The Widower’s Haunting Memories of His Late Wife in The Apple Tree by Daphne Du Maurier

The focus of analyzing the short story entitled The Apple Tree by Daphne du Maurier is on the haunting memories experienced by the husband concerning his late wife. The analysis is divided into several points; namely, the general memories of the late wife felt by the husband, a brief analysis on the husband (Buzz) and wife (Midge), the triggers of the husband’s memories, and the drastic action executed by the husband to stop the haunting memories leading to an unexpected result. The combination of methods used is to support the analysis. The textual reading is supported by close reading to dig out the important details. The contextual method in the form of bor-rowing suitable concepts is used to complete the textual method focusing on character and conflict. The analysis is presented using qualitative method. The result of the analysis shows that growing subjective memories of the late wife may culminate in an unreasonable hatred toward the old apple tree. Driven by uncontrolled imagination based on one-sided memories, the husband has to face unforeseen calamity alone and lonely.


INTRODUCTION
Daphne du Maurier (1907Maurier ( -1989) ) was a prolific writer whose novels and long short stories are artistically colored with mystery and suspense with Rebecca as her famous novel.The Apple Tree is a long short story about a recent widower who felt relief after the death of his wife because in his opinion his wife made his life uncomfortable during their marriage.However every moment and every sight always reminded him of his late wife.Finally he took a drastic action leading to a drastic ending of him.
Tracing the previous writings about The Apple Tree, there are web articles entitled "Tuesday Terror!The Apple Tree by Daphne du Maurier" (Tuesday Terror!The Apple Tree by Daphne Du Maurier, n.d.), "The Apple Tree by Daphne du Maurier from the collection of The Birds and Other Stories" (Bibliobeth, 2018), "The Apple Tree ~ Daphne du Maurier" (Collia, 2015), and "The Apple Tree by Daphne Du Maurier (No Title, 2017) presenting a brief review on the long short story.Meanwhile, Buzwell (n.d.) wrote an article entitled "Daphne du Maurier and the Gothic tradition" focusing on Maurier's Gothic style and comparing her style with other Gothic writers.Pracha (n.d.) wrote an articles entitled "Apples and Pears: Symbolism and Influence in Daphne du Maurier's 'The Apple Tree' and Katherine Mansfield's 'Bliss'" focusing on genre and gender in the two literary Castelloe states that persecutory guilt contains "narcissistic quality" in which the person feels that he is always "being criticized by onlookers" (2019b: par.3).Castelloe's statement emphasizes Carveth's statement in Still Small Voice (2013) about persecutory guilt "reflecting preoccupation with the self, …, and a relative lack of concern for the other" (Castelloe, 2019b: par. 3) in which the person has no empathy to the other people since the focus is always on himself.Referring to the symptoms of persecutory guilt, they are "resentment (which can degenerate into rancor) …." (Speziale-Bagliacca, 2004: 29), "resentment … a tendency to act out"" (Grinberg, n.d.), and "to blame another" (Castelloe, 2019a).Thus, hatred, revenge, improper behavior, and reproaching others are the sign of someone suffering from persecutory guilt.
The third notion used to support the analysis is the notion of "relief ".In general, the word "relief " means "Feeling of gladness that an unpleasant or painful thing has not occurred or has ceased.Mitigation of distress or pain" (Pam, 2021).According to Krockow, there are two kinds of relief: "Counterfactual relief involves avoiding an unwanted outcome, while temporal relief marks the end of a stressful situation" (Krockow, 2021: par. 1).The suitable type of relief to support the analysis is "temporal relief " since the fictional character feels that he experiences distressful situation in his marriage and feels relief when it ends.
To be able to analyze comprehensively the short story entitled The Apple Tree by Daphne du Maurier, a combination of methods is used.The textual reading of the short story and the searching of suitable concepts are supported by close reading to be able to dig out the important facts/ points.To further analyze the short story, contextual method is used in which the analysis of the intrinsic elements such as character and conflict is supported by borrowing suitable concepts such as memory and guilt.Qualitative method is used in the presentation of the analysis.

DISCUSSIONS
The focus of the discussion is on the haunting memories experienced by the husband concerning his recently dead wife.The discussion will concern on the trigger of the haunting memories and the impacts on the recent widower.
