Attitude to Afternoon Without Tear Victor Nunes

In Mc Watt's Suspended Sentences, my favourite story is "Afternoon without tears" by Victor Nunes. I love this story because as soon as i started reading i became nostalgic and in the same breath confused. As a person who traverses the the Moruca-Charity route, at first it was quite difficult for me to paint a picture of the Charity mentioned in the story as against the one i am accustomed to. I admire greatly how the writer was able to use this Charity as a gateway into the interior as it actually is but more so at the same time as a gate way into the main character's personal life as he completes his purgatorial trial. With the use of landscape as well, he shows how the beauty and quiteness of nature are sometimes the very things through which we are able to find ourselves as Gabriel did in the story. His scene of the rain on the river reminded me of those days as a child swimming in the river during the rain; the experience for me was priceless and so i can understand why Gabriel on the river is so fascinated by the experience.

On the other hand, I like how the writer was able to use nature to transform this "well-educated" Gabriel, like many other coast landers, who go into the interior regions and their inhabitants. It is after this experience, with the interior and rural regions at the time that he, Gabriel, was actually able to find himself. And that is quite amazing because unlike many of us who are still searching for our identity, he was able to find his. And for me that is one of the greatest accomplishments in life