That Evening Sun
What Faulkner's near-contemporary Flannery O'Con-
Do I Read nor also wrote about the South and often used
violence and family conflicts as the backdrops
Next? for her stories. O'Connor's characters are often
like Quentin Compson, torn between an old
"That Evening Sun" by William Faulkner is South of racial segregation and agrarian values,
included in The Collected Stones of William and a modern South that is becoming more a part
Faulkner (1950), a collection of Faulkner's best of a unified America. Her stories ' 'Everything
and most representative stories. Although That Rises Must Converge" (1961) and "A
Faulkner is best known for his novels, his short Good Man Is Hard To Find'' (1953) both portray
stories are some of the best American stories middle-aged women who are having trouble
ever written. Collected Stories is divided up accepting the new ways.
thematically, into sections about the country, the
village, the wilderness, and three sections that A more modern representation of the South can
take place away from Yoknapatawpha. be found in the writings of the contemporary
author Bobbie Ann Mason. In such stories as
Faulkner's most famous novel is The Sound and "Shiloh" (1982), Mason examines the conflict
the Fury (1929). Although sometimes difficult to between the old, insular South and the "New
read and experimental in its narrative techniques, South'' of office parks, subdivisions, and fran-
the novel is extremely rewarding. In it the story chise stores. Like Faulkner before her, Mason
of the breakup of the Compson family is told draws a vivid portrait of a South in transition.
from different points of view, including Jason's
and Quentin's. Leon Litwack, a historian, has researched the
daily lives of black people in the South from the
There have been hundreds of books written about era of slavery to the present. His book Trouble in
Faulkner's fictional county of Yoknapatawpha. Mind: Black Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow
The standard work is Cleanth Brooks' William (1998) collects the reactions and recollections of
Faulkner: The Yoknapatawpha Country (1963). thousands of African Americans who lived in the
Brooks exhaustively catalogs every character South at the time that "That Evening Sun"
who appears in Faulkner's world, summarizes takes place.
and analyzes the novels and stories that take
place there, and provides what is probably the
best introduction to Faulkner's amazing accom-
plishment.
stands the situation completely; Mrs. Compson dis- the nine-year-old narrates is at the heart of the story.
misses it out of her selfishness and racism; Nancy is In a sense, it is the past—the past's crushing weight,
fixated on her own terror. But Quentin, from his the past's legacy—that is the main theme of the
unique perspective, gives the reader simply infor- story, as it often is with Faulkner. The weight of the
mation, not interpretation, for the majority of the past can be felt from the first words of the story:
story. However, he is not the age he seems for most ' 'Monday is no different from any other week dayin
of the story: he is in fact fifteen years older, and Jefferson now." But for the narrator, the past was
although readers forget it quickly after the story better. The story begins with a comparison of the
begins, he is old enough to have interpretations and dismal present with a happier past. The power lines
explanations for all of the events he narrates. and poles bear ' 'clusters of bloated and ghostly and
bloodless grapes" and the laundry in the city truck
This ironic disjunction between what Quentin "flees apparitionlike behind alert and irritable elec-
the twenty-four-year-old knows and what Quentin
282 Short Stories f o Students
That Evening Sun
trie horns." The irony here is that the ordinary Yet where Hemingway's
symbolic resonance of past and present is reversed:
in Jefferson today, the accouterments of modern life narrators are generally stoic
are like ghosts, and the past is alive and vital.
men, sometimes shell-shocked,
The story provides more than enough explana-
tion for why the present is viewed in ghostly im- always scarred by experience,
ages, but there is one other reason that few, if any,
critics have noted: in Faulkner's carefully con- this narrator is a nine-year-
structed chronology of his characters' lives, Quentin
is actually dead when he narrates this story. In the old boy."
appendix to Absalom, Absalom!, another novel in
which Quentin appears, Faulkner gives Quentin's in "That Evening Sun." Segregation's ironies are
birth date as 1891. If he is nine in this story, the story cruel and bitter: Mr. Stovall's savage beating of
takes place in 1899 or 1900. Quentin dies by throw- Nancy lands her in jail, and when she is cut down
ing himself into the Charles River in 1910, but this from her suicide attempt she is beaten again. The
story must be narrated in 1914 or 1915if he is irony of black-white sexual relations in the South
looking back to the events of fifteen years before. always underpins the system of segregation, for
Of course the present is ghostly, if the narrator sexual contact between white men and black women
himself is a ghost! was common and, if not condoned, certainly toler-
ated, but sexual contact between black men and
Ironic reversals characterize much of the story. white women was a crime even more unspeakable
Such names as Jesus and Jason are ironic—Jesus is than a black person murdering a white person.
a threatening character, and Jason, rather than being Nancy—though it is not clear whether the nine-
the brave captain of the Argo, is here a selfish child year-old Quentin knows this—is pregnant by a
whose only desire is to gratify his desires. Even the white man, and this is the reason that Jesus leaves
title is ironic. "That Evening Sun"is part of a line her and the reason she fears his wrath.
from one of the most famous American songs,
W. C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues." In this song, The central situation of the story, Nancy's
which was published in 1914, presumably the year terror at Jesus' threat, a situation that is itself a result
in which Quentin is narrating, a woman laments that of slavery and segregation (what in the South was
when the sun goes down she begins to feel melan- not?) is treated only slightly ironically. The only
choly because her lover is not around. But in this real irony of that part of the story is the lack of
story, the setting of the sun brings strong emotions understanding displayed by Jason and Caddy. Rather,
to Nancy not because she misses Jesus but because Faulkner introduces the main plot of the story with
she fears his return. Handy's line "When that the very ideology of the South expressed in the
evening sun goes down" has found its way into any clearest terms. After Jesus has left town and Nancy
number of blues songs, American standards such is sitting in the Compson kitchen, having already
as Harold Arlen's "Stormy Weather," and even cleaned up, the Compson family is ready for her to
a song by the Irish soul singer Van Morrison. go home. But rather than leaving, Nancy just says,
Faulkner's use of W. C. Handy is even more signifi- "I ain't nothing but a nigger... it ain't none of my
cant in retrospect, because Handy is a central figure fault." It is not immediately clear why she has
in the history of American music. By inventing started to talk this way, but Mrs. Compson does not
ragtime and popularizing the blues form, Handy want to hear it, and once Mr. Compson decides to
brought African-American musical traditions to the escort Nancy home she complains that she is really
mainstream of American popular music for the first the one at risk.
time. For decades, music has been the most inte-
grated arena of American life; Handy almost single- As the story progresses, Nancy's fear becomes
handedly brought that into being. Faulkner, writing just another part of the Compson children's lives
seventeen years after Handy's song was published, and of the Compson household. Jason separates the
used this symbol of integration to tell his story of fear from himself, considering it an element of
profound physical and psychic segregation. being black: "I ain't a nigger," he repeats. The
Segregation, the legacy of slavery, is the condi-
tion that produces most of the ironies Faulkner uses
V o l u m e 12 283
T h a t E v e n i n g Sun
noises she makes to herself—"it was like singing Diane Brown Jones
and it wasn't like singing," Quentin says—are
meant to vent a little of that fear, but it is not enough: In the following essay, Jones discusses the
she must sleep upstairs with the children. When she dubious origin of ' 'That Evening Sun,'' including
is not allowed to do that any longer, she asks the changes madefor its initial publication in American
children to come home with her, reasoning that Mercury.
