Characters in the Lamp at Noon Essay

Jack Nickson
Nicole Chinnick
ENG3U1
Oct 30th 2013 The Lamp at Noon
Wind; the fighting wind, the wind in flight, the dying wind. The characters from The Lamp At Noon are the “wind”. Each one of them represents a characteristic the wind portrays. Paul, the character who is always at work, is fighting to scrape by financially. Paul represents the fighting wind in this case. Ellen personifies the wind that flees; she would rather escape her problems than face them. The baby is the dust in the wind, he has no say, he is just dragged on by Paul and Ellen. Lastly the marriage can be represented by the wind as well because of the constant opposition between Paul and Ellen, similar to how the wind fights against its self. The fighting wind represents Paul and the marriage because of the tension that surrounds them. The fleeing wind represents Ellen and her cowardice ways and the dying wind represents the baby’s short lived worthless life that slowly came to an end.

Wind is constantly finding obstacles to fight against, like Paul, he is trying to fight for his own dignity. Paul has too much pride to let his farm go to waste. He will constantly work day to night trying to keep the dust down for his family’s sake. Financially, he is not well off and the dust storm that is occurring is not helping the fact. Ellen gives Paul the option to move back to the city to work for her father, but Paul’s level of pride takes over when he firmly states “Its better than sweeping out your fathers store and running his errands…I cant go, Ellen living off your people, charity” (Ross 65). The fighting wind symbolizes Paul because he will constantly fight until he wins his inner and outer conflicts. The fighting wind also represents the conflicts between Paul and Ellen in their marriage. The fleeing wind represents a way out. Ellen is always running away from her problems. She would rather walk away than try to find a way to fix them. Ellen pleads, "I can't stand it any longer. He cries all the time. You will go Paul - say we will. We aren't living here - not really living " (Ross 65). Ellen wants to leave her home and start over somewhere new, instead of trying to rekindle relationships back home. She is constantly trying to get away but never actually gets anywhere. She is considered the wind in flight because she is on the move but never gets to where she wants to go. She ends up right back where she started.

The baby was dying from the minute it

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