Little Women Essay Research Paper Lost Horizon

Little Women Essay, Research Paper

Lost Horizon is the story of four people who, while being evacuated from a war-torn city in Asia, were kidnaped and taken to a mystical and mysterious valley in the Tibetan mountains named Shangri-La. Shangri-La was a uncommonly strange place. It was isolated, it wasn’t on any map and no one had heard of it before. Shangri-La was also unusually peaceful. Everyone was polite and moderate in everything they did so that there were no disputes amongst the inhabitants and thus, no need for police officers, courts, or jails. The aging process in Shangri-La was prolonged; most people lived well beyond one-hundred years. This was due to the lack of stress and anxiety in Shangri-La, and also due to a special herb that grew there.

The four people who were kidnapped, Hugh Conway, Charles Mallison, Roberta Brinklow, and Henry Barnard, were initially anxious to return to “civilization.” But after spending a few days in Shangri-La, they had no problem when they were told that they wouldn’t be able to leave for at least two months. The only one out of the four who was angered by this was Mallison. He wanted to return to England as soon as possible and be rejoined with his family. He didn’t believe anything that Chang, their guide and host at Shangri-La, said and was suspicious of him for not giving straight answers and being so serene. Conway, on the other hand, was the one who most enjoyed staying at Shangri-La, and was actually told by the ruler of the valley, the High Lama, that he was to inherit the position of High Lama. Conway and Mallison were excellent friends and thus, their differing opinions about Shangri-La created a dilemma for Conway. Not only did he have a dissension with Mallison but he was also dealing with an internal conflict.

Mallison wanted to leave Shangri-La, but he didn’t want to traverse the treacherous mountains by himself. Conway wouldn’t go with Mallison because he enjoyed staying in Shangri-La, and he didn’t want to deal with the pressures of modern society. Therefore, Mallison had to somehow prove to Conway that everything they had been told was false and that Shangri-La was a hoax. Mallison seduced Lo-Tsen, a woman who lived in Shangri-La, to leave with them and to tell Conway that everything Chang said was a lie. She also said that the people in the village think that Chang and the other lamas are abusive manipulators. Chang had told Conway that Lo-Tsen had wandered into the valley in 1884 and is about seventy years old. She looks like she’s in her twenties, Chang said, because of the slow aging process in Shangri-La. Mallison told Conway that the only reason he believed this and other stories is because he wanted to believe them. Mallison then asks Conway if he can prove anything that they’ve been told. When Conway realizes that he has seen no proof, he is confronted with the possibility that everything might have been a lie. In his disillusionment, Conway agrees to go with them and leaves.

The rest of the book is narrated by the unnamed neurologist who also narrated the prologue. We are told that Conway returned to Asia, presumably to re-find Shangri-La, but we are not told if he ever arrived there. We are told though, that Conway was brought to a mission hospital by a woman who looked unbelievably old. We are to assume that it was Lo-Tsen who brought Conway, as Chang had said, once the aging process is prolonged, a person who leaves Shangri-La will return to their natural age, and die within two weeks. This proves that the wonders of the Valley of Blue Moons were not lies. Thus, we are also to assume that Conway saw Lo-Tsen transform before his very eyes, and that he will do everything within his power to return to Shangri-La.

Hugh Conway is the central character in Lost Horizon. We mostly see the other characters through his eyes. Conway is a very relaxed and indifferent person. He has suffered great emotional trauma in World War I and has no family or friends back in England. Because of this he is passionless, and thus perfectly suited to remain in Shangri-La and become the High Lama. He is patient and a good observer. An example of this is the fact that Conway didn’t reveal his knowledge of Chinese in order to allow people to speak freely in front of him and learn more about the valley. An example of his passionlessness is his love for Lo- Tsen. He falls in love with her quietly and thus does not rush to “snatch her first,” nor does he even expose his ability to speak Chinese in order to communicate with Lo-Tsen.

Miss Brinklow was a missionary working in various places in the east. Thus, she is used to being in foreign places and adapts easily to Shangri-La. Her only passion is to show people the ways of Jesus Christ, so as soon as she arrives she begins to teach the natives in the village “the ways of the lord.” She has nothing to miss anywhere else and will therefore have no problem remaining in Shangri-La.

Henry Barnard had been running from the law, which is why he was in Baskul at the beginning of the novel. Shangri-La offers him protection and the ability to be unconcerned with the substantial things in modern life. Shangri-La also offers him an abundance of gold, which he thinks might one day may help him to make an economic and personal comeback. The potential for his financial resurrection is what will keep him in Shangri-La, but we are to assume that he will