Jesus would not attempt to kill her if there were
white children in the house—such an action would Circumstances of Composition, Sources,
merit an immediate lynching, one supposes. and Influences
Throughout this section the narration is utterly The earliest reference to "That Evening Sun"
flat, reporting only what happens and interpreting is October 1930. Consequently, discussions of its
nothing. Quentin reports every statement and reply origin frequently assume a 1930 composition date.
of each conversation, just as a boy does. However, It is possible, however, that Faulkner wrote this
that very tone does hearken back to Hemingway's, story and "A Justice" nearer to the time he began
as does the undertone of experience, understanding, The Sound and the Fury —in the first half of 1928,
and painful growth, which moves the reader to seek possibly even before he began the novel. David
for a greater understanding underneath the flat Minter observes that although the evidence for this
reportage. Faulkner has provided that source of conclusion is circumstantial, it is compelling.
greater understanding already, however: Quentin's
older consciousness. Many arguments placing "That EveningSun"
before The Sound and the Fury in chronological
Quentin's older consciousness comes out again order focus on the characterizations of the children.
at the end of the story—not in the voice itself, but in Although Blotner does not claim proof of a pre-
the structure, in what the narrator chooses to relate. novel date for the story, he does say that "That
The Compson family walks back to their house, Evening Sun'' ' 'is the kind of story of the experi-
leaving Nancy sitting by her fire, resigned to her ences of the Compson children which WF [William
fate. Mr. Compson urges her to put the bar up but Faulkner] said S & F [ The Sound and the Fury ]
she is simply apathetic; she will not even close her developed from." In "That Evening Sun," Quentin
door, so sure is she that death will find her that night. lives to be older than he does in the novel. Further,
The children are agitated: Caddy wants to know the adult Quentin of "That Evening Sun"does not
what is going to happen, while Jason repeats again reflect his preoccupation with Caddy's virginity, his
that "I'm not a nigger." It is Quentin's voice, incessant suicidal thoughts, or his ' 'obsessive inner
however, that echoes in the reader's head as the voices." If composition of the three related texts
story ends:' 'Who will do our washing now, Father?'' followed in the order of "That Evening Sun," "A
Mr. Compson cannot take any more actions than he Justice," and The Sound and the Fury, then Quentin
has without upsetting the delicate racial balance of first appeared as a narrator in ' 'That Evening Sun."
the Jim Crow South, and he knows that Nancy is in Benjy does not appear in the story. Ferguson adds
real danger. Quentin feels that Nancy will die that that the Dilsey character in the short story is perhaps
night, but like his mother his only concern is for the "so passive and ineffectual" because she had not
tasks she does for the family. Given the Heming- yet assumed the stronger role she has in The Sound
way-esque tone of the narration, this last line is and the Fury.
delivered with a bitter irony—the Quentin of 1914
spits it out,realizing that in retrospect he sounds Other similarities also suggest that story and
selfish, like Jason. He wonders what he would have novel might have been written at about the same
done had he been in his father's place, musing on time. The story's description of the town in present
what remains the same in the South—the brutal time, including details of telephone poles and laun-
reality of a system of segregation, neglect, and dry trucks, seems more like the present time of The
enforced racism—even as the outward trappings of Sound and the Fury. The narrative of "seemingly
his home grow gray and ghostly in the modern day detached episodes" is like the episodic narrative of
of cars and electricity. Benjy's section of the novel. According to Fergu-
son, the earliest version of "That Evening Sun"
Source: Greg Barnhisel, Critical Essay on "That Evening ("Never Done No Weeping When You Wanted to
Sun," in Short Stories for Students, The Gale Group, 2001. Laugh") shares "striking similarities in style, dia-
logue, and point of view" with Benjy's section of
the novel, and Blotner finds resemblances between
the handwriting of "Never Done No Weeping When
284 S h o r t S t o r i e s / or S t u d e n t s
That Evening Sun
You Wanted to Laugh" and the manuscript of The Faulkner did not
Sound and the Fury. Minter finds a connection in
the image of twilight that appears in both of these incorporate all of Mencken's
texts and "A Justice."
requests for revision.
Not all critics agree that the short stories came
before The Sound and the Fury. Although Blotner Mencken wrote, 'It seems to
places the discussion of' 'That Evening Sun'' in the
chapter entitled "June, 1927-September, 1928" in me that the dialogue about
his 1974 biography of Faulkner, in the revised 1984
edition he puts the story in the ' 'April 1930-January Nancy's pregnancy, on pages
1931" chapter, at which time records of the story do
exist. Irving Howe believes the story is an "off- four and five, is somewhat
shoot" of The Sound and the Fury, and Stephen
Whicher finds that it ' 'bears all the earmarks of an loud for a general magazine?'"
afterthought, whose conclusion the earlier novel
could hardly have anticipated." Gail Morrison dates ' T see no reason why he should be called Jesus—it
the story from the fall of 1928, after The Sound and is, in fact, a very rare name among Negroes, and I
the Fury was completed, and Max Putzel places it in fear using it would make most readers believe we
1930. John Matthews writes of Quentin's older were trying to be naughty in a somewhat strained
voice in "That Evening Sun" as the "ghostly manner." Jesus's name became Jubah to eliminate
Quentin who survives through several textual avatars Mencken's concern. (In a note to Mencken about
into Absalom, Absalom!,'' a statement that pre- the requested changes, Faulkner refers to the char-
sumes Faulkner's intentional use of an already dead acter as Judah although the magazine version uses
Quentin after The Sound and the Fury. The argu- Jubah.) Faulkner returned to the name Jesus in
ments on both sides are interesting for what they These 13. Norman Holmes Pearson correctly ob-
suggest about the writer's craft during a seminal serves that the return to ' 'Jesus'' restores the ' 'para-
period. However, Blotner's point in 1974 remains doxical tension which was otherwise lost."
true: there simply is "no sending schedule, agent's
record, or conclusive manuscript evidence which Faulkner did not incorporate all of Mencken's
would permit accurate dating of the inception and requests for revision. Mencken wrote, "It seems to
writing of this story." me that the dialogue about Nancy's pregnancy, on
pages four and five, is somewhat loud for a general
Noel Polk describes the textual history of ' 'That magazine? [ sic] I believe it could be modified
Evening Sun" as the "most complicated of any in without doing the slightest damage to the story."
These 13." Nevertheless, critics have been able to Faulkner wrote back that some reference to Nancy's
make more verifiable observations about the devel- pregnancy needed to be retained in order to main-
opment of the text than about the date of composi- tain her husband "as a potential factor of the trag-
tion. "That Evening Sun" exists in several ver- edy." He did concede to a more subdued reference
sions, both prepublication and published. The earliest to Nancy's pregnancy and submitted a revised ver-
known, undated, holograph manuscript is entitled sion of those two pages. The American Mercury text
"Never Done No Weeping When You Wanted to explains Nancy's swelling apron as follows:
Laugh." Another version, a twenty-six-page, com-
plete ribbon typescript gives the title ' 'That Evening "He [Jubah] said it was a watermelon that Nancy had
Sun Go Down," but the carbon of that typescript under her dress. And it was Winter, too. 'Where did
shows the revision in Faulkner's hand to "That you get a watermelon in the Winter?' Caddy said. 'I
Evening Sun." didn't,' Jubah said. 'It wasn't me that give it to her.
But 1 can cut it down, same as if it was.'"
When H. L. Mencken accepted the story for the
American Mercury, he described it as "capital," These 13 reinstates the original imagery:
but he balked at naming Nancy's husband "Jesus"
and at referring to her pregnancy so explicitly. "He [Jesus] said it was a watermelon that Nancy had
Mencken seemed unconcerned that the name change under her dress. 'It never come off of your vine,
would affect both dialogue and imagery. He wrote, though,' Nancy, said. 'Off of what vine?' Caddy said.
'I can cut down the vine it did come off of,' Jesus said."
