And the Bond Cannot Be Broken - Essay

Daniel Fudge’s And the bond cannot be broken is a short story that conveys the concept of journey by encompassing powerful imagery to depict the harsh reality of the negative outcomes of journeys. The text explores this rather pessimistic journey by employing the use of rich and varied literary techniques and depicting the entire journey as purposeless.

A vast range of literary techniques is employed in the text, all of which contribute to exploring the negative outcome of journeys. Imagery is a predominant throughout the entire text, appealing to the auditory, olfactory, tactile and visual senses. This is highly effective in depicting the wild beauty and the horror of nature. Quotes such as “…the clouds brewing above and the dirt swirling around his feet” and “skyline rushing down to drown his brittle form” conjure up images of the uncontrollable force of nature and the insignificance of humans in comparison. Fudge also encompasses more harsh imagery to further reinforce the harshness of life. This is evident in the quotes, “…spluttered mucus and blood” and “…covered in crusted blood, jaws ripped from his skull”. All these descriptions are then directly linked to nature’s ferocity. Fudge has characterised “The Land” as nature’s representation in the text. He emphasises and reinforces The Land by encompassing heavy use of personification. “the Land was speaking”, “the Land throbbing” and “the Land had suffocated his family” all use personification. The repeated use of �the’ before the subject, �Land’, combined with the effect of personification, emphasises and reinforces the authority and dominance of nature.

While imagery is prevalent in the text, Fudge also employs the use of other literary techniques such as oxymoron and personification. Depicting Nature as “horribly beautiful” and letting it let out a “roar of silence” are all contradictory. This contradiction is a parallel of the nature, The Land, in the text, revealing that nature is unpredictable. This is further emphasised in the quote which utilises personification “Mother Nature, that bitch, was an unpredictable mistress”.

By exploiting the variety of literary techniques in the text, a cumulative effect is created where a vivid depiction of The Land is portrayed. This cumulation of techniques dominates the entire text, reinforcing the fact that Nature has an immense control over life and the characters in the text. This depiction of Nature/The Land is directly related to the concept of journey in the text, as it acts as a binary to the farmers/characters in the text, creating conflict between the two forces. However, the conflict, while unresolved, appears to have a clear side dominating. This is especially apparent in the resigned quote “…no matter how much you struggle, there’s no survival out there” Thus Nature is acting as the clear obstacle in this inner journey through life.

And the bond cannot be broken depicts the entire journey in the text as meaningless and an utter waste of time. This is especially apparent in the tone of the text. Throughout the duration of a majority of the text, the narrator reveals the events that occur in a rather melancholic and defeated voice. By harnessing this tone of voice, the text gains an atmosphere where nothing exciting or radical seems to occur. Despite this, a fair amount of negative and radical events occur, but due to melancholic and resigned tone of the text, these events are depicted as rather insignificant. A sense of helplessness is also delivered by using the tone as a carrier.

The meaningless and helpless nature of the journey conveyed in the text is emphasised through the heavy use of words with �less’ as a suffix. Some of these words include: “forceless”, “ageless”, “countless”, “endless”, “heartless” and “timelessness”. The use of these words is effective in contributing towards the portrayal of the purposeless journey as the suffix “less” indicates that there is something lacking. In this context, the substance that is lacking refers to the meaning and outcomes achieved in a journey. Not only does the Fudge cleverly utilise this words, he also creates an impression of an endless cycle in the text. This is evident when the text refers to “forefathers” and “great-great-grandfather”. The words with “less” as a suffix not only indicate something is lacking as previously mentioned, it also contributes to the impression of the endless cycle as these words also