bernadette

Fear, it has a way of controlling everything that it comes in contact with.
As young children we are introduced to this intimidating desire with
intrigue and suspicion. As we age, the thoughts of fears become more
like realities, ideas of loneliness and death enter the picture as
comprehensible thoughts and views of the future. These issues make up
the foundation of the Mavis Gallant story "Bernadette". In this story we
are presented with the image of a young French Canadian girl, who finds
herself pregnant and without a husband. The context of the story
explores the relationships between the members of the household in a
fear associated manner. The relationship between the Knights and
Bernadette is the base of the story. These three people relate to each
other in an intimidating fashion and this is what makes Bernadette's
predicament so difficult to overcome. As well, the family ties between
Nora and Robbie are explored. Their family relationship is one based
ondependence, and without this one factor the connection between the
two results in fearfulness of being alone. Fear has a way of attacking our
judgment and this is what makes associations between people an
apprehensive and hard act. The story is set in Quebec during the
1940-1950, when what you were was the definition of who you were. As
the story opens we are presented with the main character Bernadette,
who is concluding that she is one hundred and twenty-six days pregnant.
At this time in history it was quit common for young rural girls to bare
children at a young age. However, Bernadette is a single French
Canadian girl who is working and living in a urban community, where
things like that do not take place. We are here introduced to the first fear
presented in the story: How will Bernadette tell the Knights that she is
pregnant? The answer to the question is what haunts her, and the
reaction of the Knights is the anxiety that builds up inside of her. These
intimidating fears places Bernadette in a compromising situation, she is in
a position of abandonment by her family and the shame she thinks she
has brought on to the Knights. These fears have forced her to react in an

unusual fashion. Bernadette is so fearful of what they might think that
she tries to hide herself in her work so that she is not placed in the
position where she will have to interact with the Knights. The
fear of failure and disappointment took control over her mind. When
around the Knights she worked as a robot in order not to arouse ideas of
her current condition. Her nervous fears brought her to the point of giving
in to their expectations and allowing herself to lie to them about the books
she read and the men she saw. Her images of her dead siblings as
angels would comfort her fears at time, but would also bring up new ones.
She would wonder about her child and the life that was waiting for it;
would it live a life like hers or would it pray for her in the heavens. The
Knights were a couple that were brought together by convenience and
fears. Nora was concord by the fear of not being in control, she had to be
the one person everyone depended on in time of need. From her
positions on committees to the forgiving attitude she showed Robbie
about his many affairs, Nora always had the upper hand in any given
situation. The affairs that Robbie had, showed Nora that he wasn't as
dependent on her as she wanted him to be, that is why she would treat
the problem as a solvable condition, in order to keep Robbie under her
control. We are told about Robbie's dreams of being a playwright and
fears of failure and the poverty that might follow. These fears were
reinforced by Nora; her fears of failure, allowed herself to place her
children into private boarding school, so that would not have to suffer the
thoughts of bringing up her children wrong. All the fears that controlled
their lives affirmed their ideas of how life was to be lived. The fears of
being alone brought Nora to the point where she was ready to do
everything that she could to keep Robbie apart of her life. This point is
proven at the end of the story when Nora's suspicions about Robbie and
Bernadette bring her to suggesting that they pay for Bernadette to be
placed in a home so that she can continues her life with Robbie as if

undisturbed. As well, the anxiety she experiences is tested at the party
she holds where her total control is lost by all the disturbing news she is
given about her husband and Bernadette. She is forced to continue with
the party in confusion and despair. This intertwined relationship
between the Knights and Bernadette illustrate how people are fearful and
deceitful to each other even when living under the same roof. The
fabrications of tales and unseen conditions brought out the anxieties in
each of the characters. These fears are manifested at the initial start of
the relationships and continue to grow if not put to rest. This is seen
when the pressure of the unborn child is released from Bernadette's
conscience when Nora is forced to corner Bernadette in the kitchen to
question her about the suspicions of her pregnancy.Bernadette and the
Knights are characters that display for us the results of what may happen
when we let our fears control us to the point that they are seen more as
truth instead of obstacles. Fears are great deterrents and allow us to
see things not for what they are. In conclusion, we must all face the fact
that fears and anxieties will forever be present in our lives, but we must
progress to the stage where we can see them for what they are instead of
allowing them to enter our existing routines.