To dig out all the points of discussions, careful tracing on the relationship of husband and wife in their long-term, childless marriage will be executed.
trieving information" (Squire, 2009 in Zlotnik, Gregorio andVansintjan, 2019).According to Villines (2020) there are "three types of memory: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory" in which sensory memory is the "shortest form of memory".Sensory memory is divided into 3 categories; namely, Iconic Memory (referring to visual memory), Echoic Memory (referring to auditory memory), and Haptic Memory (referring to the sense of touch) (Villines, 2020).Long-term memory consists of the procedural (or motor) memory and episodic memory.Episodic memory, which is relevant for the analysis in the paper, "allows one to recall memories lived personally in a given context -in such a place, at such a time, with such person, etc. -with its perceptive-sensory details (emotions, perceptions, smells, etc.) (Meilleur, 2018).In other words, various contextual triggers can retract personal memory.In 1977, Brown and Kulik propose the concept of "flashbulb memory" as follows "A flashbulb memory is an accurate and exceptionally vivid long-lasting memory for the circumstances surrounding learning about a dramatic event.Flashbulb Memories are memories that are affected by our emotional state" (in Perera, 2021).Flashbulb memory is closely related to graphic description of strong personal experience.Meanwhile, Payne and Corrigan states that unpleasant "emotion" tends to haunt the mind for a long time making the memories hard to forget (in DeNoon, 2007).
The second concept used to support the analysis is about the concept of guilt.Since there are several different concepts of guilt, careful consideration on the suitable concept of guilt to support the analysis is needed.Freud in Obsessive Actions and Religious Practices mentions about "unconscious guilt" referring to the forced feeling of guilt without realizing that someone has done something wrong (Freud, 1907: 123 in Grinberg, n.d.: par. 2).Relating to the notion of "unconscious guilt", Grinberg equates it with the term "persecutory guilt."According to Carveth, (2013), a Canadian psychoanalyst, there are two types of guilt; namely, "persecutory guilt and reparative guilt."In this paper the focus is on "persecutory guilt" because it is the most suitable one for the analysis.Carveth mentions that persecutory guilt "prevents one from acknowledging fault" as quoted by Castelloe (2019b: par. 8).In other words, the person does not feel that he has hurt others.It is in line with Bicudo's statement in the article's abstract that persecutory guilt refers to "negation of guilt in the self " in which the person feels unfairly treated to feel guilty (1964).

The widower's general memories of his late wife
The story is mostly told from the husband's remembrance shortly after the death of the wife.Buzz and Midge are the married couple who has married for 25 years without having children (Maurier,n.d.: 128,131).Their marriage life is monotonous without any apparent quarrels.From the outside, the marriage of the middle class couple living in the country side of London seems okay.Buzz goes to work to London every day while Midge takes care of the house and supervises the cook.However, there is a silent uncomfortable feeling from the husband towards his wife that will be dissected carefully.
Buzz, the husband, remembers clearly some of his wife's annoying attitudes and actions.One of the memories deeply etched at the husband's mind is the wife's irritating habit whenever they are having breakfast.From Buzz's perspective, Midge has a habit of reading aloud some pieces of news in the newspaper that attracts her attention.Not only that, she also gives comments that Buzz considers ruining the morning mood (Maurier,.Buzz is also annoyed by her habit of untidily folding the newspaper before giving it to him to read.All these actions succeed to lose his mood to read the newspaper.Another action of Midge that displeases Buzz's feeling is her routine of taking the heavy tray full of the used dishes after breakfast by herself.The most irritating part from Buzz's view, is her wordless complaints while cleaning the dining table after their breakfast (Maurier,n.d.: 128).Her inaudible grumbles makes Buzz feel guilty without knowing why.
Midge's bustling with cleaning the house also leaves a displeasing memory to Buzz.He cannot understand why Midge has to do that by herself with the help of the servant.In his opinion, she should not do it by herself because they have a servant.What makes this activity is more irritating to Buzz is Midge's gesture and attitude that make him question himself whether he has done something wrong (Maurier,n.d.: 131).Buzz also feels exasperated by his wife's actions while on holiday and when the holiday is almost over.In his opinion, their holiday is always scheduled meticulously in which they never take a long holiday because Midge always worries about the house they leave.Besides that, when the holiday is almost over, before they going home, there are always hectic instructions to the servant to buy meat and other things and to cook so they have something proper already prepared to eat when they come home (Maurier,n.d.: 154,156).All these activities, in Buzz's opinion, reduces the joy and relaxation of the holiday.
