Essay Questions

What is Robert Gray’s mother suffering from in “In Departing Light”?

Robert Gray writes, “Alzheimer’s is nirvana, in her case. She never mentions/ anything of what troubled her adult years.” Clearly, the mother’s memory is fuzzy due to Alzheimer’s. As a result, she makes incoherent remarks which do not mirror the reality of her adulthood encumbrances. She comments about imaginary situations that obscure the agony of her adulthood; so she is not frazzled by wretched memories. The imaginations provoked by Alzheimer’s are a nirvana that galvanizes her bliss in the finale.

What is the covert matter in “Wing-Beat”?

“Wing Beat” is relates to ensuing ageing: “Fifty springs are little room, an authority /in loss warns, but actuarially/ I can expect to own/ten summers, before the heights of blue close down.” The “fifty springs” denote that Robert Gray is fifty years old and anticipates that he will live to sixty before he expires. The seasons are diametrically correlated with ageing. The valuation of age based on the season is analogous to taking inventory of one’s life cycle.