V o l u m e 12 285
T h a t E v e n i n g Sun
Faulkner remarked of his anesthetized revision Pearson regards as particularly significant the sub-
of Nancy's pregnancy: "I did remove the 'vine' stitution of the word cabin for house when the
business. I reckon that's what would outrage Boston.'' Compsons describe Nancy's dwelling because it
contrasts the Compsons' perspective with that of
Mencken defended his suggestions to Faulkner Nancy and Jesus, who both refer to the dwelling as
as "his best editorial judgment." He made addi- the "house," and represents Nancy and Jesus's
tional changes once Faulkner had returned the re- "sense of the personal dignity of what had been
vised typescript. The revised typescript page shows invaded." Faulkner's deletion of material from the
the following description of Nancy's belly when she Mercury version to the These 13 text demonstrates
was found hanging struck through: "... her belly his awareness that direct presentation of action
swelling a little, paling a little as it swelled, like a eliminated the need for explanation. Quentin's analy-
colored balloon pales with distension." The maga- sis of the Compsons' leaving Nancy's cabin is
zine version reads: "... found Nancy hanging from omitted; only the dramatic presentation of their exit
the window, stark naked" and Collected Stories remains. The primary alteration from the first manu-
text reads: " . . . found Nancy hanging from the script version to the final text is the change in the
window, stark naked, her belly already swelling out ' 'angle of reference.'' The point of view shifts from
a little, like a little balloon." Additional revisions being "essentially Nancy's" to becoming Quentin's;
are evident on the ribbon typescript used as setting as narrator, he shows the personal growth he
copy. Some are in Mencken's hand and some are the experiences.
work of another proofreader. They concern such
matters as additional paragraph breaks and section The Compson family presence increases through-
divisions. out: the story begins and ends with them. (Pearson
justifies Benjy's absence pointing out that Benjy's
When he revised the story for collection, indifference to time makes him an inappropriate
Faulkner restored many of the deletions, but he character in this particular story.) Quentin's reac-
retained paragraph and section divisions inserted by tion is crucial and is measured by the other child-
Mencken, even embellishing the division of the last ren's lack of understanding: they cannot differenti-
section by further dividing it into two sections. Leo ate between Hallowe'en fright and Nancy's terror.
Manglaviti believes that Faulkner worked on his The story becomes Quentin's "story of himself, as
revisions for These 13 from the manuscript titled he had learned from it.'' The attempt to forestall the
' 'Never Done No Weeping When You Wanted to setting sun and inevitable death echo in his suicide.
Laugh" and the American Mercury text. A line According to Blotner, the early manuscript focuses
present in the typescript describes one of the actions on Nancy althoughit employs Quentin as an adult to
Nancy threatened if Jesus were to take another wife. narrate the story. The "clear implication" is that
Among her threats the typescript adds, ' 'Ara hand Nancy returns to her cabin and death. The version
that touched her, I'd cut it off." This line does not entitled ' 'That Evening SunGo Down'' is increased
appear in "Never Done No Weeping When You in length with additional description, dialogue, and
Wanted to Laugh," the magazine version, or the background information on Nancy. Subsequently,
collected version. It was not unusualfor Faulkner to without altering the emphasis on Nancy's story,
agree to revisions to facilitate publication; James Faulkner developed the contrast of Quentin's adult
Carothers notes that stories such as "Spotted perspective with that of his childhood, particularly
Horses," "Snow," "Knight's Gambit," and "Shall showing his and Caddy's sensitivity. Ferguson adds
Not Perish'' were altered for publication that the story is improved by the revised ending,
done between magazine publication and inclusion
Although the preceding discussion focuses on in the collections. The deletion of Quentin's closing
the alterations that the story underwentspecifically observation—' 'the white people going on, dividing
in relation to magazine publication, the extant manu- the impinged lives of us and Nancy"—removes a
scripts and published versions allow for ample too obvious statement of what the action demon-
study of the development of the text from the early strates; it also eliminates a breach in the voice of
holograph version to the version in These 13. The the child narrator found in the inflated style of
changes are significant. Pearson's early compara- the phrase "dividing the impinged lives of us
tive study of the story at three stages—"Never and Nancy."
Done No Weeping When You Wanted to Laugh,"
the American Mercury version, and the These 13 Skei claims that the version in These 13, subse-
version—identified the major areas of change. quently, used again in Collected Stories, is the
286 Short S t o r i e s for S t u d e n t s
T h a t E v e n i n g Sun
"final, authoritative one." There are a few differ- ious music; his work shows that the story's indebt-
ences between the two collected versions, but these edness goes much deeper than the mere borrowing
involve alterations of spelling, capitalization, and of its title from Handy's "St. Louis Blues." The
paragraphing. In the critical response to "That image of the evening sun appears in black religious
Evening Sun," the choice of source text has been music, sometimes to represent coming death and
irregular. In 1935, Edward O'Brien offered an ex- judgment. In the blues tradition, the setting sun is
tended close reading of the story in the Short Story linked to despair and also to the "time when the
Case Book series that depended on the particulari- black male proved his masculinity" and the prosti-
ties of the text. He used the magazine version, tute's time to "shine." The character Jesus is much
' 'That Evening Sun Go Down," but cited These 13 like the rambler character in the blues tradition who
Similarly, Sterling Brown and George Snell cite the may be a criminal, a misfit, or a promiscuous lover.
These 13 text, but their references to specifics, such The language of the story is reminiscent of the
as to Jubah rather than Jesus, indicate their use of double entendre prevalent in blues language, such
the magazine version. Frederick Karl uses "That as the reference to the vine and fruit to mean sexual
Evening Sun Go Down'' as the operative title for his promiscuity. Also, in blues language sexual acts and
references to the story unless he is specifically organs are referred to through common metaphors.
referring to the title in collection. Kitchen images are especially prevalent; frequently
the kitchen represents the woman's body. Jesus's
The popularity of' 'That Evening Sun'' hasled complaint ("I can't hang around white man's
to a search for analogues to the story in life and kitchen") becomes richer in that context. Voodoo
literature. The escapades of the Compson children also appears in blues lyrics, just as it does in the
in this story and other texts are typically linked to story. Nancy's discovery of the hog bone, a curse
the activities of the Falkner boys—Billy, Johncy, and also a phallic symbol, terrifies her. It implies
and Jack—along with their cousin Sallie Murry. "that Nancy's 'curse' is her promiscuity."
Jackson Benson specifically likens Quentin Compson
of "That Evening Sun," and The Sound and the Comparisons with Hemingway, especially his
Fury to Faulkner as a boy: a "quiet, observant, short story "The Killers," have predominated in
serious, somewhat introverted, and thoughtful child the list of important literary antecedents. O'Brien
who had no really close friends outside the family." sees resemblances to Ernest Hemingway's style in
John Faulkner's remembrances include a woman in the "laconic reporting" in the story of Nancy's
the community who he believes served as a model confinement and attempted suicide in jail and pat-
for Nancy. Nancy Snowball, a woman who once terns of dialogue in the story. Ray West compares
cooked and washed for the Falkners, caught the the use of initiation in Hemingway' s ' The Killers''
children's interest with her ability to crawl through to Quentin's awakening adult sensibilities in "The
a barbed wire fence withouthaving to touch the load Evening Sun"; he also finds similarities between
of laundry balanced on her head. The threat Jesus Caddy's and Nick Adams's interest in the natureof
posed to Nancy may be traced to the murder of a evil. Leonard Frey judges Faulkner's story to be
woman by her husband, Dave Bowdry, that took "superior" to Hemingway's "The Killers" in that
place near the Falkner home. A nearby ditch may Nancy, the victim of the inevitable violence, re-
have added to the fictional scene that is enhanced by mains the dominant character whereas in "The
the danger the ditch seems to convey—either by Killers" Nick Adams is the central figure rather
providing Jesus a place to hide or as dividing the than Ole Andreson. Austin Wright makes the point
safety of the Compson house and the danger of that in both stories a "conflict with a range of
the cabin. possible outcomes" is initiated, but in each, the
narrative ends without reaching any of the possible
Parallels found in literature and music relate outcomes. The reader then must revise his or her
less to characters and action than to the develop- sense of what constitutes the focus of the story. In
ment of dialogue and imagery in the story. "That both these cases, the "issue is precisely the failure
Evening Sun'' is significantly enriched by the influ- of resolution."
ence of blues music on the text. The title comes
from the words to "St. Louis Blues." John Hagopian A number of other studies have made brief
believes the relationship to the song is ironic, citing observations of literary links between "The Eve-
as an example the song's line ' Til love my baby till ning Sun," and a wide variety of texts. Collectively,
the day I die." Ken Bennett traces the story's rich the list demonstrates more the rich texture of the
associations with both blues music and black relig- story than a single dominating influence on the
Volume 12 287
That Evening Sun
story. O'Brien suggests that a comparison could be Source: Diane Brown Jones, '"That Evening Sun,'" in A
made of Balzac's and Faulkner's use of chiaroscuro Reader's Guide to the Short Stories of William Faulkner,
in the development of atmosphere. Frey likens the G. K. Hall & Co., 1994, pp. 267-74.