Even though Buzz has several unpleasant memories about his wife, but he does not categorized his wife as a "nagging" person: "It was just that the undercurrent of reproach, mingled with suffering nobly born, spoilt the atmosphere of his home and drove him to a sense of furtiveness and guilt" (Maurier,n.d.: 128).Buzz, who never says a word to his wife's habits, attitudes, and comments, just feels uncomfortable without knowing exactly where he makes mistakes.All those memories always produces fleeting senses of unexplained uneasiness and guilt.Thus, the husband, who mostly feels tired with his wife's gestures, attitudes, and actions, at first feels relief with the death of his wife.However, this feeling is short-lived.Sometimes the husband questions himself whether his behavior to his wife during their marriage is guiltless.Thus, there is always a mixture of guilt and relief in the haunting memories.

Buzz and Midge at a glance
After looking at Buzz's unpleasant memories about Midge, now the discussion will be about a brief analysis on the characters of Buzz and Midge.Based on Buzz's personal opinion on Midge, a deep analysis on Midge's characters is executed to see whether Midge is as annoying as felt by Buzz.
It is undebatable that Midge is a good house keeper.Without being fully realized by Buzz, Midge is the captain of the household ship.Under her careful guidance to the servants and gardener, everything in the house runs smoothly while Buzz goes to work everyday day in London.The house is clean and tidy, the presentable dinner is well-prepared, and the garden is well-kept (Maurier,.Her relationship with the servants and gardener is good.It is proven when the cook misses her guidance and prefers to quit several months after her death (Maurier,n.d.: 164).Although Buzz never thinks that it is a plus point, actually Midge is active in organization.It means that she is not just a person with no outside circle.She has her own community since she is active in hospital and Red Cross organization (Maurier,n.d.: 136,156).Midge is also an easy going person and a good activity planner.It can be seen when the couple have holidays.Midge likes to meet and talk to new people and she also likes to arrange activities such as visiting old church with the new acquaintances which make Buzz feel bothered and unpleasant (Maurier,n.d.: 155).So, it can be said that Midge, who is active, tidy, and well-planned, is basically not as boring, unpleasant, and irritating as felt by Buzz because she is welcome by her community and by the new acquaintances Buzz is a subjective person.He tends to ignore Midge's positive sides while remembering only her gestures, actions, and habits which irritate him.Everything about Midge is considered unpleasant.Even her involvement in hospital organization is viewed as a bothering thing since it disturbs their holiday (Maurier,n.d.: 136).Buzz is also a kind of person who tends to ignore others' opinion, for example the opinion of the gardener and the cook.He forces his opinion that he still wants to cut the old apple tree, even though it is blossoming, against the gardener's opinion to give the old apple tree a chance (Maurier,n.d.: 138).He also does not want to listen to the cook's opinion about the taste of the apples from the apple tree.His stubbornness and uncaring with the household problems lead to the cook's decision to quit and to look for a work in house with a lady who is in charge with the household (Maurier,n.d.: 164).This indicates that the cook is comfortable with the presence of Midge in the past.
Buzz is a type of person who is not easy to make friends.It is seen in the holidays with Midge.He feels disturbed with Midge's actions of making friends at the holiday resorts and planning to visit tourism object together (Maurier,n.d.: 155).So, when he has a holiday by himself after the death of Midge, he has a very different kind of holiday.A long holiday without careful planning, not making friends but just greetings with other hotel guests where he stays, and even dancing with a young girl he does not know out of impulse uncaring being laughed at afterwards are the kind of holiday he enjoys the most (Maurier,n.d.: 156).
Buzz is secretly a patriarchal and racist person.His inner need to become the center as a master that is served without questions by his partner is reflected in his imagination: The ideal life, of course, was that led by a man out East, or in the South Seas, who took a native wife.No problem there.Silence, good service, perfect waiting, excellent cooking, no need for conversation; and then, if you wanted something more than that, there she was, young, warm, a companion for the dark hours.No criticism ever, the obedience of an animal to its master, and the light-hearted laughter of a child (Maurier,n.d.: 148).
