The Ice House by Caroline Gordon - Essay Example

Gordon starts out by introducing us to Doug, one of the central characters of the plot. Doug has recently acquired employment on a tentative basis and his employer is a Yankee contractor. He is one of the two main characters of the short story and has been assigned the task of removing the skeletons of Union Soldiers from a pit in an ice house. The skeletons are of soldiers who were killed on the battlefield in 1862 and the bodies had been placed in the ice house so that they could be buried later.

Needless to say, the theme is distinctively Gordon and the subtle approach to the scenario reflects her position as a writer who has chosen to adopt the modern writer's style. As the story progresses, the setting of the scenario becomes even more intriguing and the distinct style of writing is reflected in every dialogue between the characters that are distinct to Gordon. If Southern writer Caroline Gordon was to be analyzed in terms of her writings pertaining to the modern writer's style then we can observe that along with Allen Tate and Walker Percy, Caroline Gordon was one of the few writers who came from communities that had not been known for such a unique sense of prose and poetry before.

Her writing style stood out to be quite distinct from that of the mainstream writing culture because of her choice to alienate herself from the mainstream writing culture.However, one cannot help but feel that Gordon has exaggerated occasionally in The Ice House and that her writing style is influenced by her tendency to write fiction to quite an extent. However, when going through The Ice House, one cannot help but appreciate the way Gordon makes excellent use of the most subtle elements to generate the energy in her work.

It comes as no surprise therefore that writers such as O'Connor, Katherine Anne Porter, Andrew Lytle, Robert Penn Warren, and John Crowe Ransom gave exquisite relevance to her work and The Ice House comes as an excellent example for a reason for the same.Having gone through this short story by Gordon, one can feel the depth that Gordon perceives in the past as it combines with the seemingly insignificant events of the present. Gordon brings to light the importance of the writing style since it is an undeniable fact that the feeling of disgust that the reader feels towards the scenario presented in the story after having read it is exactly what the Gordon wanted to do.

The effect is quite similar to an actor who has to play the character of the villain in a plot. By the end of the performance, the more the audience loathes his character, the more of a success he is. Similarly, Gordon writes in the finest of ways and leaves the reader amazed by the steady pace of her work and the serenity in her approach towards each new character and each new scene.