“The Lost Beautifulness”
to me is a story about identity. In this story a woman spends even her last penny
that she has managed to save on top of what little she has, and buy enough
paint to brighten up her kitchen in her dreary cramped flat. This woman is referred
to as a “ghetto woman” and is by no means of wealth in this short story. She is
known however by her ability to sway an audience, her love and affection, her “artistry”
that she puts into anything she is doing, and the dedication and love she has
toward her son Aby, and making everything the best for him.
Hanneh Hayyeh, a Russian
immigrant, works very hard to make the best of things. She sees the good, and
what can come out of something that is maybe less than decent. When it comes to
her kitchen she envisions the modifications and DIY that can be done to improve
her eatery with minimal cost. She dedicates her time when she isn’t working overtime
at her job to researching paints and costs so that she can come out with a new
kitchen at a minimal means. She also spends that time over working, because she
saves her own money on top of the money she already scrapes together for food
and rent. When it’s all said and done this woman has put herself into this
project as much as she possibly could have. She works for it nurtures it, plans
for it, puts her love into it, and builds it up and puts it back on its feet. She goes to extra lengths by showing it off
to her community and even is so proud of it that she mentions it to her rich
employer, who supports every bit of it. However, when she shows it to the
inconsiderate landlord, things take a turn for the worse.
Hanneh’s rent goes up,
her husband reprimands her for her foolishness, and she is meant only by
support of her landlord and charity from her employer whom she has placed upon
a pedestal. Hanneh being a woman of pride tries to fight this, even taking it
to court, but even though the rent has increased two times refuses help. So
then, Hanneh gets desperate, if she can’t have her kitchen, her love, then no
one can have her love, and she decides to destroy her hard work and in doing so
destroys herself. She has become so one with the work she has put into this
kitchen, that in destroying it, she has also destroyed herself, and her sanity.
In a further twist of uncanny fate, her son comes home when she has been evicted
to find her amongst her scattered dejected belongings that have been cast aside
in the gutter. This sight one would think is one of earth shattering
proportions, and probably has broken her son’s heart. Though he did not expect
the kitchen his mother had spruced up, he certainly did not expect to find her
that way.
Hanneh is a character
whom I think I could hold near and dear to my heart. She is passionate, a
dreamer, an artist, and dedicated to her cause. She has problems being her own
person. She wants the kitchen like Mrs. Preston her rich employer, she wants to
be well loved by her active duty son, the talk of the town, idolized like the
woman she idolizes, Mrs. Preston. The problem with all that is, is Hanneh can’t
express her true self, except when she is at work. The way she does things,
despite her work worn hands, is with a certain delicacy, artistry to them, and is
evidence of her true passionate self. She is dedicated and passionate about all
that she does, but Hanneh does nothing for herself. She has gotten the paint
for herself and painted, and breathed into life her vision of this wonderful
kitchen, the only thing that is actually hers. The rest of the time she is
trying to please everyone else. Had Hanneh been content with herself and not so
eager to please, she would not have run into the problem with the landlord,
would have been secure in herself to accept help from Mrs. Preston, and secure
that she was a good mother and wife, and not felt the need to over extend
herself. This is Hanneh’s fault, almost like a tragedy, she is so besought with
her gift, which is the very ruin of her.
