created, and it helps the reader to get a more authentic feeling, while reading the text.
The short story “Paradise” is about the protagonist Neville, who is a guidebook author. The action takes place in Drughat, and starts in media res, by Neville wakes up to the smell of fire, and Neville is offered breakfast with the native Thakali and his family. The natives in Drughat are very friendly to Neville, and Neville got the idea that they are so kind because of their cheerfulness. He has the theory that the natives are very happy because the village Drughat is so desolate and untouched by tourists. Neville almost describes the natives as “Paradise falls,” he describes their city as a Paradise and its inhabitants as saints, who isn’t destroyed by capitalism and civilization. Neville’s romantic vision of the inhabitants is also seen in the sentence “The group of people were gathered about the fire, their faces lit by the warm orange glow of the flames.
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Like a painting.” When Neville uses the metaphor “painting” it points out, that Neville see this society as a gloss photo, he thinks it’s idyllic compared to his homeland: “How different from his own world, spoilt and depraved. Were people wallowed in their greed. Were teenagers goaded and attacked old people for pleasure…” The passage above shows Nevilles prejudices and hate to his own background, and because Neville lies to the natives about his real intensions (he haven’t told them that he is writing on a guidebook), he becomes a personification of all the things he hates from his homeland. He lies to the natives because he wants to protect his identity, and to hide his real attention, wanting to see whether it’s a good place for tourists or not. As Neville wants to take notes for his guide book there is a strong sense of guilt stopping him “A pity he could not do so here, in the warm, but…
A twinge of guilt. Perhaps he should have been more honest.” Neville just doesn’t know that he is not the only one being dishonest, because the natives also keep something hidden for him. The natives in Drughat see Neville only as an investor, because right from the beginning they tricked him into visiting Drughat. “We heard you were coming days ago. English guidebook man. Big beard, yellow jacket, sad face. Everyone knows you.” The natives are spoiling Neville in the highest degree, so that he will include their village in his guidebook.
This way there will come more tourists to the village, and business will flourish. But Neville resists, because he is feeling at home in Drughat and he loves the place. He doesn’t want destroy their values by tourists. The importance of the setting is the different perceptions of Drughat: The inhabitants want tourist to come, so that they can get a better economy. Neville, on the other hand, knows that not everybody in the west are happy, even thought they are rich. Neville wants to protect the inhabitants of Drughats from what they want the most.
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There is a well-defined comfort for those who visit book stores and libraries. The books are there like faithful friends waiting to be called upon, read, valued, and appreciated. Let us not also forget, however, the joy and anticipation when visiting used book stores. They are everywhere, and they all tell a story; but not only from within the pages. They have a history; they came from somewhere; ...
The short story “Paradise” can be put into perspective to the book “The Anthropological History Of Ideas,” written by the professor Ole Høiris in 2010. The book describes how we in the Western culture the last two and half millenniums have been thinking of other cultures. The book tells that we look at the strangers as “noble savages” who lives an uncomplicated paradise-life, which leads to the theme of the book, the West perception of the exotic places.
This is also the theme in the short story “Paradise,” because Neville who represents the west, really believes in his illusion and he tends to over romanticize the picture of Drughat and the villages natives. Anybody from the west, would have got the same idyllic impression of the place. The book “The Anthropological History Of Ideas” and the short story “Paradise” emit therefore the same: The West has a romantic view of the exotic places.
To sum up, it can be concluded that people often want what they can’t get, because they have tried the disadvantages of their own lives, and they have not had any in their dream life. Therefore people often have an adventure image of the dream life and the things they do not have.
