preview

A Part Of Life In Aleksandar Hemon's 'The Aquarium'

Decent Essays

A Part of Life Death is simply a part of life, and, is therefore, inevitable. Losing a loved one, or watching the life slowly leave them over time, can be can be an extremely painful experience. However, it can teach a person about themselves and the world around them. In the short memoir, “The Aquarium,” Aleksandar Hemon uses the fatal illness of his daughter, Isabel to communicate the idea that life is full of trials and tribulations that cannot be avoided and that said trials can cause a person to feel ostracized from those who are close to them. Hemon uses the struggles he endures during Isabel’s illness to illustrate that life is always going to have misfortunes that can occur unexpectedly. Once he receives the news that Isabel has a tumor in her brain, Hemon immediately divides his life into two parts. “Teri and I kissed her hands and her forehead and wept through the moment that divided our life into before and after. Before was now and forever foreclosed, while after was spreading out, like an exploding twinkle star, into a dark universe of pain” (Hemon 3). His use of juxtaposition emphasizes that his life is now divided into two separate parts. The is the period of time when Isabel was happy, healthy baby and then there is the “after” in which there is the reality that he has to face now that Isabel has a life-threatening condition. Although Hemon and his wife would like to continue to live in the past, they are forced to accept the truth of their daughter’s health

Get Access