In William Goyen’s “In the Icebound Hothouse,” I felt as though one paragraph showed a good overview of what the main characters outlook on life was. It is fairly early on in this short story in the second paragraph on page 244. In this section the main character is talking about why the worker in the greenhouse might not let him in from the cold. He speculates that it may be because the worker is angry or sad because one of his beautiful plants has died. This seems to agitate the narrator and it even seems to make his angry. “Does he not know has he not heard that all flowering things fade and die? Does he not know?... Living among the green (the most perishable color), was he not accustomed to daily yellowing (leaf) and graying (frond); all things die. (244)” I feel that this very short excerpt truly encompasses what this protagonist feels. Because of his failing poetry he feels that he is becoming one of these many things that just seem to whither up and die. This is why he has become so fascinated with the greenhouse. He sees it as a symbol of his heyday as a poet; it represents all of the beautiful emotions that he was able to express through his poetry. Now he is stuck on the outside where it is cold and barren because he has no outlet through which to express his feelings. This is why he obsesses about the greenhouse and gaining entry to it. When he realizes this he feels angered that others do not see the world as he does. He becomes angry at the gardener because he is working in this world of beauty and does not even realize it. Instead of appreciating it, the gardener comes drunk to work and stumbles through his tasks without even seeing how lucky he truly is. This makes the main character angry because he realizes that he made the same mistake with his life. Instead of enjoying the time in which he was creating poetry that he loved and was proud of, he let it pass him by with out really appreciating it.
What seems to be lost to the narrator is that he has been creating beautiful poetry throughout his whole recreation of this story. Every line seems to be a part of a poem that flows together flawlessly with the rest of the story. This fact is still lost to him in the end of the story because his bleak outlook has not changed. If he could look and see that he still has the ability to pursue his passion that he loves, then he would not feel as though he need to get into the greenhouse so desperately. Instead, he would see the world around him not as cold and barren, but as warm and full of life. If he could do this, then his time of depression will be over and his life will be headed in a different direction. He would not have to take meaningless jobs at schools, his life would again have meaning to him.
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I really liked your interpretation! I also think that the narrator gave up his passion for poetry because he never got love back. On page 248 he states, "Something's stopped. The battery fell out somewhere along the way. Where's the power? Also I became grubby. The shine gone. I felt molty. The flower off me. I felt dry. Love! Love unreturned. Do you know, est-ce que vous savez, you who took me from the icebound hothouse and now "detain" me, are you acquainted with fouled love? You will answer that that is a sentimental question, even unscrupulous under the circumstances. "Unscrupulous" indeed! Well, that's your word, not mine. I'm not trying to work up pity; nor am I trying to build up a case of self-pity, God forbid. But a poet is a person of love, whether he's producing, at the moment, or not; a person with love to give. He's also somebody who needs to get love back-for Christ's sake."
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent interpretation of the story. I never compared the main character to the drunken nurseryman, but this explanation makes more sense of the story. I like the comparison of the dead flowers and plants to the dead girl as well. I did feel as well that even though he said he lost his ability to write poetry he seemed to still speak as if he was.
ReplyDeleteI also thought this was a great interpretation. I like that you brought up the ongoing theme of death in the story. You brought up the flowers that died, the main character's withering and dying poetry, and the dead girl that comes later.
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