irony in the story to ironic presentation in ballads
such as "The Twa Corbies" and "The Wife of Laurence Perrine
Usher's Well": in all these, although an objective
presentation of the material is offered, the reader In thefollowing essay, Perrine examines unan-
understands more than the narrator does. Frey re- swered questions in ' 'That Evening Sun,'' and
gards the counterpoint in the mingled conversations whether Faulkner implies answers or renders
of Caddy and Jason with Mr. Compson and Nancy them unknowable.
as similar to the remarks of Edgar, Lear, and the
Fool in Shakespeare's King Lear because in both I
texts the impact of their comments stems from their
' 'varying degrees of awareness of their positions." Is Nancy alive or dead in the morning? This is
Richard Adams finds the phrase ' 'a long diminish- the "overwhelming question" raised by Faulkner's
ing noise of rubber and asphalt like tearing silk'' to "That Evening Sun." Readers have sought an an-
be "possibly derived from Flaubert." The image swer both outside the story and in. Malcolm Cowley
appears not only in ' 'That Evening Sun," but also in thought he had found proof of Nancy' s murder in a
such works as Mosquitoes, The Wild Palms, and passage from The Sound and the Fury (published
Intruder in the Dust. Edward Richardson compares 1929, two years before the story) in Caddy's refer-
Nancy's terror with the "driving intensity" of ence to some bones left from the time ' 'when Nancy
scenes in The White Rose of Memphis by William fell in the ditch and Roskus shot her and the buz-
Clark Faulkner, William's great-grandfather. Mark zards came and undressed her," but Stephen Whicher
Coburn considers Tom in Harriet Beecher Stowe's shattered that claim by demonstrating convincingly
Uncle Tom's Cabin a literary analogue to the suffer- that these bones belonged to a horse or pony, not a
ing Nancy. human being. Other readers have claimed proof for
Nancy's survival by pointing to Requiem for a Nun
John Rosenman traces the archetypal pattern of (1951), Faulkner's novel written twenty years after
heaven and hell in Faulkner's story and in Ray "That Evening Sun" as a sequel to Sanctuary
Bradbury's much later Dandelion Wine (1957). (1931), in which Nancy is alive and well in the
Rosenman finds the resemblances striking but does employment of Gowen and Temple Drake Stevens
not establish a direct line of influence from Faulkner at a date subsequent to her employment by the
to Bradbury. Rosenman credits the work of Maud Compsons in ' 'That Evening Sun." But if Faulkner
Bodkin in Archetypal Patterns in Poetry, Psycho- is capable of resurrecting a three-years-dead Quentin
logical Studies of Imagination as his source for Compson from The Sound and the Fury to serve as
archetypal study. narrator in "That Evening Sun,"he is equally
capable of resurrecting a several-years-dead Nancy
As other scholars have, Robert Hamb links the from "That Evening Sun" to serve as a central
title to "St. Louis Blues," but he suggests another character in Requiem for a Nun. In any case, the
possible parallel in William Blake's "Nurse's Song" story must be read and interpreted on its own terms.
from Songs of Innocence and Experience. In the It is unreasonable to think that Faulkner intended
poem, the setting sun is used as an emblem marking readers of the short story in 1931 to interpret it on
the inevitable passage out of childhood. He does not the basis of evidence which he would not provide
claim with certainty that Faulkner knew this poem, them until twenty years later.
but he confirms the similar use of the image, just as
both ' 'recognized the archetypal initiation pattern in Though probably none would deny that the
the exposure of children to the realities of time and ending of the story is technically indeterminate,
experience." According to John Gerlach, the story many commentators believe that an answer is im-
bears an inverted relationship to Ephesians. The plied. Critics who believe Nancy slain have ex-
biblical letter establishes social codes of behavior pressed themselves with enormous conviction. John
including the admonition not to let the sun set on V. Hagopian, explicitly inquiring whether Nancy's
one's anger. In "That Evening Sun" the children awareness of Jesus waiting in the ditch may not be
manipulate parents, wives are prostitutes, and the an hallucination, rejects the possibility. ' 'It would
character Jesus remains angry. The story's world is be foolish to wonder if Nancy will actually be
akin to that portrayed in Amos. killed; of course she will—all the lines of force in
the story move powerfully in that direction." Edward
J. O'Brien declares that, though "the climax is
2 S8 Short Stories for Students
That Evening Sun
implicit,... we can have no doubt what is going to Just as Caddy
happen." Wilbur L. Schramm echoes him, saying
that at the end we walk out of Nancy's life, "per- throughout the story keeps
fectly sure of what is going to happen." Those who
take this side seem to do so mostly because of the asking questions which are
force and intensity of Nancy's own conviction—a
conviction so compelling that they call it "knowl- seldom answered by the
edge." Norman Holmes Pearson writes that Nancy
' 'hates to see the coming of the dark, not because adults, so the story itself
her sweet man left the town, but because he has
returned to it to take a revenge which Nancy knows keeps raising questions for
she cannot escape, nor the Compsons prevent." The
use of the verb "knows" rather than "thinks" is which no sure answers are
frequently how these critics express their assurance.
Commentators on the survival side view Nancy's provided by its author."
mental state quite differently. Robert Heilman re-
fers to it as one of "terrified hallucination." Jim saying. In addition there is much that Quentin has
Lee calls it "insanity caused by ... guilt." If my not heard and does not know. And some matters,
informal tally is reliable, critics who believe that like motivation, may be unknowable except to an
Nancy will be murdered outnumber their opponents omniscient narrator.
by almost three to one.
Here is a partial list of questions raised by the
In this paper I propose to show that the question story which cannot be certainly answered: (1) Why
of Nancy's survival is only the climactic example of is Nancy so often late for cooking breakfast? (2)
a long series of questions which the story raises and Why is she arrested? (3) Why does she attempt
leaves unanswered, that ambiguities about fact and suicide? (4) Has Nancy slept with more than one
motivation are central to its technique, and that the white man? (5) Who fathered Nancy's unborn child?
case for Nancy's death is much, much weaker than (6) Does she know? (7) Does Jesus know? (8) Why
its proponents realize. I shall argue that Faulkner does Mr. Compson tell Jesus to stay off their place?
meant the story to end with a question mark to (9) Why does Jesus leave Nancy? (10) Where does
which no train of inferences would supply a truly he go? (11) How long does he stay? (12) Does he
reliable answer. come back? (13) What causes Nancy's disturbance
in the kitchen? (14) Is Aunt Rachel Jesus' mother?
II (15) Why might Jesus be "mad"at Nancy? (16)
Just as Caddy throughout the story keeps ask- Why does Nancy think he is angry with her? (17)
For what does Nancy feel guilty? (18) Why did Mrs.
ing questions which are seldom answered by the Lovelady commit suicide? (19) What happened to
adults, so the story itself keeps raising questions for her child? (20) What happened to Nancy's preg-
which no sure answers are provided by its author. nancy? (21) Is Nancy alive next morning?—I shall
We may always, of course, conjecture, and some- address some, but not all of these questions.
times infer, but rarely can we rest in certainty,
though we sniff like bloodhounds back and forth Three questions of minor importance should
through the story searching for clues. convince us that Faulkner's creation of uncertain-
ties is deliberate:
That many of these questions are deliberately
raised and left unanswered can be demonstrated. Why did Mrs. Lovelady commit suicide ? What
Faulkner's resurrection of dead Quentin to narrate happened to her child? Nancy tells Mr. Compson,
the story, rather than using an omniscient narrator, ' 'Anyway, I got my coffin money saved up with Mr.
