Hardship Theme in The Wizards of Perfil by Kelly Link Essay Example

During the pandemic, many people have endured hardship. Whether it is loss of job, loss of their or their loved ones’ life or simply enduring the bane of virtual learning, the pandemic has affected everyone in different ways. In ‘The Wizards of Perfil’, Kelly Link explores these differences by portraying the effect of hardship on different social classes. She does so through two characters and their situations: Onion’s aunt, and the rich woman on the train.

Firstly, Link shows the effect of the war and Onion’s parents’ death on Onion’s aunt by depicting desperation and despair in the character. While trying to seek refuge in Qual, Onion’s aunt tells him: “I promised your mother I’d see you were taken care of. This is the best I can do” (Link 30) before selling him to the secretary of the wizards. Link uses realistic situations that lower-class people undergoing hardship experience to convey the effects of hardship on them.    The war has made their home uninhabitable and makes her unable to provide for Onion and his cousins. Now, her desperation for money compels her to make drastic decisions such as selling her nephew, then her own daughter into slavery. As Onion looks back at his family one last time before leaving with Tolcet, Link writes: “He had never seen her (Onion’s aunt) smile in the 2 years he’d lived with her” (Link 32) By saying ‘never seen her smile’, the author implies that Onions’ aunt experiences esteem issues such as depression and loss of hope. Link is portraying the stress and despair the war and Onions’ parents’ death have brought upon her, which is only intensified by her financial struggles. The character of Onion’s aunt is in dire straits and is forced to make hard decisions, in order to depict the effects of hardship on a person of lower social class.

On the contrary, the rich woman on the train is characterized as privileged and optimistic. When Onion and his family are on the train, the rich woman offers Onion’s aunt a job, stating “We’ll need someone to keep the house for us.” (Link, 51) While onion’s aunt struggles to provide basic physiological needs for her family, the rich woman can afford to employ her and is capable of opening up her own establishment. Kelly enforces a narrative that the woman is affected by the war to a smaller extent because these things are only feasible for the woman because she is affluent. After this, Onion sees what the woman thought about, and observes that she “seemed to think that all of this would end up right.” Link makes a contrast between Onion’s aunt's stress and the rich woman’s optimism. Once again, this sense of optimism under the circumstances is only possible because of her wealth. The author compares the two characters’ situations by representing differences in the needs they meet and their problems.

Finally, it is important to note that throughout these events, Kelly Link uses Maslow’s hierarchy to highlight the differences in their situations. There are also juxtapositions being used, as both Onion’s aunt and the rich woman are refugees, yet the effects of that fact vary vastly. Both of these details convey Link’s message that hardship has different effects on different people.