Literary Critique - Wine
August/19/2016 02:26 PM Filed: Literary Critiques
Photo Credit: Elke Wetzig
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Intoxication of Symbolism
In Doris Lessing’s “Wine,” a story published in 1957, a man relates his rejection of a beautiful woman who came to him one night after they had been drinking and singing with friends. Disclosing this so-called act of honor to his present girlfriend may seem reassuring on the surface, but beneath his poignant reminiscing is sexual dysfunction and an insecure, gloating delivery.
Lessing points to the glass in his hand without stating the obvious: alcohol incapacitates. He explains that this spurned acquaintance later had a love affair with his best friend, and he hints this was just to spite him.
“She hated my guts, and I suppose she was right,” he says with false assurance.
His current girlfriend pursues a companion unobtainable in the physical sense, so his affection is given in a different form. Lessing writes, “He put the wineglass into her hands; and she lifted it, looked at the small crimson globule of warming liquid, and drank with him.”
This final sensual act is a symbolic statement of tenderness, the only way he knows to offer himself to a lover.