To answer this we need to establish very clearly what has
made these individuals "unsuccessful" and causes such individuals to wander around at
night, "bat-like" as the text describes them. Let us remind ourselves of the second
paragraph, which gives us an excellent analysis of why these people, Gortsby thinks,
walk around at dusk:
Dusk, to his mind, was the hour of the defeated.
Men and women, who had fought and lost, who hid their fallen fortunes and dead hopes as
far as possible from the scrutiny of the curious, came forth in this hour of gloaming,
when their shabby clothes and bowed shoulders and unhappy eyes might pass unnoticed, or,
at any rate,
unrecognised.
Thus we are
told the unsuccessful people have "fought and lost" in the game of life and have either
suffered "fallen fortunes" or "dead hopes." The reason why they walk around at dusk is
because it gives them the anonymity they desire and crave, so that they can walk around
without being identified and having their failures established by
others.
How can we help such individuals? Well, I would
suggest that such people need some kind of support group where they can discuss their
"failures" and "fallen fortunes" so that they can begin to come to terms with them.
Then, perhaps they need help and advice to see that "failure" is in fact not the
negative experience that we so often think it is, and that to fail at something is
actually incredibly positive. This should help them reflect on what they have learnt and
give them back their self-confidence.
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