The Riddle of the Ivy
What is the riddle of the Ivy?
The Riddle of the Ivy is a short story written by the English writer G. K. Chesterton, who lived from 1874 to 1936.
The narrator starts the story by saying he wants to travel to Battersea, although as his friend points out to him; he is already in Battersea. During the story the narrator tells us how his travel was, and how it felt to travel to Battersea.
When the narrator says he is going to Battersea he is speaking figuratively. As a proverb sounds; >>you cannot see the forest for the trees<<, the narrator has become too accustomed to his routine that he cannot see the city for what it once was, and therefore he needs to travel away from Battersea and experience something else in other countries, sort of a spiritual life journey of self-discovery. And when he returned to England, he could once again see Battersea before his eyes. Sometimes one has to take a step back and take a deep breath, in order to look at things with another perspective, we begin to notice the small things in our everyday-life which many of us take for granted and that may be one of the reasons why the narrator put things like individual liberty among basic things like bloaters and cricket. We are all small parts and when combined we form the bigger picture.
I think it is quite paradoxical that the narrator says that he has to travel to Battersea, when he in fact already is in Battersea, and as a matter of fact Chesterton was known for making paradoxes. So there can be drawn some line between the narrator and the author which is not uncommon, though sometimes the narrator and author is near identical and sometime there cannot be drawn any lines.
In today’s world we use the word >>travel<< for pleasure or business and it has become quite common among the developed countries, but in the end of 1800 and the beginning of the 1900 the word >>travel<< meant something else, back then it was considered to be a life experience
The Riddle of the Ivy is a short story written by the English writer G. K. Chesterton, who lived from 1874 to 1936.
The narrator starts the story by saying he wants to travel to Battersea, although as his friend points out to him; he is already in Battersea. During the story the narrator tells us how his travel was, and how it felt to travel to Battersea.
When the narrator says he is going to Battersea he is speaking figuratively. As a proverb sounds; >>you cannot see the forest for the trees<<, the narrator has become too accustomed to his routine that he cannot see the city for what it once was, and therefore he needs to travel away from Battersea and experience something else in other countries, sort of a spiritual life journey of self-discovery. And when he returned to England, he could once again see Battersea before his eyes. Sometimes one has to take a step back and take a deep breath, in order to look at things with another perspective, we begin to notice the small things in our everyday-life which many of us take for granted and that may be one of the reasons why the narrator put things like individual liberty among basic things like bloaters and cricket. We are all small parts and when combined we form the bigger picture.
I think it is quite paradoxical that the narrator says that he has to travel to Battersea, when he in fact already is in Battersea, and as a matter of fact Chesterton was known for making paradoxes. So there can be drawn some line between the narrator and the author which is not uncommon, though sometimes the narrator and author is near identical and sometime there cannot be drawn any lines.
In today’s world we use the word >>travel<< for pleasure or business and it has become quite common among the developed countries, but in the end of 1800 and the beginning of the 1900 the word >>travel<< meant something else, back then it was considered to be a life experience