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A Temporary Matter

The title of “A Temporary Matter” could have several meanings. On the surface level, and most obviously, it refers to the fact that the power will be cut for an hour each day. This is only a temporary situation that will last 5 days. During this time, the couple decides to play a game where they tell each other one secret a day. At the beginning, these moments seem to bring Shukumar and Shoba closer together. “Something happened when the house was dark. They were able to talk again.” These times gave the couple a temporary break from their recently cold relationship. They could open up to each other once again, like they used to earlier. This allows for the emotional and physical intimacy that had been missing for months to come back. As a result, some of the pain seems to be temporarily removed, which is why they are able to discuss things more openly. But, this arrangement is also a temporary matter. The day the power comes back on, Shoba reveals that she has found an
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Yunior's Family

So far, we’ve met Yunior’s family in three of the five stories in Drown (“Ysrael,” “Fiesta, 1980,” and “Aguantando”). I think the dynamics within this family are interesting to think about. For one, we get to see the relationship between Rafa and Yunior change as they get older. Another example is that the four of them seem to have a lot of family loyalty, despite the fact that they are not very close. In the first story, “Ysrael,” Yunior and Rafa have a very strong relationship, even if this only exists when they are in the campo. Yunior looks up to his brother and wants his approval. He is also very excited that he and Rafa are going on this adventure together, without anybody else. Back in the city, they wouldn’t get an opportunity to bond like this, as Rafa would be too busy with his friends. In “Fiesta, 1980,” when the family is in New Jersey, we see that Rafa and Yunior aren’t very close anymore. They do seem to share some thoughts about their father’s affair, bu
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The Effect of Second-Person

One of the most distinguishing features of Lorrie Moore’s stories is her use of the second person. She uses this point of view to imitate how-to and advice books where the narrator helps the reader solve an issue in their life. She uses imperative sentences to command her reader, who is in a sense also the protagonist, through a problem they’re facing. But, her stories are parodies of real self-help books as the subjects Moore writes about are ones that most people don’t want to find themselves in, such as “How to Be an Other Woman.” They don’t seem to handle their situation in the best way, either. The use of the second person also helps the reader connect with the narrator much more than if the story were written in the first of third person. Take, for example, the story “How.” The narrator is stuck in a relationship that she doesn’t want to be a part of anymore. At the same time, her boyfriend does everything he can to try and save their relationship. Eventually, aft
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Jamie in "The Man Child"

When I first read “The Man Child,” I was quite surprised by the ending where Jamie kills Eric. I didn't expect anything so drastic to happen. But, as we discussed this story in class, I realized that Baldwin gives the reader several clues as to what might happen. Jamie, when first introduced, is portrayed as a nice, but at the same time mysterious, character. He’s Eric’s father’s best friend and owns a dog that's always with him. After the initial description though, there are some details that make him seem odd. For example, Eric notices that Jamie has “the kind of eyes which no one had ever looked into” (Baldwin 62). This comment makes it seems like Jamie is distant or unapproachable (at least to Eric), which is weird considering the fact that he spends so much time at Eric's house. Also, it's mentioned that Jamie once had a wife, but she “had run away” (Baldwin 63). Other than this, no further explanation is given by the narrator. This suggests that
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The Ending of Teddy

The ending of “Teddy” is what makes the story so interesting. Salinger intentionally leaves the story open-ended and up to the reader’s interpretation. When I read the story, I thought that Teddy had been pushed into the empty pool by his sister and, as a result, died. Looking back at the story, there were several instances where Teddy seems to allude to his death. The first is when he is talking to his parents. Right before he leaves their room, he says “After I go out this door, I may only exist in the minds of all my acquaintances.” It’s possible that Teddy’s telling his parents that they’ll never see him again after he leaves. Since he only has “a very strong affinity” for his parents, it could make sense that he calls them “acquaintances.” He also writes in his notebook, "It will either happen today or February 14, 1958 when I am sixteen. It is ridiculous to mention even.”  He doesn't explicitly say that he's talking about his death, and at fi
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Salinger's Critique of Materialism

In several of the stories from Nine Stories , J. D. Salinger seems to be critiquing the materialistic nature of people in upper-class society, especially in “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” and “Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut.” In each of these stories, Salinger also includes a character, usually a child, who is more innocent and doesn’t care about material wealth. In “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” Muriel is the epitome of an upper-class, privileged woman. She is overly concerned about her appearance (as can be seen by details such as her Saks blouse and her painting her nails) and takes her time answering the phone even though she has been waiting for two hours. Throughout the story, she is portrayed in a negative light. First, in the phone call with her mother, Muriel seems too concerned with superficial gossip to realize that something is wrong with her husband. Her mother brings up some serious incidents that have occured, and even though we as readers don’t get
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Shame As Motivation

In The Things They Carried , the feeling of shame seems to guide many of the character’s actions. It acts almost like a source of motivation for members of the Alpha Company. The most obvious example of this idea is seen in the narrator, Tim O’Brien, himself. In “On the Rainy River,” O’Brien has to decide whether or not to fight in the Vietnam War, which he knows little about at the time. Ultimately though, he decides to go to war. Not because he’s patriotic or because he believes in the war’s cause, but because he’s afraid of what others will think of him for dodging the draft. O’Brien thinks about how he’d lose his parents’ respect and imagines his neighbors gossiping about him at a cafe. This fear of being thought a coward is what ultimately pushes him to return home from Canada and fight in the war. O’Brien is so ashamed of this moment that, up until now, he has never told anyone this story. A similar situation occurs with Jimmy Cross. He only signed up for th
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