Miyuki's "Love" Essay

The Path of The Soul

In William Maxwell’s short story “Love,” the author uses foreshadowing to warn the reader about the teacher’s upcoming death. Initially, the writer gives a hint that Miss Vera Brown will die when at the beginning of school year, Miss Brown writes her name on the board for the students. “The name [Miss Vera Brown] might as well have been graven in stone” (Maxwell 8). Here Maxwell illustrates that the teacher name will be sculptured on the headstone. This is kind of strange according of how young and strong the teacher is supposed to be. This gives the audience to understand that soon the teacher will be in a tomb resting in peace. Later, Mr. Maxwell gives a prediction that the mentor will pass away when two of her students are on the way to visit her. “At the place where the road turns off to go to the cemetery… there was a red barn” (Maxwell 9). Here the reader can see that the author uses the word cemetery as an act of symbolization of the shortly upcoming death of Miss Vera Brown. Including the word red means her blood as well. Also, her students would be able to see how bad her condition is, announcing her trip to heaven. Finally, Mr. William Maxwell warns of the instructor’s fatality when the students see her so different. “Propped up on pillows on a big double bed was our teacher, but so changed. Her arms were like sticks, and all the life in her seemed concentrated in her eyes, which had dark circles around them” (Maxwell 10). At this point, watching the teacher lay down in her bed barely moving her body makes the reader think that the teacher will be underground soon. All those marks on her face, all the suffering on her body, all the sadness and weakness on her eyes, shows that this young woman is slowly departing from earth. By reading what the author is writing, he is suggesting that the educator will soon rest in peace.