What is the message of this story in your opinion?

The Window"





Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour a day to drain the fluids from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.





The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed next to the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.





The man in the other bed would live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the outside world. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake, the man had said. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Lovers walked arm in arm amid flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.





One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man could not hear the band, he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Unexpectedly, an alien thought entered his head: Why should hehave all the pleasure of seeing everything while I never get to see anything? It didn't seem fair. As the thought fermented, the man felt ashamed at first. But as the days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his envy eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour. He began to brood and found himself unable to sleep. He should be by that window - and that thought now controlled his life.





Late one night, as he lay staring at the ceiling, the man by the window began to cough. He was choking on the fluid in his lungs. The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the struggling man by the window groped for the button to call for help. Listening from across the room, he never moved, never pushed his own button which would have brought the nurse running. In less than five minutes, the coughing and choking stopped, along with the sound of breathing. Now, there was only silence--deathly silence.





The following morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths. When she found the lifeless body of the man by the window, she was saddened and called the hospital attendant to take it away--no words, no fuss. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.





Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.|||In my opinion...I believe you should never have hatred for anyone. Only God knew the other man’s intention. He could not see what was really in the man’s heart but he became envious for example:





Feeling, expressing, or characterised by envy: "At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way.... He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage" (Stephen Crane).





He wanted that what he had and could not take it anymore, eventually leading to the other persons death. It also come in the category of jealousy which is:





1. suspicious or fearful of being displaced by a rival a jealous lover





2. (often post positive and full by of) resentful (of) or vindictive (towards), esp through envy a child jealous of his brother.





I can understand his frustration but he should have been patient and god always helps the patient ones. He should now turn to repentance and ask god to forgive him for his sinful act of envy which led to a human beings death.





In the end for all his efforts of seeing through the window “he faced a blank wall.”|||What a beautiful poignant story.





Did you write this yourself?





If you did, you have a talent.|||Personally, I think the narrative's use of negative space, or 'downbeat dialogue,' is used to represent the duality of man--an interpretation reinforced by the thematic mirroring of symbolism split betwixt the two main characters. The Window itself represents a character in the third, an old Italian technique known as "del trio en muerdo," or the 'dead third' as the inanimate third object that represents a third character is often called. The Window offers a glimpse in the eldritch past of one of the men, the blind man recalling the vainglory of days long gone. His sins boil to the surface and he uses his compatriot as a sounding board, a priest of sorts, on which to unburden his dying soul. For the other man, the Window represents a glimpse into an arabesque future, where anything is possible including a new beginning for his life (as shown in the metaphor of playing children). However, the reality of his terminal situation is revealed to him only after his foil's departure, the bricks in the window each representing a different, individual regret of his for an action not taken: a love not loved, a god not followed, an assignment not completed by himself but by others for though the bricks in the wall were of his own making, the wall itself was built, and reinforced, by a society determined to keep him caged in willful ignorance.