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Rayda Jacobs The Guilt is a story of confrontation between an old woman and a young black guy in her house. The name of the old woman is Lillian Thurgwood who is a widow and through out the story she gives us the picture of struggle of an old and lonely woman against the world around her through different incidents of her life. Rayda Jacobs, in the story, has sketched the influence of her late husband on her life in such a way that it reveals the strength of her nature and overcoming the challenges of her lonely life to the readers quite evidently. Lillian Thurgwood lives in a house, which has the wall round the property ten feet high, and the gates are locked. This tells us about the insecurity of a lonely woman who lives all by her own. But two Alsatians, Tembi, and Tor, who guard her as - sentinels at the gate.
These two fierce and powerful dogs are trained by her late husband to follow specific commands and she feels that these two dogs give her the security and protection she needs to keep her safe from the world outside. In a married relationship it is the husbands responsibility to keep his wife safe and protected. Similarly, Lillian senses that though her husband is not alive - who would have protected her from dangers if alive, these two dogs trained by her husband gives her that protection and sense of being secured as if they were left by her husband to protect her when he will not be there physically. We see the demonstration of this when William Sidlayi, the young black man in the story, moves forward towards Lillian for money and she commands the dogs Sa! and with her command the bitches leapt- Tembi at Williams wrist and, Tor at his collar- and knocked him to the floor. Again we see the virtual presence of her husband in the story when William asks for ten rands and Lillian refuses him by first saying Ill ask my husband for the money.
Thus we see her trying to protect herself William who was a stranger and attempting to hide the helplessness of a widow who is old and not well protected from the strange world outside by using her husbands name as a defense. Furthermore, Lillian's late husband Jock comes to the picture when she tries to secure herself from William and goes to the bedroom where- in the wardrobe, she found the little brown box behind Jocks army paraphernalia, and drew out the revolver wrapped in a piece of green felt. This again reveals the responsibility of a husband to protect her wife and Lillian's late husband Jock performs this responsibility towards her not physically but rather with the firearm he left. At this point of the story, one change that should be noted in Lillian's character is that how strongly she behaves and how the sense of being confident is displayed in her nature while holding the weapon in her arms. The weapon of her husband changes the person inside her and she surprisingly notices the new strong Lillian inside her. This is because Jocks weapon is not only a weapon to her but she feels the strength and support of Jock through the weapon, which was assuring her of her safety.
Finally at the end of the story, the influence of her husband becomes so evident in the story that we see that night in bed, the gun in its new place under the pillow where Jocks head used to be, she cried softly into her hands. That is after the threatening incident in the afternoon, Jocks weapon resembled him to her and by putting it under the pillow where Jock used to sleep, Lillian felt the imaginary presence of her husband and the assurance of safety with confidence that with Jocks weapon she is not lonely and can overcome any threat. Then again her crying tells us about the thankful love she has for her husband. Apparently The Guilt might seem to be a story of an old womans crisis and its solution. But inner meaning wise or analytically, the author has tried to reveal the eternal promises and responsibilities of a holy relationship like marriage through the principal character of the story Lillian and her late husband and thus in doing so, Jacobs succeeded in sketching the influence of Lillian's late husband as an influential but invisible character in Lillian's life and also in the story.
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Research essay sample on The Presence Of Husband In Guilt
