‘I have taught at this University for nearly forty years. I do not know what I would have done if I had not been a teacher. If I had not taught, I might have-‘ He paused, as if distracted. Then he said, with a finality, ‘ I want to thank you all for letting me teach’.
William Stoner was a Professor of English Literature. He came from a very humble family: his parents were farmers who wanted their child to follow their steps. Nevertheless, he had the chance to study Agriculture at the University of Columbia. After attending the college for one year, he understood that his entire life would have depended on English Literature. This is the reason why he left his previous course of study and graduated from Philosophy and English Literature. He will become a Professor at the same University in which he studied for many years.
This is a story that made me cry for the authenticity and the beauty in which it has been written and depicted. This is the story of each and every of us: William Stoner or, as his unhappy wife used to call him, Willy, lived the most ordinary life in a way that sometimes let the reader be angry with the main character. He is very shy, sometimes submissive, but actually even if he could be classified as a very weak man, I dare to say that he was able to do whatever he wanted to, even though life was very harsh and unfair towards him. He had just two friends in his whole life, one of them died during the war and this event had a strong impact on him; he married a woman, Edith, who made him unhappy because of her way of living and her anger and dissatisfaction which were poured against her husband. They had a child together, Grace, a little girl with lovely blonde hair who was very fond of her father, and the relationship between them was destroyed by her mum’s envy. Edith had emotional problems, she was mentally unstable and their marriage will be a disaster from the beginning, and you, as readers, can notice that during their honeymoon, even though Stoner thought it could have turned out differently and better once they got home.
This is a story of a man who, for around forty years, worked at the University, by teaching what he loved the most: English Literature. He came across some problems when one of his students was not able to answer some simple questions about literature and failed his exam. This was not accepted by another Professor whose name was Lomax, as the student was his protégé. Stoner thought that the student, Charles Walker, was very unfair and mean, so he could not be a good teacher because he was not experienced enough to teach properly. Lomax, offended by his colleague, will treat him badly after his promotion as chairman of the University. He used his power against the poor Stoner. Indeed, he made his life impossible for almost twenty-five years. They didn’t speak for all that long period: Lomax had a strong grudge against Stoner.
At some point in his 40s, Stoner fell in love with a younger instructor of the department: Katherine Driscoll. They were madly in love with each other and he was very happy with her. He understood what love was and its deep meaning. A feeling that he had never experienced for his wife. They spent a lot of time together in Katherine’s apartment and, when Stoner’s wife found out the affair, she did not turn a hair about that. When Lomax learned about it, he started putting pressure on Katherine so that, in this way, he could have been vindictive towards Stoner. Finally they will be forced to break up and Katherine will slip away from his greatest love. This will mark the end of the happiest and the most carefree period in Stoner’s life.
The life of Stoner was very hard and complicated, he had to get through many problems and difficulties, nevertheless he had the power to make his life simple and humble. What Stoner tried to tell us is how amazing life can be even if you can come across some huge obstacles. Life is not easy at all: you must be happy for everything you have, and when you weight your personal achievements, try to be grateful. It’s pointless to pursue the perfection, the power, the prosperity, just to prove that you are better than anybody else. You must be concentrated on your own grass, you must work for your passions, you must focus on the simplest things in life. Life is one, unique, and we deserve to be happy even when life seems to turn its back on us.
It seemed that Stoner had a very sad life, maybe, from time to time he thought about that, but on his deathbed he understood how happy he was and how many things he got in his ordinary, simple, unchanging and hard life.
Antonia
Wanderlust 