Or Else the Lightning God Essay

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Lightning God

"Or Else, the Lightening God" is a story that deals with conflict from a variety of different levels. These conflicts can be further explored through the use of literary perspectives. The this short story the formalist approach, the Marxist approach, and the feminist approach have been chosen to be applied to the inter-familial, cultural, economic, gender, generational, and other conflicts that were identified in the story. The central conflict in the story is between Margret and her mother-in-law. This conflict is so important to Margret that it reduces her quality of life to the point in which it risks the health of her unborn child. To mitigate the conflict that is causing real problems for her in her life, she has to resort to using ancient techniques from the culture she has been trying to escape from her entire adult life.

Formalist Approach

Many of the conflicts in the story are interconnected. The conflict that arises from the generational differences is also related to the gender roles. Margret represents a new generation of woman who is quickly gaining her independence in a society that was formally patriarchal. Women can now work and earn their own livings and are not dependent upon a man to take care of them. However, for the mother-in-law who is from a different type of society, these options were not readily available to her. Instead she is dependent upon her family, more specifically her son, to provide the basic needs of life.

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The mother-in-law is also living in a more modern environment that she is probably used to. Margret is highly critical of many of the practices that the mother-in-law is used to such as making traditional medicine, conducting a seance, and making things on the floor of her home. It seems that Margret is rebelling against not only the role of women in the previous generations, but also the women who were a part of that generation and the lifestyles that they represented. Instead of trying to create a sense of understanding, Margret creates barriers and distances herself from the mother-in-law; even dehumanizes her by calling her things like "dowager," "antique," or "servant" (Lim, 1980, p. 460). In the end however, in a reversal of fates, Margret is dependent upon the antique for her very well-being and the health of her child.

Marxist Approach

The Marxist Lens highlights some major differences in the transition of the different forms….....

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