Pale Fire: Illustrated Sports Illustrated Sports Pale Fire Journal | Page 55

the reader to question what her true purpose is. It just so happens, that Sylvia
fits a lot of descriptions for some of the workers in the mental hospital as well.
In the poem, it says “But it is not bedtime yet” (1962,69). The patient often
calls lights out at the hospital his bedtime. This is a very subtle phrase that
could show readers into the life of this patient as opposed to the life of John
Shade. At the same time, it is possible that bedtime is an artistic style the poet,
perhaps John Shade, took to display nostalgia for a simpler time.
Very interestingly despite the references to the story being written in one
place and one time the patient constructs vivid lives and background stories for
each of the supposed writers. They have their own style and personality that
comes out in the writing. Of course, this is partly due to the fact Shade writes in
poetic verses and Kinbote is commentating, but at the same time it is interest-
ing. Shade spends much of canto two reminiscing of times spent with his daugh-
ter, Hazel. This moral of family values is not easily translated into Kinbote’s
work as he spends a lot of time, particularly in the forward, discussing how ex-
actly Shade did this or that. Kinbote puts a much stronger emphasis on struc-
ture. It is arguable that Kinbote looks at Shade as a father figure, but perhaps
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