Essay Example on Neverhome: Exploring Power Through Dispositional Characteristics

Over the years, various debates have sparked about the relationship between an individual's behaviors and power. Power has been looked at dispositional characteristics that deeply dwell on the overall sense of dominance (Hunt, 2015). However, people have divergent opinions about power. In essence, power can have a bad and a good meaning. Because power can be viewed in many ways, the novel "Neverhome" by Laird Hunt focusses on exploitative, competition, integrity, manipulative, and nutrient power.

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The novel "Neverhome" expounds deeply on exploitative power. Laird Hunt's novel "Neverhome" expounds on outsized power. The narrator's mother uses a fairy tale about an ambiguous plain language to the girl. The language "Neverhome" covers a spectrum of human experience. The narrator reveals how destructive her mother's power often misleads their discussion. In essence, the narrator expounds on the concept when she recalls, "My mother liked to start one story and finish off with another" (Hunt, 2015). Readers get to understand that the narrator's mother hardly gave any exchange in the storytelling session. The context reveals how the narrator's mother uses her exploitative power to meet what she has to say.

The writer covers the aspect of nutrient power from a broader perspective. Hunt writes that the death the narrator sees and imposed on them as soldiers make her be a harder person. She even perpetuates this process when she committed a criminal offense when she wore a dress (Hunt, 2015). The narrator is highly scared by the civil war, the tale she experiences elliptically reveals the primal wounds she had while still a young girl (Hunt, 2015). The narrator is typically an epic American character in a crucial moment in the formation of the citizen's blood, betrayal, forged in sorrow, and national identity ("Review: Laird Hunt's 'Neverhome' tears a woman and a nation in two," 2014). From these arguments, readers can see that the narrator is mostly concerned about the soldiers' welfare. Such that she uses this power to make grow as a harder person. Thus, from this experience, she can easily exercise her power to comfort others who are experiencing difficulties. The incident provides the lessons needed for comforting fiction.

The story also expounds on competitive power when Constance dresses as a woman and protests to the public about the petrified war stories experienced by an old Ohio man (Hunt, 2015). The older man's grandson comes home, missing both eyes and without half his face. Constance had discovered back in Indiana that not everything could disappear quickly (Hunt, 2015). After some years, Constance hears about a woman who went to war, giving her experience with the veterans. The woman narrates that "I made it back, Sure enough, but never felt I'd made it home" (Hunt, 2015). The concepts reveal some sort of rivalry which the woman had to endure in the war. However, the competition in this context is positive in the sense that the woman had come back home safely amidst those trying moments.

In the story, readers can easily see some use of manipulative powers. For instance, readers are briefed about marriage and memories of youth that accompanied Ash to war. Also, readers understand that Constance had unfinished businesses back in Indiana (Hunt, 2015). The mother who taught her about not turning their cheek stood facing angry people brandishing torches ("Review: Laird Hunt's 'Neverhome' tears a woman and a nation in two," 2014). Bartholomew and Constance are isolated by various ways of grieving the child who died about an hour after she had been born; she eventually told by the husband that she has already gone ("Review: Laird Hunt's 'Neverhome' tears a woman and a nation in two," 2014). The incident reveals some kind of unfair interaction that occurs between Constance and Bartholomew. In this context, power seems to be pervasive as the two couples organize and understand their relationship.

The other concept of power explore in this story is integrative power. For instance, in the first battle that Ash endures, readers could not see colors where some may think it was a mirror. Ash could not understand the need of the wounded child to call for water even when she passed through the final battlefield route to Indiana ("Review: Laird Hunt's 'Neverhome' tears a woman and a nation in two," 2014). The narrator writes, "he was crawling to the grave that would open at any moment and made me tired to look at him" (Hunt, 2015). From the experience of the child, readers get to understand the necessity of having constructive power. By having constructive power, every person is given an opportunity to educate others on their viewpoints or opinions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the story "Neverhome" by Laird Hunt covers an outsized power such as; integrative, nutrient, exploitative, competitive, and manipulative power in a broader context. In terms of manipulative power, the writer argues that the mother, who taught Constance about not turning their cheek, stood facing angry people brandishing torches. Bartholomew and Constance are isolated by various ways of grieving the child who died about an hour after she had been born. In terms of exploitative power, the writer reveals how the narrator's mother always misled discussion. The battle endured by Ash addresses integrative power. In other words, the writer has used these powers effectively to educate the readers on how to exercise their powers effectively.

References

Hunt, L. (2015). Neverhome. Random House. Review: Laird Hunt's 'Neverhome' tears a woman and a nation in two. (2014, November 7). Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-laird-hunt-20141109-story.html