Short Story Paul Farlotte

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Setting in literature is used as a tool to provide readers with an image in their heads and to support the subtleties of the work. An author who utilizes setting in his short story is Canadian writer Duncan Campbell Scott. The short story Paul Farlotte by Scot uses setting as an important way to demonstrate the religious themes of sacrifice, battling evil and growth present in the story through the opposing houses, the garden and the atmosphere of the small town. As Jesus Christ does, Paul Farlotte learns about sacrificing for others and the reader is able to understand the comparison through the setting as presented by Scott. Scott uses setting to transform the image of the small town to the dark attic of the St Denis house in order to capture …show more content…

Freedom is a central theme in Christianity as God represents freedom from evils and temptations, as Paul saves the children from the temptation of the familial madness. Guy St Denis is consumed by the invention and Paul Farlotte when spots “beside him, figured very clearly in the thick gold air of the sunset, the form of his father, bending over him, with the old eager, haggard look in his eyes” (272). Still, as time had passed and the St Denis father having sacrificed his life for the invention, there is still a crazy optimism in the apparition's eyes, that indicates how truly mad the family is. Scott also uses setting effectively with this apparition, as the reader has already learned what the children had to endure because of their father. This apparition helps the reader to comprehend that without interference from Paul Farlotte, Guy will become his father. Another example of freedom that Scott is able to integrate into his short story by use of setting are the birds that fly above Paul Farlotte’s head as he is finally relieved of his own madness. “Insert quote about the swallows”(), in this case the swallows flying above are used as a symbol of freedom as birds have to ability to fly away from problems. Now that Paul Farlotte’s mother is deceased, he is freed from his aching desire to return to

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