Analysis Of The Sweet Hereafter

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A Cripple and a Rat Feasting Together
“Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property.” -Jean de la Bruyere

In The Sweet Hereafter, the author, Russell Banks, plays Nichole as the crippled, physically and metaphorically, because after the accident her truth is a lie. Because of not being able to recollect her memories, it cripples her even more. However, When there is an accident and the majority of the people in the accident die, or are hurt, then it becomes not what the truth is, but what do you remember and what do you think you remember. Also, when you have a rat, who is Mr. Stephens coming into the town trying to get people to represent and telling them what to say and …show more content…
Coming into the small town of Sam Dent and not knowing the traditions or the community will make it hard for him to relate and to solve the devastating problem for the community. Only knowing the accident itself and who the victims are shows that he is only here for money and to continue his name. During the time of him trying to be a lawyer in a case that will never be fully done, his family problems trouble him and put even more pressure on him. Stephens says, “Besides, the people of Sam Dent are not unique. We’ve all lost our children. It’s like all the children of America are dead to us” (99). He is trying to relate to this case the best he can. However, he can not fully grasp the pain these families are going through because he has never lost a child; he has never had to attend a funeral for his daughter. As an outsider, a rat, he groups these children to the children of America and categorizes them as hooligans. Stephens says, “the dream child is the real one, the dead child simply does not exist” (125). Before a family has kids, they spend time thinking about their child and how they are going to be the ‘dream child’. Stephens daughter, Zoe, is the opposite of a ‘dream child’. She is always getting into trouble and calling her dad for help. Mitchell tries to use this to his advantage during the case. Yet, it shows how handicapped he is because the families that lost children could only imagine calling their children. Now their children only exist off of memories but memories only get them so
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