Essay Questions

Deconstruct Amundsen’s assertions concerning his wife’s sickness.

Amundsen says, "It has pleased God to confine her to her bed…It is a visitation. One must be resigned." Amundsen attributes his wife’s ailing to God; Accordingly, he is resigned because he cannot challenge God’s resolution. Amundsen considers that it is only God who can restore her; hence, he is categorically resigned. His invocation of God depicts the convergence between religion and perceptions concerning ill health. For Amundsen, God is the prime healer; hence, a doctor is dispensable.

Elucidate Niels reaction on his first meeting with Mrs. Vogel.

Grove elucidates, “All this did not become clear to Niels in articulate thought. It gathered into a general impression of attraction. Her sight roused his protective instincts, the impulses of the man in him.” Evidently, Mrs. Vogel arouses Niels’ Love Instinct. He yearns for a romantic affair with her for she awakens his manly drives. Mrs. Vogel’s unique appearance astounds Niels resulting in the erotic magnetism.