Andrina by George Mackay Brown Essay -- Critical Essay Short Story Eng

Andrina by George Mackay BrownA miserable composition in which an element of mystery plays an important partis Andrina by George Mackay Brown, a storied author from Orkney.Andrina like many of his other works has a spiritual aspect withcommon themes such as the cycle of the seasons, betrayal, hope andregeneration. Andrina is set in Orkney, a perfect location for thistale because of its mystical atmosphere. The haunting, spiritualatmosphere created through the language Geroge Mackay Brown uses addsto the overall effect of the stratum. In the short story an aged seamanreceives regular visits from a young lady, Andrina. Then one day shedoes not come. The same day the narrator falls ill. He in short recoversand goes in search of Andrina whom he has missed during his illness.He can find no one in the village who knows anything about her. Thisincreases the mystery surrounding her character. It is not until theend of the story that he discovers that Andrina is the ghost of hisgrand-dau ghter. This news come in a letter which had remained unopenedsince his illness. The short story has a very unknown narrativestructure with an embedded narrative surrounded by an outer framenarrative. The embedded narrative takes us back in time and introducesus to the sea captains out of date. He narrates the main body of the story inpast tense. But the exposition, narrative hook and resolution are alldelivered in past tense. This is significant as it represents thecyclical nature of Mackay Browns work. This may also be significant asthe reader could take it to mean that all throughout the story the oldsea captain knows the ending as the tense change would suggest hedoes. The authors use of foreshadowing gives the read... ...he news which came in the letter allows the old seacaptain to let go of his past and appreciated the physical elements ofhis life where she was dust, a new time was brightening earth andsea. This line demonstrates how the old sea captain is letting go ofthe troubles which haunt him and the relationship with Andrina. Thisis very effective in giving resolution both to the old seaman and thereader. The short story has a suitably ambiguous ending as we do notknow if Andrinas presence was real or merely a fiction of the lonelycaptains imagination. Nevertheless she certainly brightened up hiswinter.In conclusion, the development of the mystery surrounding Andrina inthe narrative creates suspense and makes Mackay Browns short storyextremely satisfying. He successfully maintains a ghostly andmysterious atmosphere in this unnerving short story.