“Art intended for Heart’s Sake” is a short tale written by Reuben Lucius “Rube” Goldberg, an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, professional, and creator, who were living between 1883 and 70. He is best noted as a cartoonist and a founding member of America’s Nationwide Cartoonists Society.
Collins P. Ellsworth is a wealthy 76-year-old entrepreneur who is being treated for a form of compulsive buying disorder, otherwise regarded as oniomania. His uncontrollable shopping for habits—he can easily hardly curb the urge to purchase businesses and property this kind of as grocery stores and railroads — have got precipitated a host of mental and physical challenges.
Dr . Caswell, his doctor, convinces him to try fine art therapy sessions with Outspoken Swain, a young art pupil. As the treatment progresses, Ellsworth turns his interest to painting and to the operations of art galleries. He then paints an amateurish picture, which in turn he exhibits at the Lathrop Gallery.
A letter soon happens, revealing that the First Prize of the Lathrop Show have been awarded to none other than Ellsworth; it turns out that the outdated businessman has recently purchased the Lathrop Gallery.
Written in a combination of third-person story and immediate speech, the storyplot brings Ellsworth and his test out art remedy into emphasis, reaching the climax when the old man, nearly improbably, determines to exhibit his third-rate art work at the Lathrop Gallery (“He was going to exhibit it…! “). The story may be divided into five sections, each of which recounts a different stage of Ellsworth’s progress: coming from his qualifications as a compulsive real estate buyer, to Dr. Caswell’s treatment suggestion, to the art therapy sessions with Frank Swain, to the Lathrop exhibition, and lastly, to the startling revelation of Ellsworth’s purchase of the gallery. [Possible section titles: Get into a Cranky Home Addict, Cajoled into Treatment, Art is Medicine, Practice Will not Always Help to make Perfect, A Relapse. ]
Expressive Means in the Account
The story is told in a humorous and, to an extent, sarcastic tone. We would be hard-pressed to deny the situational humor of a snappy and petulant, albeit very wealthy, 76-year-old in a hospital-like establishment. The epithets “aloud, raucous splash on the wall” and “a god-awful smudge, ” combined with metaphor “gob of salad shower, ” will be teasingly explained in reference to Ellsworth’s weak painting skills. His personified hate of the pineapple juice prescribed by Dr. Caswell (“… older pineapple drink comes back. “) is likewise really worth a smile. By using zeugma (“All his buys of recent years had to be liquidated at a great sacrifice both to his health and his pocketbook. “), Goldberg aci�rie a link of irony between Ellsworth’s health and his money: a lot more money the old man consumes on compulsive house purchases, a lot more his condition deteriorates. The supreme irony, yet , is that a treatment designed to alleviate Ellsworth’s oniomania serves simply to aggravate it.
The character of Collins L. Ellsworth is portrayed, mostly not directly, as crabby, materialistic, and petulant. From the very first lines, we can hear him retorting with all the informal no and brandishing dated colloquial pejoratives (e. g., bosh, rot, poppycock). The simile “like a child playing with his picture book” brings out Ellsworth’s childishness, whilst his impatience is highlighted by his frequent employ of the interjection umph. Vain and rapide, he “snaps” and “grunts with satisfaction” at his feeble attempts at painting. His belief that money — as opposed to talent — can buy one anything may not be the best beliefs to live by, to get it is money and his uncontrollable tendencies to spend it that have eroded Ellsworth’s health. Dr . Caswell is driven by professionalism (“… along with his usual specialist calm… “), logic (“He had done a few constructive considering…. “), and compassion, constantly acting with Ellsworth’s best interests at heart. The truth that he recommends Frank Swain as tutor to the often irresistible Ellsworth, therefore helping Swain pay his tuition, likewise speaks favorably of Dr. Caswell. Frank Swain is similarly patient and mindful, which is evident, for example , once he brings the grumpy old man watercolors and oils, or when he politely (“Not bad, sir. “) feedback on Ellsworth’s burlesque picture, however is no certain way of establishing whether or not the remark was or was not used to some degree sarcastically. The smoothness of Koppel, you nurse, truly does nothing but retrieve pineapple drink and therefore plays only a subsidiary role in the story — perhaps that of helping gas Ellsworth’s grumpiness and of functioning as a sort of human prop in the final”surprise” scene of the account.
Conclusion
As noted above, aside from largely neural vocabulary, the storyplot features a number of dated informal words (as above, e. g., bosh, get rotten, poppycock), phrases (by gum), and colloquialisms (kinda), which almost all serve the purpose of portraying Ellsworth as an old, irritated, and idiotic man. Terminology pertaining to painting — this kind of as water-colors, herbal oils, picture publication, gallery, show, and numerous other folks — helps establish the setting and reinforces the image of Ellsworth as a grown-up baby inches[fooling] around with chalk and crayons. “
At the syntactic level, fast, simple phrases account for almost all of the paragraphs found in the story. If not too simple, the format, on the whole, is rather easy, with a significant number of elliptical (“Not bad. ” “Fine. “) and exclamatory (“Nope! ” “Bosh! ” “Umph! “) sentences. Such content, in conjunction with all the straightforward format, strengthen the impression of Ellsworth’s awkwardness. Through repetition (“See, see… “) and aposiopesis (“But, nevertheless — well, now…. “), Goldberg imitates the way various people would react in moments of overwhelming big surprise.
This history is interesting in that it portrays a complex man — old, abundant, petulant like a child, and in a precarious state of mental and physical well being. As we watch his ostensible interest for artwork develop, we may find yourself inspired by his progress and, not infrequently, even interested by his caustic remarks. But when we learn regarding his regression at the end of the story, we are certain for disappointment — we begin to view Ellsworth as a childish and materialistic person not really worthy of our sympathy. Is he such a man? That is precisely why this story is so interesting: When humorous and ironic on the surface, it poses the deep question of whether Ellsworth is really in control of himself when he decides to purchase the Lathrop Gallery, or whether he is a victim of a mentall disease none of us would ever wish on our worst adversaries. Should we be amused at his regression, or should we pity him?
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