In the National Gallery
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In the National Gallery
Part A
“In the National Gallery” is a novel by Doris Lessing. The novel deals with topics such as memories and love.
In the novel we follow an unknown narrator who only intention is to spend a free hour looking at just a single picture. The choice falls on a George Stubbs painting of a chestnut horse. Our main character is drawn to the picture by its beauty, it is described as “that magnificent beast, all power and potency “.
After short time an old man and a second younger person, which the narrator believes could be a younger brother, son or maybe a student, yet we do not know, sit beside our main character looking at the same picture.
This can be seen in George Stubbs painting called “Whistlejacket” Whistlejacket was a famous and very successful racehorse. This success is what the old man wishes for his younger student.
The old man starts talking to the other person about Stubbs with great passion, yet he does not seem very interested and keeps looking at his watch and out of nowhere the scene turns ugly as the young man says “You cant make a silk purse out of me, I keep telling you” (l. 23) which refers to the proverb: “You cant make a silk purse out of a sows ear ” which means that you cannot improve something what is not very good to start with.
The chestnut horse symbolizes strength, masculinity and power. It is possible that the older man would have teached the younger man something about these things – to grasp it while you can, because some day you will be old and unable to. Thats how the old mentor would like to change his student.
As the younger man leaves the scene the tranquility of the gallery is broken by a bunch of schoolgirls. These girls are described as very young, careless and without interest of the art of the gallery, but more excited about the trip and each other (l. 40).
The old man seems very interested in the girls, with one in particular, the leader of the group. She is described as a very beautiful and almost perfect girl. When she goes to sleep at the bench in front of our main character and the old man, the old man starts to talk his youth and especially about this girl he was in love with at the age of twelve who looked exactly like the little girl. When the old man told the main character about this he laughed nervously, which the main character interprets as:
“Yes, I, too, had that irresistible impossible vitality where has it all gone … we dont think when we are that age … time does its work without any reference to us … yes, time …” – The thing he tried to teach the younger man about. He thinks about his own careless youth – similar to the one the little girls are having right now. The old man keeps telling about his unhappy love