Opening The Door
An Author Spotlight on E.B. White and His More Austere Writings
Elywn Brooks White is a multi-talented author spanning several genres of literature, most notably children's books. Born in New York in 1899 he lived a comfortable life and joined the Army in 1918, serving as a Private. After his short stint in the military, E. B. White enrolled in Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. After graduation, he traveled and wrote for many different publications including United Press, the American Legion News Service, and the Seattle Times (Davis).
EB White's Career – In Short
Finally landing himself a job at The New Yorker, E. B. White established himself as a credible author writing books, essays, and short stories in many genres. Often hailed as a more humorist and lighthearted writer, one of his most notable serious short pieces is entitled The Door. The Door is an antistory, a narrative that makes no effort to observe a plot and ignores basic short-story writing conventions. This story, written in the third person narrative, examines an unnamed characters existence in a suffocated urban lifestyle.
Details of The Door
The Door begins by looking deep into the mind of a protagonist that is enveloped in constant pandemonium by his surroundings. Noted as somewhat biographical about decisions from White's own life, from the first line, "Everything (he kept saying) is something it isn't)" to the ending, "Still, you never can tell, em, Madam," White takes the reader on a disturbing journey focusing on the utter disaffection of his surroundings all the while trapped within what he can not escape. This concept goes to the core of human nature, turning the spotlight on individual lifestyles that suffocate from freedom of choice, expression, or expectations.
Parallels of the Human Mind
White also parallels the concept of human choice, consequences, and acceptance to that of the lab rat being poked, prodded, and tested upon with no opportunity for a different outcome. He notes that over and over:
"It was an impossible situation (for a rat) and the rat would go insane and into its eyes would come the unspeakably bright imploring look of the frustrated, and after the convulsions were over and the frantic racing around, the passive state would set in the willingness to let anything be done to it, even if it was something else."
This laterally hints at the idea of human nature in that often a person will attempt an endeavor only so many times until finally relinquishing to failure as the outcome. Through this process there is determination that turns to frustration that turns to anger that turns to acceptance. Acceptance regarded as the loss of hope and from that moment forth, allowing life to happen rather than being an active participant.
Happening Upon Hope
But while this piece of fiction sometimes feels like a jumbled excerpt of a raving madman, in the end, he still opens the final door reaching to find something better behind it. Through the inexplicable doubt that ravages the human mind, somehow hope still floats to the top making the will to go forward stronger than the pull to stay static and give up. This is what makes the human mind rise above the lab rat, what makes the circular pool of doubt strong enough to skip a pebble across; when given the choice, most will still open the next door seeking a bit of comfort from what one might have known but accepting a path of what lies ahead, "As he stepped off, the ground came up slightly, to meet his foot."
References:
Davis, Anita. "E. B. White." Cyclopedia of World Authors, Fourth Revised Edition. Salem Press, 2004. eNotes.com. 2006. 24 Nov, 2009
White, E. B. . "The Door--E. B. White (1899-1985)." Classic Short Stories. http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/door.html (accessed November 25, 2009).
Wooden Door
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