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The Return Of The Soldier Analysis

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A fundamental part of life is the discovery of one’s reason of being and their unique place in the world. Such uncovering is not as simply said than done, as discovering one’s self is a journey of potential self-actualization. A predicament in which this can be seen is with the fugitive from the novella The Invention of Morel, written by Adolfo Bioy Casares, and also with Chris from the novella The Return of the Soldier, written by Rebecca West. Both protagonists, the fugitive and Chris, experience the conflict of understanding one’s reason for being in terms of the relationships they have with those around them, the potential positions that they hold in society, and the changes that they go through over the course of their respective lives. …show more content…

Individuals have unique paths to finding their unique purposes and this predicament comes into existence in both novellas. In The Invention of Morel, the fugitive is a reject from society due to his crimes and cannot return to society or face consequences for escaping from prison. Being alone with no role in society leads him to desiring more for his place in the world, while not being well versed in what he attempts to strive in. One plan he has for doing more in society is to be an author. Unfortunately, he is not effective as an author since he does not finish his books and lacks education of literature. This is shown with the fact that “the relative scarcity of these literary references and the inaccuracies demonstrated in his writings by the editor's corrections and clarifications cast a dubious light on the narrator's scholarship” (Snook 46). This prevents the fugitive from being what could be a successful author in his own right, and stops him from achieving a more desirable role in his distant society. The lack of full education is seen in one of the editor’s notes which states “He is mistaken. He omits the most important word: geminato” (Bioy Casares 51), in relation to the fugitive forgetting a word from De Natura Deorum which he has a claim to memorizing in school, yet does not remember the most important part of the quote. Another instance in which he attempts to be more than just a fugitive is when he strives to be an artist and poet to impress Faustine and “seems inadequate for the task he undertakes. His creative ambitions and aspirations no doubt exceed his talent” (Snook 45). He has numerous ideas to impress Faustine, but lacks execution. When thinking of a phrase to write under the picture for Faustine, he keeps altering it because they are too long or confusing, and settles on just a few

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