On Portia’s Marginality In Elizabeth Bowen’s The Death Of The Heart

Elizabeth Bowen(1899-1973), a prolific Anglo-Irish female writer, is praised to be one of the finest writers of fiction in the twentieth century. Published in 1938, The Death of the Heart is Bowen’s semi-autobiographical novel between two World Wars. The “marginality”presented by Portia is throughout the novel. Not only the estrangement and loneliness among people, but also the absurdity and indifference from the upper-middle class are revealed from the perspective of this innocent girl.With the research on the differences of people’s values on social class, ethnicity, race and culture, American sociologist Robert E. Park illustrated the concept of marginality.“Marginality” means a state in between, or a state which is on the fringe and far away from the center or mainstream. The lack of security and sense of belonging are the typical characteristics of people with marginality. This insecurity and rootlessness lead to self-anxiety and fear, so people of this kind feel that they are lonely, isolated, forgotten or abandoned. To some extent, marginality is associated with rootlessness and vagrancy.In this thesis, the concept of marginality is applied. “Confrontation”, “rebellion” and“compromise” are the logical key words to connect three main chapters together. The change of attitude of the female protagonist toward marginality in three periods of confusion, struggle and disillusionment reveals her own psychological development and growth. In the same time,the conflict between innocent children and sophisticated adults are also studied. In introduction part, the previous studies about this novel and a brief introduction of the theory are offered. The feasibility to analyze this novel with the theory of marginality is also pointed out. Besides, three research questions are raised in order to make a thorough analysis on Portia’s marginality in The Death of the Heart. How is Portia’s marginality related with the places she once lived in? Why does Portia use her obsession with playboy Eddie and her running-away-from-home as rebellion against her marginal situation? What kind of decisions and adjustments does Portia make after she goes through life changes in the periods of confusion, struggle and disillusionment?Chapter one analyzes the marginal state which innocent Portia confronts with inconfusion. Portia spends her childhood by shuttling from one hotel to another. She leads a vagrant life together with her parents. After her parent’s death, she is legated to her reluctant half-brother and sister-in-law. During her stay under her half-brother’s roof, it is impossible for her to find a stable physical and spiritual shelter. Her marginal state of mind is caused by this marginality in physical living spaces. Chapter two analyzes Portia’s rebellion against marginality in struggle. When Portia tries in vain to be assimilated into the center of her half-brother’s family life, she becomes obsessed with a playboy Eddie and pins her hope on Eddie to find a sense of belonging. Her reliance on the playboy and her running-away-from-home are both her ways to revolt against marginality she faces with. Chapter three is about Portia’s compromise to marginality in disillusionment. Portia makes concession to the betrayer Eddie in order to stay together with him. After the refusal from the betrayer, Portia takes refuge with Major Brutt, a friend of Anna. She even proposes marriage to this outsider but is refused by him as well. All her efforts are in vain at last. After going through all these,Portia is aware that she is too small to change her marginal situation. All she can do is to adjust herself and to reexamine this world again, so that she can find a suitable place for herself.With the change of the protagonist’s attitude toward marginality, it’s revealed in this thesis that Portia has no place to escape and her innocent heart full of fantasies dies in this cunning and deceitful adult world. It is impossible for people walking on the fringe like Portia to find the right direction of life and for their wandering heart if they can’t respond positively to social changes. What’s more, the title of this novel implies not only the alienation phenomenon in the society and alienation of relationship among people, but also the freezing of humanity and death of conscience. Bowen harbored hope for the future. She had faith in human’s progress, their communication with each other and the possibility for them to live a harmonious life. However, she didn’t offer the standard solutions to contradictions. She adopted an open-ending to the novel and encouraged readers to think and explore their own answers.