Back to category: English

Limited version - please login or register to view the entire paper.

Analysis of Lee Smith’s “Intensive Care.”

Analysis of Lee Smith’s “Intensive Care.”

In “Intensive Care,” Lee Smith expresses her vision of love, marriage and the meaning of life. Centering on one man who escapes a dispassionate marriage to wed the woman he loves, Smith states that love is worth struggle and loss, and suggests making meaning out of them.
The protagonist of the story, Harold Stikes, leaves his family and rejects his religion for a woman with a bad reputation. It is a big step for him considering the fact that this event takes place in a small town where there exists a strong sense of family, religion, and community. Thus, the narrative begins with a judgmental voice of the community, which rejects the passionate love between Cherry Oxendine and Harold Stikes. Gossiping neighbors, houses that “have a blank, closed look to them, like mean faces” and overall disapproval don’t disturb his enjoyable new life. He “gives up all hope of peace on earth and heaven hereafter for the love o...

Posted by: Anthony Pacella

Limited version - please login or register to view the entire paper.