is part of his method. It is not that Quentin is an Lovelady." Quentin explains:
unreliable narrator. Indeed he has remarkably pre-
cise recall of what he has seen or heard or smelled. Mr. Lovelady was a short, dirty man who collected the
Uncertainties arise not because of defects in his Negro insurance, coming around to the cabins or the
memory but because of gaps in his knowledge. He kitchens every Saturday morning to collect fifteen
can report accurately what was reported to him, he cents. He and his wife lived at the hotel. One morning
can repeat precisely what people have said, but his wife committed suicide. They had a child, a little
these abilities do not guarantee the truth of their
V o l u m e 12 289
That Evening Sun
girl. He and the child went away. After a week or two day they arrested her again. . . . " Here Quentin's
he came back alone. We would see him going along narration swings in a wide arc through a revelation
the lanes and back streets on Saturday mornings. of Nancy's prostitution to an account of her suicide
attempt and ends with the jailer's asserting that "it
Quentin's remarks about Mrs. Lovelady and was cocaine and not whisky, because a nigger full of
the child are a complete digression from the plot of cocaine wasn't a nigger any longer." Four reasons
the story. No reader would have missed anything are therefore suggested for Nancy's behavior: that
had Quentin stopped at the end of his first explana- she's drunk; that she's been engaging in prostitu-
tory sentence, or even short of it. But Faulkner has tion; that she's high on cocaine; plus Nancy's own
him go on to add two mysteries, neither of which is explanation, "I got to get my sleep out." An
resolved. We must suppose, however, that Faulkner astonishing number of critics accept the explanation
included this material for a reason. Mr. Lovelady that Nancy is a dope-addict, though the jailer is a
makes his living from the economic exploitation of brutal bigot whose reasoning, cast in syllogistic
blacks. His wife's suicide may spring from a con- form, is (a) No Negro has sufficient courage to
flict with her husband over his profession. The attempt suicide unless he's high on cocaine; (b)
husband is described as "a short, dirty man." Nancy is a Negro and has attempted suicide; (c)
Nancy's husband is "a short black man" with a therefore Nancy is high on cocaine. Others, perhaps
"dirty"-looking razor scar on his face, and Nancy reasoning that Nancy would not have the courage to
too attempts suicide. If a parallel is intended, its challenge Mr. Stovall in public unless she were
significance is that the white attitude toward blacks drunk, accept Mr. Compson's explanation to his
causes conflict not only between but within the children about her behavior, disregarding the proba-
races. In each of the story's three married couples— bility that Mr. Compson would prefer to give them
Jesus and Nancy, Mr. and Mrs. Compson, Mr. and such an account than expose them at their age to the
Mrs. Lovelady—conflict is generated or exacer- harsh facts of prostitution (the one thing we know
bated by the relationship of one of the pair with a Nancy to be guilty of) and disregarding also the
person or persons of the opposite color. implications of Quentin's statement, "So we thought
it was whisky until. . . . " But the facts are that
Is Aunt Rachel Jesus' mother? Again Faulkner nowhere in the story is Nancy shown taking cocaine
deliberately introduces uncertainty. When Mr. or drinking anything stronger than coffee, and that,
Compson asks Nancy, "Cant Aunt Rachel do any- despite her overwhelming terror later in the story,
thing with [Jesus]?'' most readers would have been she is not naturally a timid woman, as shown by her
quite satisfied with the simple explanation "Aunt taunting her violent husband with the assertion that
Rachel was Jesus' mother." Instead, Quentin goes the child she is carrying is not off his' 'vine'' as well
on to describe Aunt Rachel, and ends with ' They as by her challenging Mr. Stovall. Nancy's explana-
said she was Jesus' mother. Sometimes she said she tion, together with her unclad appearance, supports
was and sometimes she said she wasn't any kin to the prostitution theory. But Nancy's nakedness and
Jesus." A reasonable inference is that she is his her need of sleep can be equally well explained by
mother, or she wouldn't say so, but that, when he supposing that she stayed awake late making love
does something outrageous, she prefers to deny with her husband. We tend to forget that Nancy's
kinship. Still, Jesus never speaks of her; Nancy house is Jesus' house too; but the children chunk
expects no help from her; no scene in the story stones at it from a distance, not just out of thought-
shows Jesus at her house. We are left with a possi- less disrespect, but because their father told them
bility, not a certainty. "not to have anything to do with Jesus."
The creation of uncertainty is patently part of Why is Nancy arrested? Prostitution? Use of
Faulkner's strategy in writing this story. Let us now illegal drugs? Being drunk and disorderly? Disturb-
turn to more crucial questions. ing the peace? All we can be sure of is our admira-
tion for Faulkner's conjuring up a past history of
Why is Nancy so often late for cooking break- arrest with a single word ("again"). We are not told
fast? "About half the time," Quentin tells us, the how often or why.
children had to summon her by throwing stones at
her house until she appeared, leaning her head Why does Nancy attempt suicide? The reasons
around the door with no clothes on, to say, "I ain't are probably multiple, may be unknown to Nancy
studying no breakfast." Jason shouts, "Father says herself, and are best left to the imagination of the
you're drunk. Are you drunk, Nancy?" Quentin reader. The function of her attempt in the story is
continues: "So we thought it was whisky until that
290 S h o r t S t o r i e s for S t u d e n t s
That Evening Sun
clearer. The depth of her despair here, put beside the "Where did you get a watermelon in the Win-
violence of her jealous reaction to Mr. Compson's ter?" Caddy said.
suggestion that Jesus has probably "got another
wife" in St. Louis, reveals Nancy's emotional ex- "I didn't," [Jesus] said. "It wasn't me that give it to
tremes and prepares for her paroxysm of fear when her. But I can cut it down, same as if it was."
she hears that Jesus has returned.
Faulkner restored the original wording—both
Who fathered Nancy's unborn child? Several more effective and more ambiguous—for the story's
commentators confidently name Mr. Stovall as the first book publication in These Thirteen later that year.
father, since he is the only candidate named; others
more cautiously attribute paternity only to an un- Why does Jesus leave Nancy? Nancy wakes up
known white man, their caution validated by Mr. one morning "and Jesus was gone." The almost
Compson's rebuke to Nancy, "If you'd just let casual way she tells it does not suggest that they had
white men alone." We cannot be sure, however, quarreled. Nancy says, "He quit me. Done gone to
whether Mr. Compson speaks from certain knowl- Memphis, I reckon. Dodging them city /w-lice for a
edge, or whether his rebuke simply combines the while." Had Jesus simply tired of dodging the
universal tendency to generalize from one instance Jefferson "po-lice" and sought temporary respite
with the Southern white's tendency to give black in the larger city? Later, Nancy says, "He said I
behavior the least favorable interpretation. Moreo- done woke up the devil in him and ain't but one
ver, Jesus' claim that he can "cut down the vine" thing going to lay it down again." But Nancy makes
that Nancy's "watermelon" came off of is a valid this remark after the presumed return of Jesus; if he
threat only if Mr. Stovall is the only white man she said it to her, he must have said it sometime before
has slept with. How else would he know whose he left, for there has been no communication be-
"vine" to cut? A third possibility, that Jesus him- tween them since. The threat (presuming Jesus
self is the father, is seldom considered. Yet how can actually made it and Nancy has correctly interpreted
Nancy know who made her pregnant if she was it) would explain Nancy's outbreak of fear on
living with Jesus while having sexual relations with hearing of his return. But if Jesus intends to murder
another? That Nancy and Jesus have been living her, why must he go away first and then come back
together is indicated by the general acceptance of to do it? And why does Nancy's fear not date from
them as husband and wife, by the children's ap- his making the threat? Might she not have "in-
proaching no nearer than the ditch to Nancy's vented' ' the remark to rationalize the fear that has
house, by Jesus' taking breakfast in the Compson arisen in her after his departure?
kitchen when Nancy begins cooking there, by Jesus'
eloquent statement that "when white men want to Where does Jesus go ?Nancy says,' 'Done gone
come in my house, I ain't got no house," and by to Memphis, I reckon." Father says, "He's prob-
Nancy's announcement of Jesus' departure: "one ably in St. Louisnow."
