Out on the open plain, on a starless, ink-dark night, a lone man was following the highway from Marchiennes to Montsou [cities in northeast France], ten kilometers of paved road that cut directly across the fields of beet. He could not make out even the black ground in front of him, and he was aware of the vast, flat horizon only from the March wind blowing in broad, sweeping gusts as though across a sea, bitterly cold after its passage over league upon league [2.4-4 miles] of marsh and bare earth. Not a single tree blotted the skyline, and the road rolled on through the blinding spume [froth or foam, particularly at sea] of darkness, unswerving, like a pier. The man had left Marchiennes around two oâclock in the morning. He walked with long strides, shivering in his threadbare cotton jacket and his corduroy trousers. A small bundle, tied up in a check handkerchief, was evidently an encumbrance; and he pressed it to his side, first with one arm, then with the other, so that he could thrust both handsânumb, chapped hands lashed raw by the east windâdeep into his pockets. Homeless and out of work, he had only one thing on his vacant mind: the hope that the cold would be less severe once day had broken. Required:
a. If you were asked to analyze the passage, what would you focus on? What tone or possible direction is established by focusing on the setting and then on the traveler? What do we know about the traveler? What kind of novel do you expect? And so on; itâs up to you.
b. Based on this passage, which critical theoryâsociological, psychological, historical, gender, or mythological criticismâwould you want to use to explore the text, and why?