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Elizabeth Bowen's The Demon Lover

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Shell Shocked While under constant bombardment from Nazi planes, going hungry or without as U-boats prevent food from getting into people's’ bellies, separating families, loved ones dying in the war, the mental strain on the human mind was much more than it should ever have to bear. The “Demon Lover” by Elizabeth Bowen is a short story revolving around a woman and her disastrous trip to gather her mementos from her home in London. Set in 1941 London, life at the time was hell. The events that unfold through the brief story leave many critics battling over if the story is an authentic ghost story or “a masterful dramatization of acute psychological delusion”. This woman experiences mental strain due to her environment, leading the masterful dramatization of acute psychological delusion to become evident throughout the author’s depiction of the woman’s insanity. This strain can be seen through the characterization of the setting, the woman herself, and frantic suspense of the story. The darkness that clouds Mrs. Dover’s mind is seen through her environment upon returning to …show more content…

Dover, brought upon by her failing mind. Her mind is almost like when a person dying of hypothermia begins to feel warmth just before they freezed to death. She just continues to make decisions that signal the approach of her demise. The suspense is not only felt by the reader, but is seen through the thoughts of Mrs. Dover, “She heard nothing-- but while she was hearing nothing the passé air was disturbed by a draught that travelled up to her face… a door or window was being opened by someone who chose this moment to leave the house” (Bowen 163). The suspense weighed too heavy on her mind, causing the little patience she had left to fade away as she bolted from the house. Leaving all mementos behind, running from the decrepit surroundings, toward a short cab she thought she could escape her own

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