Because so far he has been under the shadow of his active, practical, skillful, well-ma-naged, and well-liked wife, the introvert Buzz imagines the happy and peaceful life with a fully dominated wife from a non-white race generally underestimate and considered lower.It shows that Buzz does not enjoy an equal relationship.To reduce his growing loneliness being alone in the house at night, goes to the local pub where he can join unnoticed and he enjoys his being there among other local people who talk while having a drink (Maurier,n.d.: 162).This new community gives Buzz a sense of belongingness although only passively at the margin.

The trigger of the widower's haunting memories
Before the death of his wife and while he still worked in London in which he had to leave the house early in the morning and returned home in the evening, Buzz never pays attention to the house and its garden.Everything is under his wife's skillful management.With a lot of free time after his retirement, Buzz begins to see everything around the house with new eyes.His attention is attracted to the row of apple trees directly can be seen from the bedroom in the second floor.There are especially two apple trees growing side by side that arrest his attention lately which he addresses as the old apple tree and the young apple tree.Looking at the appearance of those two apple trees, Buzz's memory returns to his late wife and the young woman once working on the neighborhood farm.
For Buzz, looking at the appearance of the old apple tree suddenly reminds him of the appearance of his late wife.Unlike the other apple trees in the same row, especially the one Buzz calls the young apple tree, appearance of the old apple tree is not healthy or robust: That martyred bent position, the stooping top, the weary branches, the few withered leaves that had not blown away with the wind and rain of the past winter and now shivered in the spring breeze like wispy hair; all of it protested soundlessly to the owner of the garden looking upon it, "I am like this because of you, because of your neglect" (Maurier,n.d.: 127).
Various feelings arises within Buzz, mostly a mixture of dislike and hidden guilt.The suffered appearance of the old apple tree likes encountering him with his failure to care for his wife properly while she is living.
Every time Buzz looks at the old apple tree, he feels irritated since it makes the unpleasant memories of his wife return vividly to him.The irritated feeling is heightened because the old apple tree is next to the young apple tree which reminds him of the young female worker of the neighborhood farm: "cheerful and pretty and smiling; she had dark curling hair, crisp and boyish, and a skin like a very young apple" (Maurier,n.d.: 135).This young girl leaves a special memory on Buzz because incidentally there is a fleeting affair between them.It happens when Midge is still alive.One day when he helped with the farm work during the war, their working close to each other suddenly made him kiss the young girl.Buzz guiltily feels that Midge suspects their closeness although she says nothing about it (Maurier,n.d.: 136).The girl's sudden returning home due to her sick mother leaves Buzz with a secret longing of her young jolly atmosphere.
Because now every time he sees the two apple trees he feels more irritated with the old apple tree, the previous idea of cutting the considered useless tree is crossing his mind.However, when he says this idea to the gardener, he refuses strongly and shows that the old apple tree is showing the signs of new life (Maurier,n.d.: 138).Even though as the owner Buzz still wants to cut it, he is helpless against the gardener's firmness of opinion to give the tree a chance to show its new life.Miraculously, the old apple tree begins to bloom abundantly that makes Buzz's dislike escalate since he considers that the blooming flowers are too much and inappropriate unlike the young apple tree that is blooming moderately and beautifully (Maurier,n.d.: 154).
Even when the old apple tree yield abundant fruits and the gardener is so proud of it, Buzz is so irritated by the appearance of the old apple tree laden with fruit.For Buzz, the appearance of the old apple tree's fruits is unpleasant: The tree was laden, bowed down, under her burden of fruit.They clustered, small and brown, on every branch, diminishing in size as they reached the top, so that those on the high boughs, not grown yet to full size, looked like nuts.They weighed heavy on the tree, and because of this it seemed bent and twisted out of shape, the lower branches nearly sweeping the ground; and on the grass, at the foot of the tree, were more and yet more apples, windfalls, the first-grown, … (Maurier,n.d.: 158).
The taste of the fresh fruits, or the apple tart and the apple jam made from those fruits are detestable for Buzz however the appearance of the fruits from the young apple tree is beautiful and the taste is so delicious (Maurier,n.d.: 160).Even the small pieces of logs from the broken branch of the old apple tree used by the servant as a firewood in the living room smell nauseating for Buzz and he feels that his stomach is upset due to the smell (Maurier,n.d.: 147) even though for the others it smells nicer than other logs as people commonly believe.