morning she woke up and Jesus was gone." On the
basis of the published story alone, we must ac- Why might Jesus be "mad" at Nancy? Why
knowledge a possibility that Nancy, in declaring does she think he is? When Mr. Compson suggests
that her "watermelon" didn't come off Jesus' to Nancy that Jesus has ' 'probably got another wife
"vine," is baiting Jesus with a possibility, not a by now," Nancy's reaction is immediate: "If he
certainty. has, I better not find out about it. I' d stand right there
over them, and every time he wrapped her,I'd cut
Evidence from outside the story, however, does that arm off. I'd cut his head off and I'd slit her bell
certify Faulkner's intention as being that Jesus and I'd shove—." Reacting this way, Nancy might
should know the child not to be his. In submitting very well think that Jesus would react the same way
the story for publication in the American Mercury, when the cases are reversed and she sleeps with
Faulkner modified the passage about Nancy's preg- another man. But, as critics have pointed out, when
nancy (in response to its editor H. L. Mencken's Jesus is told that the watermelon is not off his vine,
protest that it was "somewhat loud for a general he threatens the father, not Nancy. Moreover, he
magazine") as follows: must have known about her prostitution earlier, for
his speech about' 'When white man want to come in
When Dilsey was sick in her cabin and Nancy was my house, I ain't got no house" voices a sense of
cooking for us, we could see her apron swelling out; injustice that must have been smouldering for a long
. . .[Jesus] said it was a watermelon that Nancy had time. Not until the moment when he tells Nancy, if
under her dress. And it was Winter, too. he does, that she "done woke up the devil inhim"
Volume I 2 2 91
That Evening Sun
does Jesus manifest any anger toward Nancy. The has had an abortion; she has had a miscarriage or
problem is to explain the delay. But the parallel stillbirth; she is still pregnant at the end of the story.
between Jesus' sleeping with a hypothetical "St.
Louis woman" and Nancy's sleeping with Mr. A recent critic contends that "the following
Stovall is inexact. In the one case Jesus is loving a enigmatic paragraph can hardly be read in any other
new woman and has forgotten Nancy. In the other, way than as a symbolic confirmation of an abortion'':
Nancy is sleeping with Mr. Stovall for money and
has not at all forgotten Jesus. Still, Jesus feels the ' 'Father said for you to go home and lock the door,
indignity keenly and makes a violent threat, just as and you'll be all right," Caddy said. "All right from
Nancy does, though against the father, not against what, Nancy? Is Jesus mad at you?" Nancy was
Nancy. We hear nothing of his attempting to carry holding the coffee cup in her hands again, her elbows
out that threat, however. The only violence in the on her knees and her hands holding the cup between
story is committed by whites against blacks. And her knees. She was looking into the cup. ' 'What have
even supposing that Jesus knows who the father is, you done that made Jesus mad?" Caddy said. Nancy
there is little possibility of his being able to carry out let the cup go. It didn't break on the floor, but the
the threat, so supreme is white power in Jefferson. coffee spilled out, and Nancy sat there with her hands
Though Mr. Stovall has slept with Nancy several still making the shape of the cup.
times, has refused to pay her, has knocked her down
and kicked her teeth out, and possibly fathered her There is nothing enigmatic about this para-
child, Jesus has pretty clearly never attacked Mr. graph. It is simply a graphic description of Nancy's
Stovall. Nancy continually protects herself against terror. Nancy's sitting with her hands still making
Jesus by sleeping in the Compsons' house or sur- the shape of the cup she has dropped, like other
rounding herself with Compson children, knowing symptoms of her terror, exhibits a violent disjunc-
that Jesus is unlikely to attack her in their presence. tion between the signals received and sent out by her
Meanwhile, we may conjecture, Jesus' anger and brain. In her suicide attempt, after putting the noose
frustration seethe inside him, and his indignity is around her neck, she can't make her hands let go of
daily pressed upon him as Nancy's belly swells. the window ledge. In her cabin she keeps her hand
Such being the case, is it illogical to believe that the on the hot lamp without realizing that the hand is
anger originally directed toward the unknown father burning. But if one insists on reading the paragraph
might be redirected toward Nancy? Nancy herself symbolically, it is a much apter symbol for miscar-
undergoes an emotional transition, from blaming riage than for abortion, for Nancy's dropping the
others to blaming, at least partially, herself. At the cup and spilling its contents is involuntary. But,
beginning of her terror, she says, I ain't nothing but indeed, the abortion-theory must be dismissed. In
a nigger. "It ain't none of my fault." But near the Mississippi, before the turn of the century, a black
end she says, ' 'I reckon it belong to me, I reckon woman of Nancy's class and education would not
what I going to get ain't no more than mine." Nancy have had access to abortion at her stage of preg-
is capable of changing from an initial defiant taunt- nancy. Still, if Nancy has had either abortion or
ing of Jesus ("It ain't off your vine") to a feeling of miscarriage, it is strange that Quentin, keenly ob-
guilt over her physical infidelity to the man who servant of physical detail, should not mention that
"always been good" to her. Whether we accept a Nancy's belly was "flat" again. A colleague of
change in Jesus' feelings or not will depend on how mine suggests that the sentence "Jason's legs stuck
much credence we give to Nancy's report that he straight out of his pants where he sat on Nancy's
said she "done woke up the devil in him and ain't lap" may be intended to convey this information.
but one thing going to lay it down again." Nancy's Possibly so. We can not be certain.
feelings change; there are good reasons why Jesus'
feelings might change; and there are reasons why Does Jesus come back? So strong is Nancy's
Nancy should believe they have changed, whether conviction of Jesus' return that few commentators
they have or not. The mere act of his leaving her question it, yet all the reasons supporting it are
would explain that. undermined by uncertainty.
What happens to Nancy's pregnancy? It is Our first news of Jesus' return is received on
puzzling that Nancy's pregnancy, forced so vividly the night that Nancy sits by the cold stove in the
on our attention early in the story, should never be Compsons' kitchen, scared to go home:
mentioned again. There are three possibilities: Nancy
"I am going to walk down the lane with Nancy,"
[father] said. ' 'She says that Jesus is back.'' ' 'Has she
seen him?" mother said. "No. Some Negro sent her
word that he was back in town.". . .
292 Short S t o r i e s for Students
That Evening Sun
What we are given here is at the very least a Nancy's intuitions are, for her, convictions; and
fourth-hand report. Quentin tells us that father said she expresses them with such force that many
that Nancy said that "some Negro" said. Though readers accept them as truth. Yet it is difficult to
there is not need to question the reliability of believe that, in the lapse of time between the first
Quentin or of father, the last two members in the report of Jesus' return and Nancy's night of terror,
series are increasingly unreliable. The phrase "sent there would be no confirmation of his return. If
her word'' (rather than ' 'told her'') suggests moreo- Jesus is back, why has nobody seen him? It is also
ver the probability of one or more additional inter- hard to imagine why Jesus would lie for hours in an
mediaries. What evidence the first Negro had, how uncomfortable ditch in order to take his revenge.
the word was sent, what the word was, whether it There are easier ways. And Nancy's words strain
was transmitted accurately, and whether Nancy credulity when she tells Mr. Compson,' 'He looking
interpreted it correctly—all these factors are left through that window this minute, waiting for yawl
undetermined. to go," just as they strain it when Mr. Compson
escorts her home on the first night after she has
The next suggestion of Jesus' return is the heard of Jesus' return: "I can feel him now, in this
disturbance in the kitchen when the Compson house- lane. He hearing us talk, every word, hid some-
hold is awakened by Nancy's terrified ululation. where, waiting." In Nancy's mind, after his "re-
When Caddy asks, "Was it Jesus? Did he try to turn," Jesus is omnipresent.
