critisium of Evan tries an Olevel
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It is clear from a reading of the short story, Evans Tries an O Level, that the protagonist is a shrewd and clever person, someone who understands human nature very well. He knows how to play with effects, perceptions, and the minds of people, especially his jail warders, Jackson and Stephens. When Stephens comes into the cell and he sees a figure on a chair slumped over, with blood pouring out of his head, he jumps to conclusion and assumes that the person in the chair is none other than McLeery! This is apparently how the human brain works, sometimes the visual impact of the scene overrides our rationality and we jump to conclusion without even verifying the facts.
In the case of Stephens we can say with great confidence that his hasty conjecture, and the visual impact of the man sitting slumped in a chair with blood pouring out of his head was so great that he just could not see the obvious! It is exactly such weaknesses that a criminal targets to make good his escape, or even to commit a crime. But it doesn't end here, it was not just Stephens that Evans targetted, rather it was the Governor, and entire prison machinery that was targetted. Take for example, the deliberately misleading hints left in the paper. The words read, 'You must follow the plan already somethinged. The vital point in time is three minutes...'. The Governor continues to read, '...to the Headington roundabout, where you go straight over and make your way to ... to Neugraben.' and then it hits him like it has been planned by Evans, that the destination was Newbury! The excitement of discovering the secret, the euphoria of having found the answer to a difficult riddle makes the Governor lose his presence of mind! He cannot see that something is wrong and that this might be a red herring.