The tale of Amundsen is one of Munro's collections that is strikingly captivating and draws the reader in. Munro uses this narrative to provide a retrospective account of incidents that occurred in Amundsen after the Second World War.
Vivien Hyde and Dr. Fox
Vivien Hyde, the protagonist, and narrator of the novel travels to Amundsen to educate tuberculosis-infected children. Vivien encounters Dr. Fox, a lung specialist, in Amundsen and falls in love with him. They marry shortly after, but their union does not last long when Dr. Fox suddenly changes his mind and calls off the engagement. Vivien is heartbroken and is returned to Toronto. Oh her journey, she meets Mary who plays a significant role in her life. In the story, Munro enigmatically employs literary devices that help the reader to understand the plot development along with adding flavor and color to the story.
Literary Analysis of Amundsen Story
The story uses the first person narration. The story of "Amundsen" is wonderfully written providing a plot which dwells on the details of life and death through the first person narration. The story occurred when the Cold War was the headline of every news media in the mid-1940s. If anyone did not show up at work, the colleagues assumed the worst. With the use of the first person narration, the writer allowed the readers to settle into the community and undergo a perfect transition. Throughout the story, the writer enables the reader to make an exploration into the traditional literary Canadian life problems compared to those of the current society. Thus she provides a new type of "metaphorical explorer" through the narration (Duncan 5). With this, the writer showed the exploration of Vivien who embarks on a spectacular expedition in the quest of seeking love.
Dramatic Conflict
The author also employs dramatic conflict in the story of Amundsen. Outstandingly, the story does revolve around the everyday problems that are faced by Vivien and D. Fox along with the personal dramas that drive the events. At first, the reader notices that Vivien has desires to fall in love with Dr. Fox and she views him as being her perfect match. However, after their wedding, Dr. Fox calls off their marriage shortly and this creates conflict in the story. He decides to call off the marriage without any valid reasons. The dramatic conflict is created by decisions that are done in a spur of a moment. For example, Vivien rushes into getting married which leads her to the devastating heartbreak. The literary exploration in the story that happens during the time of cold war adds more dramatic conflict to the story. The conflict does uncover the deepest secrets of the human heart, for example, many years after Dr. Fox and Vivien separated, they meet, and she still loves Dr. Fox despite having treated her in an undesirable manner.
Characterization
Munro employs characterization in his story and makes the narrator the center of the events that happen in the story. The story of Amundsen concerns a young Toronto teacher, Vivien, who was assigned to a tuberculosis sanatorium in Canada who ended up falling in love with the resident doctor. Vivien's characterization makes her play as the protagonist of the story. The narrative of Vivien reflects the sanatorium experiences and mainly draws the narration with the encounters she faces with Dr. Alister Fox. Notably, from the description, we can tell that Dr. Fox, an ordinary man. The narrator says that "a spare man of average height, whose fair reddish hair was cut very short and was evidently the sort of person who posed questions that were trapped for you to fall into" (Munro 3). Vivien ends up falling in love with Dr. Fox and later on rushes in preparation for a wedding and breaks her virginity to him. However, their marriage does not last long as Dr. Fox calls it off after a short time for unexplained reasons. Undisputedly, the protagonist characterization in the story enhances the story through the development of the storyline.
Setting
The setting that the writer uses adds color to the plot development and provides similes that metaphorically bring vividness to where the story is set according to its description. The story is magnificently described in the bleak of the Canadian landscape. The landscape is described to being "untidy evergreens that rolled up like sleepy bears." Also, the landscape is "brittle-looking birch trees with black marks on their white bark" (Munro 7). The frozen lake is described as being unlevel and mounted alongside the shore "the building, with its deliberate rows of windows and its glassed-in porches at either end...everything, austere and northerly, black and white under the high dome of clouds" (Munro 8). Through this, Munro manages to add color to the setting and bring an insight into the events of the story. The setting could also be a metaphor for what Vivien is going through in the Amundsen. The landscape is described to be untidy and unwelcoming which presents to be a metaphor to the tragedies that follow Vivien after going to Amundsen. Thus, through the description of the setting, Munro portrayed a metaphor of the story's happenings. Notably, the characters of the story seem to be dreary similar to the surrounding in which they are. Fox seems to be a dreary character in the story and the narrator, Vivien does not bother to explain to the audience how she managed to fall for the doctor and also their initial sexual encounter is not well elaborated. She states "He did not want me to say anything" (Munro 9). Vivien seems to be a lifeless character used without enduring and unique qualities. The reader is surprised when she says "My passion was the surprise, to us both," majorly because the reader is not told of anything that surprised her (Munro 9).
Foreshadowing
Munro uses foreshadowing as an important literary device to propel the story and add color to its plot. Notably, foreshadowing is revealed through the journey that the characters have in the story. Besides, the journey seems to be a recurring theme in Munro's story and the background of Amundsen where the "allied forces gradually get closer and closer to Berlin" (Duncan 14). Evidently, the story does revolve around various journey processes that act like foreshadows to the story occurrences. In the opening scene, Vivien is seen on the train on her way to Amundsen. The story, later on, depicts Dr. Fox and Vivien who are together on a journey on a car trip to Huntsville in their plans of getting married. After their marriage is broken, Vivien is also on the journey back to Toronto. The story began with Vivien in a solitude journey to Amundsen and hence foreshadowing that she would travel alone back to Toronto. The metaphorical journey of Vivien drives her into the "unknown regions of the self, the unconscious, and the confrontation with whatever dangers and splendors lurk there" (Duncan 10). The journey not only foreshadows Vivien's humiliation departure from the town but also symbolizes the starting of her long struggles in Amundsen. Duncan states that "The narrator's metaphorical, yet laborious and exhausting; journey becomes the central theme in the story" (Duncan 11). The journey is central to the story and thus creates a significant ambivalence along with creating the atmosphere felt in Amundsen.
Conclusion
Indeed, the story of Amundsen is fascinatingly written and contains literary devices that are essential in enhancing the plot development. Undoubtedly, Munro presents her story to be richly captivating to the reader through the color the splendid literary devices. Through the tragedies that Vivien goes through in Amundsen, the reader comes to light with the realities that befall young people who struggle in the world of love and marriage. Evidently, the narrator, Vivien falls in love with Dr. Fox, gets married to him, and the marriage is called off shortly after the event. Vivien becomes heartbroken and goes back to Toronto. Thus, the writer does not only make good use of literary devices in the story but blends the plot with the realities that happen in the world.
Works Cited
Duncan, I. Alice Munro’s narrative art. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. 2013.
Munro, A. Amundsen. New York: Knopf. 2012.