come into the kitchen?'' Nancy can only answer,' 'I
ain't nothing but a nigger. God knows." Whether A final piece of evidence for Jesus' return
Nancy was frightened by an intruder, whether that would seem, at first sight, objective enough. "I got
intruder was Jesus, or whether the whole affair was the sign," Nancy says. "It was on the table when I
a bad dream—these matters are left unresolved. come in. It was a hogbone, with blood meat still on
Nancy herself seems not to know the answers. it, laying by the lamp." But when did she get the
sign? If she means when she returned to the cabin
The chief support for Jesus' return seems sim- with the children, the children would have seen it
ply the intensity of Nancy's own subjective convic- too, as would Mr. Compson when he arrived. (If she
tion. Dilsey asks, "Howdo you know he'sback? had removed it, the children would have seen her
You ain't seen him." "I can feel him," Nancy says. remove it, and she could not have removed it so far
"I can feel him laying yonder in the ditch." "To- that she could not have showed it to Mr. Compson).
night?" Dilsey asks. "How come you know it's If she refers to sometime earlier in the day, why had
tonight?" "I know," Nancy replies. "He's there she not mentioned it to Dilsey when Dilsey asked,
waiting. I know. I done lived with him too long. I "How do you know he's back? You ain't seen
know what he is fixing to do fore he know it him?" We are left with strong reasons to believe
himself." Nancy may well have lived with Jesus that the "sign" is a desperate last-ditch invention
long enough to have a feeling for how his mind of Nancy's feverish mind designed to keep Mr.
works; but this hardly gives her absolute power to Compson in the cabin. (It should be pointed out that
predict his actions, let alone the precise time of his Mr. Compson's "He's not here. I would have seen
actions. There is no evidence that she had foreseen him" is equally an invention—a display of false
Jesus' leaving her, and there is some suggestion that confidence designed to calm Nancy down. When
she was surprised when it happened. She woke up Nancy replies, "He waiting in the ditch yonder,"
one morning "and Jesus was gone." If she failed to Mr. Compson first says, "Nonsense," but then,
predict this event when she went to bed with him the "Do you know he's there?" Even he is impressed
previous evening, why should one think she could by the force of Nancy's conviction.)
predict the date on which Jesus would attempt to kill
her when she has been out of communication with Is Nancy alive next morning? It is now time to
him for weeks? Dilsey's question is crucial:"How construct the most plausible account of the story we
come you know it's tonight?" There is no rational can imagine for each of the two suppositions about
answer to Dilsey's question. There is, however, a its ending:
strong psychological reason why Nancy's terror
should peak this night. Dilsey's return to work has (A) Nancy, washerwoman, cook, and prosti-
deprived Nancy of the security offered by the tute, is made pregnant by a white man. Her violent
Compson house. For the first time in weeks she is husband, Jesus, angered by the pregnancy, makes
faced with the prospect of spending the night alone what is either a castration or a murder threat against
in her cabin. the father, and voices his indignation in a fine
V o l u m e 12 293
That Evening Sun
speech about "I cant hang around white man's an attempted attack by Jesus in the Compsons'
kitchen. But white man can hang around mine...." kitchen one night that afterwards she is unsure what
Frustrated, however, by his powerlessness to carry actually happened. Her terror psychologically peaks
out his threat, he gradually turns his anger against on the day when Dilsey returns to the kitchen,
Nancy and tells her she "done woke up the devil" depriving her of her sanctuary. Her guilt and her
in him and only her death will' 'lay it down again." fear mount together ("I hellborn," she tells Jason.
Perhaps to prevent himself from carrying out this "I going back where I come from soon"), and she
threat, he leaves town. His anger, still frustrated, turns to the desperate expedient of enticing the
drives him back. Nancy, hearing of his return, Compson children to her cabin. When Mr. Compson
knowing his violent nature, and aware of his threat, dismisses her fears as "Nonsense," her imagina-
knows he has come back to kill her, and is so tion creates the ' 'proof' of the hog-bone with blood
overcome by fear that Mr. Compson feels obliged to meat still on it. When this too fails, her will breaks,
escort her home at night. When Mrs. Compson and she resigns herself to what she falsely believes
objects to being left alone, a pallet is fixed for her fate, now fully accepting her guilt ("I reckon it
Nancy in the kitchen. After Jesus makes an unsuc- belong to me. I reckon what I going to get ain't no
cessful attempt one night to break into the house, more than mine").
Nancy's fear turns to terror. Denied the protection
of the Compson house after Dilsey's return, she The first account is the more emotionally com-
entices the children to come home with her and pelling, as demonstrated by the reactions of com-
pretends that their father is with them. She knows mentators. The second bears up better, I think,
Jesus will strike this night because she is unpro- under rational scrutiny of the facts. But neither
tected and because he has left a "sign," which, in account can be proved. Each rests on undemonstrable
her disturbed state, she had not mentioned to Dilsey. assumptions, each embraces long sequences of con-
When Mr. Compson, who has come after the child- jecture (the first, especially, about the progress of
ren, refuses to stay with her, her will breaks, and she Jesus' feelings; the second about Nancy's).
resigns herself to the death that surely awaits her.
If we ask ourselves Faulkner's intention in the
(B) Nancy' s suicide attempt, to which her preg- story, we must conclude that Faulkner wished to
nancy is a contributing cause, displays the conflict- end it with an unresolvable question mark. First,
ing impulses and emotional extremes to which she Faulkner takes great pains to emphasize that ques-
is subject. In the kitchen sometime later, she taunts tion mark. On the final three pages of the story, the
Jesus with the assertion that the "watermelon" question is put before the reader six separate times.
under her skirt "never came off[his] vine." Jesus' Nancy four times asserts that Jesus is waiting in the
anger is directed, not against her, however, but ditch, and Mr. Compson four times dismisses the
against the unknown father and against white men assertion as "Nonsense." After that, Mr. Compson
in general. When Jesus leaves her, her response is at twice answers Caddy's questions with assurances
first casual, but during his absence she questions the that nothing is going to happen and that Jesus has
reasons for his departure and her own role in it. She gone away. Even so, Quentin is unpersuaded. ''Who
is torn between the desire to relieve herself of will do our washing now, Father?" he asks. The
responsibility ("I ain't nothing but a nigger. It ain't Compson family are divided on the answer. Second,
none of my fault") and a need to acknowledge her the uncertainty about the ending is not caused by
guilt ("Jesus always been good to me. Whenever he any gap in Quentin's knowledge. Quentin certainly
had two dollars, one of them was mine"). She knows whether Nancy was alive or not the next
shows that her feelings toward Jesus run deep when morning. This uncertainty exists because Faulkner
she tells Mr. Compson what she'd do if she caught deliberately stops the story before Quentin reaches
Jesus with another wife. The false rumor that Jesus the next morning. Finally, the question of Nancy's
has returned intensifies her inner conflicts and feel- survival is the crowning uncertainty in a story
ings of guilt, and she convinces herself that Jesus whose consistent method is uncertainty. The other
has come back to kill her ("I ain't going to see him uncertainties lead up to and feed into the final
but once more, with that razor in his mouth"). She uncertainty.
imagines that Jesus had threatened her life before he
left ("He done say I woke up the devil in him''), and IV
she irrationally feels him lurking everywhere, wait- ' 'That Evening Sun'' is about fear and the gulf
ing, hearing all she says. She so vividlyhallucinates
separating the white and black communities which
is both cause and result of that fear. The uncertain-
294 Short Stories for Students
That Evening Sun
ties of the story serve both subjects. Many of the Skei, Hans H., William Faulkner: The Novelist as Short Story-
gaps in Quentin's knowledge arise from the separa- Writer, Universitetsforlaget, 1985.
tion of the two communities; most of the uncertain-
ties feed into our final uncertainty about theout- Trilling, Lionel, Review in The Nation, November 4, 1931,
come of the conflict between Nancy and Jesus. This p. 491-92.
unresolved personal conflict reflects the larger un-
resolved social conflict of which it is a symptom. Further Reading
Fifty years after the Emancipation there has been no
improvement in white-black relationships. Finally, Cash, W. J., and Bertram Wyatt-Brown,eds., The Mind of the
the uncertainties of the story, especially the final South, Vintage Books, 1991,
uncertainty, intensify the fear and horror felt by the
reader: Nancy's fear is multiplied as if by many This widely popular nonfiction work was first pub-
mirrors. If Mr. Compson had seen clearly where lished in 1941 and has ever since been recognized as a
Jesus was hiding in the ditch, or if Nancy had seen path-breaking work. The book presents examinations
clearly that Jesus was not there, the force of of the Southern class system and its legacies of
Faulkner's masterpiece would be sadly diminished. racism, religiosity, culture.
