The short story Alice Munro's The Bear Came Over the Mountain and the film Away from Her (Egoyan et al., 2006) are two narratives based on the same story. The director of the film drew her inspiration from the short story by Alice Munro hence the similarity of the stories. This paper focuses on analysis, how the film depicts the short story, and how both stories have portrayed Alzheimer’s.
Alice Munro's The Bear Came Over the Mountain is a short story that focuses on the life of an old man who makes so many sacrifices the spouse, his wife. The story unfolds with a vivacious young Fiona who proposes to Grant. After that, the next scene if of Fiona in her old age probably seventies going to the facility; Meadowlake. Fiona and Grant were happily married for over forty years before Fiona started developing dementia. In the beginning, it was exciting, she would leave notes of her schedule, but it kept getting worse to a point she could not remember the direction to her home. Grant make so many sacrifices to take care of his wife, who had lost her memory entirely until she forgot him. Despite that, he does not give up on her. He continues to love and take care good of her.
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The author of the story, Munro does not narrate is as a continuous story. Instead, he juxtaposes some scenes from the present to those from the past to show how dementia had affected her. She was a nice lady who loved her husband deeply during her early age, but with dementia, she turned to a malicious woman. The change cannot be explained by dementia; perhaps she was revenging how her husband disrespected her by having many affairs outside their marriage. During their early age, Grant served as a professor in a university courtesy of Fiona's dad who helped him secure that job. However, despite the favor that he received from Fiona’s father, he showed no regards for his daughter. He cheated on Fiona with some of his students and some married women that he used to seduce. The story shows how some people negotiate commitments and justify their failure to keep them up with the promise.
The two major themes that have been brought out in the story are sacrifice and forgiveness. Sacrifice is brought out in Fiona and Grant’s marriage. Fiona makes so many sacrifices to keep her marriage safe. This is evidenced by how she treated her husband during their early ages. Through her father, Grant secures a job as a professor. Besides that, she overlooks so many instances that grant cheated on her. Fiona sacrificed her happiness for her marriage. Grant also is seen to sacrifice so much to make Fiona live a better life when she lost her memory. Forgetfulness is another central theme in the story (Simal, 2014). Fiona lives to forgive her husband, who cheats on her always.
The film Away from Her (Egoyan et al., 2006), is a film about Grant and Fiona, the couple in the short story The Bear Came over the Mountain . The film was written and directed by Sarah, who drew inspiration from Alice Munro’s work (Berthin-Scaillet, 2010). Just like the book, the film brings out two critical themes from the story; sacrifice and forgiveness. The couple in the story are seen to struggle to live together after the wife loses her memory through the effort of the husband. He devotes his life to help his wife live a more comfortable experience though it was not easy for him. The film depicts the short story accurately. All the scenes that the author narrated are captured in the movie (Berthin-Scaillet, 2010). The emotions of the two essential characters are accurately captured throughout the film both when the couple was young and during their old age.
Alzheimer’s is a degenerative disorder that affects one progressively. Its onset is prolonged but gradually get severe. The condition has been portrayed accurately in the short film The Bear Came over the Mountain and the film Away from Her . Both narrations show how the disease onsets slowly and can have a significant impact on one's life (Simal, 2014). This is evidenced in both stories. First, when Fiona starts developing the condition, she did not know it was something serious because she was forgetful by nature. The diseases progress gradually to severity. The lady forgets her husband, whom she has been married to for over forty years. Also, the condition makes her forget her home one time she was coming from the care facility. Instead of going home, she went to the police station. Both stories portray the condition accurately.
In conclusion, the film depicts the short story accurately. All the scenes that the author narrated and emotional development throughout have been captured in the movie. Additionally, both have portrayed Alzheimer’s accurately as evidenced when Fiona starts developing the condition. She did not know it was something serious because she was forgetful by nature, and as the diseases progress, lady forgets her husband, whom she has been married to for over forty years and her home.
References
Berthin-Scaillet, A., (2010). A Reading of Away from Her, Sarah Polley’s adaptation of Alice
Munro’s short story, “The Bear came over the Mountain." Journal of the Short Story in English. Les Cahiers de la nouvelle , (55).
Simal, B., (2014). Memory Matters: Alice Munro's Narrative Handling of Alzheimer’s in" The
Bear Came over the Mountain" and" In Sight of the Lake." Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies , 50 .
