Essay: Her Share of Sorrow by Tessa Hadley (analysis)

The family is often a place where there is safe to be, but that’s not all families. This case we meet in the story ’’Her Share of Sorrow in the story’’ written by Tessa Hadley. In my analysis, I will focus on she examines these feelings through literature and the emotions are also expressed through literature. The story is a tale of a black sheep in the family
The main character in the story is Ruby. She is the protagonist and a developing character. Throughout the story she changes her personality and she changes from an apathetic girl to someone who is interested in literature and writing. She is a ten-years-old girl (p. 1 l. 25) and she doesn’t look like the rest of the family. Her parents and siblings are tall and thin, and Ruby is fat and pale: ‘’But she was plump and stubby with short, fat arms, lank, beige-coloured hair and fair, freckled skin that turned pink easily in the sun or if she told lies – which she quite often did.’’ (p. 1. 8-9) Ruby’s inner characterisation demonstrates that she is an incurious girl and she is not interested in any activity suitable for children. She can’t find a hobby and the only things she likes is spending time in front of the computer: ‘’She’s not even sporty; she can’t swim. And she isn’t finding out information on the wretched computer, she’s just looking at pictures of kittens in wellington boots or playing Crossy-Road or messaging her friends.’’ (P. 1. l. 20-22) When they are in France on Holiday, she examines the house and finds a pile of Victorian novels, which she enjoys greatly. This is here that we find out that Ruby abhors the books she is compel to read in school, because they don’t stir her interest or imagination: ‘’The ones she’d been given as presents, or been forced to read in class, had seemed too drearily like her own real-life childish routines of home and school and family. She hadn’t had any idea that books could transport you like this – into something better.’’ (p. 2 l. 57-59) When she reads the Victorian novels, she reveals that she is very emotional and she suffers with the characters she likes: “Tears flooded into her eyes: what was inside her seemed poured out on to the page.” (p. 2 l. 68-69) We encounter here another side of Ruby, because she is no longer incurious girl. She lives a little in a fantasy world, because she is afraid of the imaginations becomes reality and therefore she lets the books be in France, because she fears that she will ruin the sanctity of the novels: ‘’Although it was searing to be torn away from her book, Ruby had never dreamed of carrying it off with her; it would have been a desecration to steal one volume from where it belonged among its fellows.” (p. 2. l. 75-77) Back home she finds a solution and she begins to write her own novel. Her story is very similar to the Victorian novels and she is very ambitious but she is also very secretive and she feels that her novel needs protection: ‘’Her family professed great interest in reading her novel, but she held back, with uncharacteristic restraint; something delicate in her story needed her protection. Carefully, whenever she finished writing, she stowed her notebook away under the mattress on her bed.’’ (p. 3 l. 103-105)
Ruby’s novel ends exactly the opposite of the Victorian novel. Instead of killing her heroine, Ruby kills the heroine’s entire family and makes the heroine the sole survivor. The end of her story shows that she is rebellious, and she does not follow the norms of how it should be. The ending of her novel can also be interpreted as a kind of revenge against her own family, because she no longer will be the inferior in the family. Her parents are not concerned about Ruby: ‘’(…) Adrian and Dalia ignored Ruby’s greedy eating at the supper table.’’ (p. 1 l. 12-13) This might otherwise be a sign of an eating disorder. It seems a little to, that Ruby is the black sheep in the family, because there is nothing they can do with her: ‘’(…) bracing herself for conflict with Ruby, who couldn’t live without Wi-Fi and hated the sun.’’ (p. 1. L. 28-29) Her parents end up being happy when they find out that Ruby has begun to write novels and they show great enthusiasm: ‘’Her family professed great interest in reading her novel (…)’’ (p. 3. L. 103) Ruby chooses to hold back because her short story needs protection, and this can be interpreted as a protection against her family, because she now has something which is hers. Her parents are mostly happy after she has found an interest that is not useless time in front of a computer. Her father prefers spending time with his son instead of his daughter, so Ruby is mostly alone. When it comes to Ruby’s interactions with her brother, it is also very clear that Nico doesn’t think much of his sister and that he prefers to ignore her or to mock her. Nico mocks her constantly: ‘’ A thought? You’re kidding me.’’ (p. 3 l. 87) Nico steals her novel and he reads it up for the family, where they make fun of her: ‘’Ruby spun round on her parents, riven suddenly with suspicion. Adrian was grinning helplessly; the back of Dalia’s hand, still clutching the vegetable knife, was pressed against her mouth, and her eyes behind her glasses seemed to be staring in distress – for a moment Ruby believed her mother was ravaged by the emotion in the story. Then she saw that her shoulders were shaking.’’ (p. 3 l. 131-134)
Ruby is once again made to the black sheep of the family, while the parents just watching over her and do not see that Ruby might possibly suffer from an eating disorder.
The literature in the story plays a big role for Ruby. The literature helps Ruby to give her self-discovery. Before she came to France were books something she was forced to read in school. (p. 2. L. 57) The books she finds in France is something else: ‘’She hadn’t had any idea that books could transport you like this – into something better.’’ (p. 2 l. 58-59) The literature makes Ruby conscious about her feelings, and the literature inspires Ruby to explore her feelings, because she first she imitates the style of the Victorian novels, but after being mocked by her family, she finds her own style. The victim in her story transform into a heroine and it can be interpreted to, that the literature has made Ruby aware of herself and it has encouraged her to explore herself furthermore, because she is more than the black sheep.
I can conclude that the relationship between Ruby and her family are very complicated. Ruby is like the black sheep of the family, who are just being made fun of. Ruby is not really good for anything but she finds out that she is as they take a trip to France. She undergoes a development where she accepts herself, and finds out that she has feelings. She examines these feelings through literature and the emotions are also expressed through literature