Thus, the old apple tree standing near the young apple tree in front of the house is the main trigger of Buzz's unpleasant memories of his wife, which accordingly also reminds him of his pleasant fleeting affair with the young farm worker of the next neighborhood.

The widower's drastic reactions to the haunting memories
The accumulating disgust toward the apple tree; the dejected appearance, the repulsive taste of the fruits, and the nauseating smell of the burning apple logs, leads to Buzz's firm decision toward the fate of the old apple tree that always strongly reminds him of the irritating memories of his late wife.His first action when the old apple tree is budding after years of lifeless life is giving permission to the gardener to cut the branches for fire.This happens after the gardener likes the smell of the wood from the fallen branch when used as firewood in his house.The gardener refuses strongly the offer because he is so happy that the old apple tree begins to show new life after those years: ""No, thank you, sir, I wouldn't dream of it.It would spoil the tree.I want to wait for the fruit.That's what I'm banking on, the fruit" (Maurier,n.d.: 154).The gardener even begins to place wire around the base of the old apple tree to prevent it from being harmed by animals.This action makes Buzz feel more irritated.
Buzz's second action toward the old apple tree is when it is still laden with fruits.Disgusting with the appearance and the taste of the fruits, he orders the gardener to pick all the fruits, ripe or not.Buzz's unreasonable hatred to the old apple tree can be seen in the following quotation: ""I don't care what you do with them," said his employer."You can sell them and keep the money, or you can take them home and feed them to your pigs.I can't stand the sight of them, and that's all there is to it.Find a long ladder, and start on the job right away"" (Maurier,n.d.: 160).Although the gardener is strongly against this crazy idea, he is just a paid person.Reluctantly, he picks up the apples from the old apple tree for several days which makes Buzz get more and more annoyed due to the seem-to-be deliberate slow work.Nevertheless, the appearance of the old apple tree, now bare without fruits, still does not reduce Buzz's resentment towards the apple tree.The bare old apple tree, instead of looking relieved from the burden of fruits, keeps its dejected and accusing appearance in Buzz's eyes (Maurier,n.d.: 161).
Buzz's hidden desire to get rid of the old apple tree finds a way when he goes to the local pub which he visits several times after the death of his wife.Hearing the lady owner of the local pub complaining about the lack of coal during the winter, Buzz eagerly offers to give free apple logs that makes the lady owner very surprised.The next day Buzz lets the cook leave early so that she does not know his activity.Buzz plans to finish cutting the old apple tree before the heavy snow and dark fall.However, the tree felling does not run smoothly.It seems that the old apple tree refuses to be cut.At first the handsaw gets stuck in the trunk so that Buzz has to work hard to release it using an axe.His brutality when releasing the saw can be seen here: … the tree gripped upon the saw and held it fast … Up and down went the heavy axe, splitting and tearing at the tree.Off came the pealing bark, the great white strips of under-wood, raw and stringy.Hack at it, blast at it, gouge at the tough tissue, throw the axe away, claw at the rubbery flesh with the bare hands.Not far enough yet, go on, go on.There goes the saw … (Maurier,.
After that Buzz exhausts himself cutting the hard and resisting old apple tree into logs.Because he strongly determines to get rid of the old apple tree before night falls, he forces himself to drag all the logs into the small trailer placed behind his car.He delivers it directly to the local pub that night even though the snow start falling heavily.His arriving at the local pub with the freshly cut apple logs in the snowy late evening invites admiration from the other pub goers and spreads a big smile on the face of the lady owner.Intoxicated by the full attention of the people in the local pub, Buzz refuses the free offer of drinks from the lady owner, instead he treats all the local goers.This makes the introvert Buzz not only feel accepted but also more like a hero in the local pub: He moved to his favourite corner, chuckling to himself, and there they all were, exclaiming and talking and laughing by the door, and he was quite a hero, the fellows crowding round with questions, and Mrs. Hill pouring out his whisky and thanking him and laughing … he said, "this is my party.Rounds one and two to me.Come on, you chaps" (Maurier,n.d.: 171).
Thus, basically, deep down in his heart Buzz wants to be the center of attention.He is carving for praises, something that he does not get from his wife, Midge.That moment Buzz is like killing two birds with one stone, he can get rid of the irritating old apple tree and get the admiration that he silently craves for at the same time.
