Andrina by George Mackay Brown Essay -- Critical Essay Short Story Eng

Andrina by George Mackay chocolate-brownA nearsighted tommyrot in which an element of mystery plays an important situationis Andrina by George Mackay Brown, a celebrated author from Orkney.Andrina like many of his otherwise works has a spiritual aspect withcommon themes such as the cycle of the oceansons, betrayal, hope andregeneration. Andrina is set in Orkney, a perfect jam for thistale beca using up of its mystical automated teller. The haunting, spiritualatmosphere created through the language Geroge Mackay Brown uses addsto the overall effect of the yarn. In the short story an old seamanreceives regular visits from a young lady, Andrina. Then one day shedoes non come. The same day the narrator falls ill. He soon recoversand goes in search of Andrina whom he has missed during his illness.He can find no one in the village who knows anything about her. Thisincreases the mystery surrounding her character. It is not until theend of the story that he discovers that Andrina i s the ghost of hisgrand-daughter. This news come in a letter which had remained unopenedsince his illness. The short story has a really unusual narrativestructure with an embedded narrative surrounded by an outer framenarrative. The embedded narrative examines us back in time and introducesus to the sea skippers past. He narrates the main body of the story inpast tense. But the exposition, narrative hook and resolution are alldelivered in past tense. This is significant as it represents thecyclical personality of Mackay Browns work. This may also be significant asthe reader could take it to mean that all throughout the story the oldsea maitre dhotel knows the ending as the tense change would suggest hedoes. The authors use of foreshadowing gives the read... ...he news which came in the letter allows the old seacaptain to let go of his past and appreciated the physical elements ofhis life where she was dust, a new time was brightening earth andsea. This line demonstrates how th e old sea captain is letting go ofthe troubles which haunt him and the relationship with Andrina. Thisis very strong in giving resolution both to the old seaman and thereader. The short story has a suitably ambiguous ending as we do notknow if Andrinas presence was real or merely a figment of the lonelycaptains imagination. Nevertheless she certainly brightened up hiswinter.In conclusion, the increase of the mystery surrounding Andrina inthe narrative creates suspense and makes Mackay Browns short storyextremely satisfying. He successfully maintains a ghostly andmysterious atmosphere in this unnerving short story.