Romanticism in The Story of Nil by Gabrielle Roy

Romantics tended to define the imagination as the ultimate “shaping” or creative power, and saw it as

the human equivalent to the creative powers of nature and God.

On a broader scale, it is also the faculty that helps humans to create reality, because how we perceive

the world around is part of an individual reality.-Nil's voice brings happiness and calmness to

the people-Page 99: palsied man tried so hard to keep

still just so that he could be able to hear what Nil was singing and be able to experience the beauty of the song.

-The ultimate shaping and the creative power is the voice of Nil

-Once people have heard the magic in Nil’s voice they claim that they know him or they just want a chance to be close to him-This is another example of the wild imagination of people and what creative powers can do.

-Page 101: woman who claims that Nil is her son

-The creative powers tend to bring about emotions of love and happiness

Romantic often wrote about humankind in general, nature and the soul, spiritual identity, perception and wholeness, often evoked through and deeply connected to the natural world.

-Perception and Wholeness has a relation to the age of the characters

-Wholeness: means that no parts are lacking and the thing in its entirety is complete.

-Two worlds: “pure world” and “ills of the adult world” (eg. psychiatric hospital)

-Beauty in simplicity

Nature and the soul-The soul is the self-awareness unique to a

particular living being, defined as being distinct from the body and survives the death of the body.

-Nil reinforces how important music is for the soul.

-Individuality-Birds (nature metaphor) and music. -Last line: “Freedom of the air”

Another important belief of the Romantics was the sublime,

which implies that man can, in emotions and language,

transcend the limits of the human condition.-Bound by Mortality

and Time -Nursing Home -Hospital-Freedom with Music

One of the fundamentals of Romanticism is the belief in the natural goodness of man, the idea that man in a state of nature would behave well but is hindered by

civilization (Rousseau―“man is born free and everywhere he is in chains”).

a. The “savage” is noble, childhood is good and the emotions inspired by both beliefs causes the heart to

soar.b. On the contrary, urban life and the commitment to

“getting and spending,” generates a fear and distrust of the world.

-Occurs when the audience is described before Nil performs for them.

-The inspector has fallen victim to the distrust felt in the world because he is suspicious of the students’ sudden improvement with regards to singing.

-Nil’s fellow classmates are in the in the in-between phase between freedom in childhood and acceptance of the chains of reality in adulthood.

-The narrator’s mother suffers the physical chains of disability and this causes her to lose hope in life.

-The people at the old folk’s home have passed through life and now are confined by the limitations associated with old age.

-Those individuals that Nil sings to at the mental institution, suffer beneath the chains of the mind.

-Nil and his ability to sing and bring music to others seems to act like a light that penetrates and transcends the distrust and desolation felt by all individuals.

-Nil and his mother do not bow down before the conventions of society and are free in a way that others in the story are not.

The most significant expression of a Romantic commitment to emotion, said by William Wordsworth,

was that “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility”.

There are many scenes in which a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings canbe identified within the story. Most of these scenes portray and emphasize thefeelings given by Nil’s singing.

When a great flow of emotion is present, it is emphasized by a significant amount ofimagery. This is done through the large use of descriptive terms. Invoking many ofthe senses allows for the reader to feel the strength of the emotion in the text.

The actions also help to create a strong commitment to emotion in tranquility,working alongside imagery. During many moments, the littlest of actions candisplay certain emotions. This is highlighted in a tranquil and calm environment,where much drastic movement does not occur.

Use diction – the choices of word gives strength, stronger feelings. This helps toconvey the strong feelings in times of silence, stillness or calm, when not much maybe happing physically, but instead it is still expressed powerfully.

Similes and metaphors are other devices that help create the overflow of emotion.

With emotion in this text, there is a connection nature, emphasize emotions as partof the natural world. This connection also emphasizes the strength of emotion,comparing it with the strength of nature, creating an extended metaphor.

Uses all 5 senses in its art-Hearing: Nil's singing (“Clear,

vibrant and astonishingly accurate” )

-Sight: vivid descriptions of the characters/setting

-Touch: “He had a way of saying yes without a word, placing his little hands in mine as if to tell me: You know very well that I’d go the worlds end with you. And it went straight to my heart.”

-Smell: Reflects social class (the slaughterhouse)