Summary Of Shallow Bridge By Margret Laurence

The author, Margret Laurence, establishes a purposeful commentary on the consequential effects that society has on an individual’s potential and ultimately their character. Notably, Laurence grew up during the Great Depression which quickly followed another major event, WW2. Due to this, Laurence highlights, exemplifying from her own personal experience, on how environmental factors may have the potential to deter an individual from their potential and subsequently cause a downfall in their character. Therefore, the protagonist, Chris, is initially portrayed as optimistic bordering on naïve, however, it comes into fruition the realization that is made by the narrator that Chris throughout struggles to cope with reality and instead seeks reassurance

Demonstratively, Shallow Creek, where Chris was brought up in, symbolically references to the lack of opportunities that the place provides for its occupants, especially when referencing to what shallow can also be defined as unintelligent or ignorant. Therefore, it can already be determined that Shallow Creek provided no nourishment for Chris and he is left subsequently deprived from his potential. This notion is further reinforced by stating that there was no high school for Chris to attend to which, was the reason for why he arrived to Manawaka-out of pure necessity. However, the setting becomes fully developed for Chris when it is revealed that the nation’s economy is in a recessive state. By this revelation, it can be conclusively deduced that the current economic state will subsequently impact its inhabitant's situations in various degrees. Whilst stating this, it is contrastingly revealed that the depression in Vanessa’s perspective was “...external and abstract…” (13) and therefore, did not affect her, at least not to the extreme that it did for Chris. Chris’ future is ultimately being obstructed by his dreams of being an engineer which are consequently altering into becoming unrealistic for him to obtain as a result of the problematic situation that the economy is currently in. Therefore, society’s expectations for Chris is portrayed as minimal

Chris was given no nourishment and therefore, never had the potential to grow into himself to subsequently relinquish his fantasies which had made him consequently delusional to reality. Instead, "… all his life's choices [grew] narrower and narrower" (23) once he accepted that his dream to become an engineer had transformed into becoming a fantasy for himself. Therefore, the thematic title, "Horses of the Night," applies strongly to Chris by it emphasizing on what Chris has been doing his entire life. Alluding to a poem by Ovid, "slowly, slowly, horses of the night" (24) establishes a reference to Chris delaying the loss of dreams, and ultimately the loss of hope. Now, he conclusively chooses to live completely in a world where dreams are possible however, false in their reality. Correspondingly, he becomes a wanderer like he initially wanted with being a traveler and is therefore fulfilling a dream of his in a warped and tragic way. Ultimately, the theme of the play in the perspective of Chris, highlights on the consequential effects that the degree of society's expectations has on an individual's ability to pursue a meaningful life for themselves and therefore, establish their identity. As observed in the short story, Chris is provided minimal opportunity to attend to making his dreams into reality and struggles to accept that fact by clinging