Dancing Bear - Character Conflict

The purpose of this essay to explain how Guy Vanderhaeghe used conflict to express theme and to show significant change in characters in the short story Dancing Bear (Vanderhaeghe 367-378). Vanderhaeghe may well have consciously used conflict for these purposes in Dancing Bear, and with that possibility in mind, this essay examines the use of conflict in the short story for these purposes. An important disclaimer is in order, however, prior to proceeding with this examination. This short story was written in 1951, at a time when the behavioral changes and the physiological bodily changes wrought by Alzheimer's disease were neither widely known nor well understood. The portrayal of Dieter Bethge in Dancing Bear is a near perfect textbook description of the effects of Alzheimer's disease on many of its elderly victims. Similarly, the portrayal of Mrs Hax in Dancing Bear is an accurate description of a care giver who neither understands

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Category: Literature - D