Although Buzz is at his highest moment at that time, but there is one piece of information that mars his happiness.This is about the young girl working on the neighborhood farm that he kisses in a fleeting romantic moment.When he curiously asking the people at the bar about the girl, the lady owner informs him that she dies shortly after leaving the farm in a motorcycle accident with her boyfriend (Maurier,n.d.: 172).Thus, it indicates that the young girl does not keeps the memory of the kiss as the poor Buzz does.
Late at night in the heavy falling snow, Buzz returns home.However, the journey home is not smooth.Due to the heavy snow, Buzz's car and its trailer is slipped and Buzz has to walk home.The house is empty, nobody is waiting for him.Entering the gate, the sentimental Buzz wants to see the condition of the young apple tree covered in snow, ignoring the deep snow on the ground.Dark, silent, and cold, Buzz walks towards the young apple tree.An unexpected incident happened to him.Cannot see the ground highly covered by the snow, one of his feet is unexpectedly stuck deeply in the hollow stump of the old apple tree he had just cut.The excruciating pain in his ankle as well as the position of his clamped leg make him realize that he cannot release it by himself, but nobody is there to help him and his shouts are in vain: "every effort that he made only succeeded in imprisoning the foot still more firmly in the grip of the trunk" (Maurier, n.d.: 175).There is mixture of guilt triggered by the haunting memories of his late and panic that is felt by Buzz.He feels that Midge is taking revenge on him in the form of holding his leg so that he cannot move.His desperate feeling can be seen in the following quotation: "Let me go," he shouted, "let me go," as though the thing that held him there in its mercy had the power to release him, and as he shouted tears of frustration and of fear ran down his face.He would have to lie there all night, held fast in the clutch of the old apple-tree.There was no hope, no escape …. (Maurier,. Buzz in his confusion feels convinced that the rest of the old apple tree as the representation of the spirit of his wife is holding him there to take revenge for his action.Losing his mind due to panic and horror of the possibility of dying in that condition, he is begging to the stump of the old apple tree to release him.However, since there is nobody is nearby in that freezing night to help him, Buzz's hope is in vain, as indicated in the following quotation: "Exhausted, he laid his head upon his arms, and wept.He sank deeper, ever deeper into the snow, and when a stray piece of brushwood, cold and wet, touched his lips, it was like a hand, hesitant and timid, feeling its way towards him in the darkness" (Maurier,n.d.: 176).The cold hands of death is caressing him to surrender to death.

CONCLUSIONS
The marriage between the introvert and passive Buzz and the extrovert and active Midge does not run smoothly as it seems on the surface.Since Buzz always dislikes whatever Midge does when she is alive, after her death due to sudden pneumonia, his memories of her are all about what he considers as her irritating complaints, her excessive cleanliness, her ruining the holiday, or her fussing over anything.Buzz's sudden equalizing her late wife appearance with the old apple tree in front of the house makes him hate the old apple tree that always seems to be half dead and infertile.His unreasonable dislike to the old tree drive Buzz to despise the unexpected signs of a new life of the old apple.The growing buds, the blossoming flowers, the overflowing fruits, and even the appearance, shape, and taste of the fruits including the smell of its broken branch used as firewood are all disgusting for Buzz.The introvert Buzz is unable to shake off the negative and subjective memories of his wife and he cannot repress his unreasonable detest to the old apple tree.Insulting the old apple tree and stripping all its fruits are not enough for Buzz.He wants to get rid of the old apple tree as he wants to get rid of the haunting memories of his late wife.Cutting it will be the best solution, and since the gardener who appreciates the effort of the apple tree to produce fruits must refuse to do it, Buzz decides to do it by himself.The difficulties of cutting the old apple tree is interpreted by Buzz as the resistance of the old apple tree to accept her fate.When Buzz's leg accidentally gets stuck on the hollow of the stump hidden by the snow after he has finished cutting it, he feels that the old apple tree as the representation of his late wife takes revenge on him by not releasing him in the freezing winter night without anybody to help him.Buzz is confused between his clouded imagination and his own carelessness.He blames his recklessness to the old apple tree as what he considers as the representation of his late wife as he always negatively views whatever his wife does an acts.Buzz's subjective judgment worsened by his bizarre imagination and his always blaming his late wife lead him to an unexpected accident that he has to face alone and lonely.