KEY QUESTIONS FOR THE SELF: E. B. WHITE: THE SECOND TREE FROM THE CORNER
KEY QUESTIONS FOR THE SELF: E. B. WHITE: THE SECOND TREE FROM THE CORNER

Summary/Abstract: Some of the main questions concerning the human mind repeatedly throughout life are the following: Who are you? What do you want? What is your purpose on earth? Explicit or unique answers to those queries do not exist, but there are many literary works that challenge such topics. One of these is the modernist short story The second tree from the corner written by Elwyn Brooks White. The story offers a very realistic perspective on those questions and it can be considered a source of further meditation for all its readers. The conventional, expected behaviour considered or present in the human consciousness under the concept of ‘normal’ is revealed as being as uncertain as that understood as ‘sick’. The aim of the analysis is to refer to those elements in relation to the main literary devices used by the author: characterization, plot, setting, foreshadowing, conflict. The dimensions of personality are explored in an unexpected, new light. Additionally, towards the end of the study, a possible reader-response perspective yields significant details, considering the theory associated with the work of Louise Rosenblatt.

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