Explain why Jack Ferguson hesitates to commit himself to Mabel at first. Would you say he was simply forced by circumstance to make this commitment in order to give Mabel a reason to live In the story, The Horse Dealer’s Daughter
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Keirsian temperament theory is an elucidating critical lens through which to analyze character and explain the underlying motivations for a character's words and actions. The opening scene of "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," which depicts the Pervin siblings, Mabel and her three brothers, Joe, Fred Henry, and Malcolm, engaged in an irresolute discussion over their respective plans now that the family's horse trading business has finally collapsed, immediately presents the reader with a puzzle. Here Mabel is an uncommunicative young woman, almost completely isolated from her brothers. Mabel is so withdrawn that, when Dr. Jack Ferguson stops by the Pervin house, he barely takes notice of her. For her part, Mabel looks at Ferguson "with her steady, dangerous eyes, that always made him uncomfortable, unsettling his superficial ease" ,but she barely speaks to him. At this point, Ferguson's connections to the Pervins are "superficial." This permits him to engage the family members, and especially Mabel, without much insight into the disarray of their lives. Such relationships do not demand that an individual draw on or reveal the deeper aspects of his or her own character. As a result, throughout this opening scene, Mabel's inner character remains a mystery to her brothers, to Ferguson, and to the reader.
The next scene, which shows Mabel in the village graveyard dutifully and lovingly taking care of her mother's grave, gives some further hints into the puzzle of Mabel's character, for here she is extending her caretaking role, but she does so now with obvious joy. Something more about Ferguson's character is revealed also when he passes by the village graveyard. At this moment, his "quick eye" spies Mabel at her task at the grave and "[s]ome mystical element was touched in him" holding him "spellbound" (448). These moments of mystical connection, like her face, are "portentous" to Ferguson whose sensitive and emotionally open character comes partially into view.