This is the case for Parts One, Three and Four. It stretches some periods of time and shows how important they are for the author, but also for the development of the characters and the plot. In contrast Part One covers only eleven months of the action, Part Three two months, and Part Four four months.ĤThis discrepancy between the length of each section of the novel and the period of action it covers has a direct effect. It starts in March 1919 and ends in April 1921. Though it is the shortest in length, it covers the longest period in the action of the novel. The second part is the shortest, fifty-two pages.

The third and the fourth parts are almost equal: seventy-three and eighty-four pages, respectively. The first part represents in itself half of the novel, two hundred and one pages. As a matter of fact, the four parts of the novel are unequal in length. It seems at first, to lack balance, just like Canada. He shows that they are both necessary to form the nation, that this is not a Manichean world, and that union and balance achieved between the two could bring peace and happiness to the country.ĢTo show that balance inside Canada can only be achieved through the inner balance of individuals, he uses various devices which work together: structure, plot and characterization.ģThe structure reveals this constant effort of the author to establish and maintain a balance between the two communities. 1Hugh MacLennan’s Two Solitudes is an attempt at reconciling two communities in Canada, the French Canadians and the English Canadians.

Two Solitudes by Hugh MacLennan