Unresolved, the story haunts the consciousness and
conscience of the reader far beyond its formal limits. Inge, M. Thomas, ed., Conversations with William Faulkner,
University of Mississippi Press, 1999.
Source: Laurence Perrine, '"That Evening Sun': A Skein of
Uncertainties," in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 22, No. 3, This collection of interviews ranges from Faulkner's
1985, pp. 295-307. early years as a writer in 1916 to the early 1960s when
he was composing his last novel. These interviews
Sources build a profile of Faulkner in his daily world and
home. They also capture the many myths that were
Brooks, Cleanth, William Faulkner: The Yoknapatawpha perpetuated about Faulkner and that he helped foster.
Country, Yale University Press, 1963.
Kartiganer, Donald, and Ann J. Abadie eds., Faulkner at
Cantwell, Robert, Review in New Republic, October 21, 100: Retrospect and Prospect, University of Mississippi
1931, p. 271. Press, 2000.
Carothers, James B., "Faulkner's Short Story Writing and This work is a collection of presentations by literary
the Oldest Profession," in Faulkner and the Short Story, scholars given at the 1997 Faulkner and Yoknapa-
edited by Evans Harrington and Ann J. Abadie, University tawpha Conference in Oakland, Mississippi. Though
Press of Mississippi, 1992. each entry is slight (covering about twenty mintues
per speech), they cover a wide range of aspects within
Ferguson, James, Faulkner's Short Fiction, University of Faulkner's works.
Tennessee Press, 1991.
Minter, David L., William Faulkner: His Life and Work, John
McDonald, Edward, Review oiThe.se 13, in the Philadelphia Hopkins University Press, 1997.
Record, October 4, 1931, p. 14-B.
Minter's book draws on published and unpublished
Peden, William, Review of Collected Stories, in Saturday interviews with Faulkner, his letters, and his writings
Review of Literature, August 26, 1950, p. 12. to present the many fascinating angles of Faulkner's
personality.
Review of These 13, in Time, August 28, 1950, p. 79.
Williamson, Joel, William Faulkner and Southern History,
Oxford University Press, 1995.
Williamson's text is both a biography of William
Faulkner and an examination of Faulkner's fictional
worlds. The book becomes an analysis of Faulkner's
history, and through presentations of him and his
ancestors, it unfolds an intriguing insight into South-
ern culture.
V o l u m e 12 295
What We Talk About When We
Talk About Love
Raymond Carver The short story "What We Talk About When We
1981 Talk About Love," by Raymond Carver, is the title
story in his first volume of short fiction by a major
publisher. Upon publication, What We Talk About
When We Talk About Love received immediate and
glowing critical acclaim, earning front page cover-
age in the New York Times Book Review as well as a
favorable review in the New York Review of Books.
Adam Meyer explains that "this was to be the
volume that would firmly establish Carver as an
important writer." The stories in What We Talk
About When We Talk About Love are considered the
epitome of Carver's sparse, minimalist writing style.
Marshall Bruce Gentry and William L. Stull refer to
the volume as Carver's "minimalist masterpiece."
Meyer explains that' 'the collection has been nick-
named the 'minimalist bible,' and when readers and
critics consider Carver a minimalist they generally
have this volume in mind." Meyer concludes that
' 'because it is the volume that established Carver as
a major literary figure, it has remained the collec-
tion most associated with him." Gentry and Stull
note that "the bare-boned collection proved im-
mensely influential on a younger generation of
short-story writers coming of age in the 1980s."
The entire action of the story takes place over
the course of an evening, during which two married
couples, Nick, who is also the narrator, and Laura,
and Mel and Terri, sit around the kitchen table
drinking gin and discussing the topic of "real
love." The dynamics between the two couples are
296
W h a t W e Talk About When We Talk About Love
contrasted through their gestures and interactions and as visiting distinguished writer at the University
with one another. Nick and Laura are still in the of Texas at El Paso (1978-1979).
glow of early love, and their behavior toward one
another is affectionate and respectful. Mel and Carver and Maryann separated in 1976 and he
Terri, on the other hand, have been together five was hospitalized for his alcoholism four times be-
years, and their surface-level civility to one another tween 1976 and 1977. In the summer of 1977, he
barely masks a deep-seated anger and resentment. quit drinking for good—one of his proudest achieve-
Mel's alcoholism, and increasing drunkenness over ments in life. His second major collection of short
the course of the evening, sets a tone of increasingly stories, What We Talk About When We Talk About
intensified menace to the whole conversation. Love, was published in 1981. 1983 saw the publica-
tion of his third major collection, Cathedral. He and
This story addresses typical Carver themes of Maryann divorced in 1983; in 1988, he married poet
marriage and divorce, alcoholism, despair, and the Tess Gallagher. Carver died later that year of lung
difficulty of communication. cancer at the age of 50. His fourth major story
collection, Where I'm Calling From: New and
Author Biography Selected Stories was published, shortly before his
death. Several collections of his short stories and
Raymond Carver was born on May 25, 1938, in poems were published posthumously. Director Robert
Clatskanie, Oregon. His father was a manual la- Altman adapted a number of Carver's stories to the
borer, and Carver worked as a laborer at various screen, combining them into a single narrative fea-
jobs from the early 1950s through the late 1960s. In ture film as director of the movie entitled Short Cuts.
1957, at the age of eighteen, he married sixteen-
year-old Maryann Burk, who eventually became a Plot Summary
teacher, and with whom he had two children within
the first two years of their marriage. They moved The action of the story, "What We Talk About
to California, where Carver attended Humboldt When We Talk About Love," takes place over the
State College (now California State University at course of an evening, in which two couples, Nick
Humboldt) and received his bachelor's degree in and Laura, and Mel and Terri McGinnis, sit around
English in 1963, while at the same time working in a the kitchen table at the McGinnis' apartment, drink-
sawmill to support his family. In 1966, Carver ing gin and talking, before they all go out to dinner
earned a master of fine arts degree in creative together. No one so much as gets up from the table
writing from the University of Iowa. His short story, over the course of their conversation, except to get
"Will You Please Be Quiet Please?" was selected out a second bottle of gin. The story takes place in
for The Best American Short Stories of 1967, an Albuquerque, New Mexico, although, as the narra-
annual publication.His stories were selected for the tor explains, "we were all from somewhere else."
O. Henry Award in 1973, 1974, 1975, and 1983. Mel, a forty-five year old cardiologist, is divorced,
1976 saw his first major book publication, a collec- and Terri is his second wife. Terri is also divorced
tion of stories written between 1962 and 1975 and Mel is her second husband. Mel and Terri have
entitled, Will You Please Be Quiet Please?. been married for four years, together for five. Nick
and Laura are married, and have been together only
From 1971 to 1979, Carver taught at several eighteen months.
colleges and universities, including: as a lecturer in
creative writing at the University of California at As the story opens, the narrator explains that
Santa Cruz (1971-1972); as a lecturer in fiction ' 'The gin and tonic water kept going around, andwe
writing at the University of California at Berkeley somehow got on the subject of love." Mel, who had
(1972-1973); as visiting professor of English at the once gone to seminary school, claims that "real
Writers Workshop, University of Iowa (1973-1974); love was nothing less than spiritual love." They
as a lecturer at the University of California at Santa then begin to discuss Terri's former husband, Ed,
Barbara (1974-1975); as a member of the faculty who was physically abusive to her, had threatened
writing program at Goddard College (1977-1978); Mel on several occasions, and eventually shot him-
self in the head, dying three days later. Mel argues
that that is not real love, while Terri insists that Ed
did love her. While Nick and Laura's relationship
V o l u m e 12 297
What W e T a l k A b o u t When W e T a l k A b o u t L o v e
house. But he is baffled that he feels such hatred for
her now, when he knows that he did once truly love
her. Mel then decides against calling his children,
and all four finish off the last of the gin. Mel
erratically turns his glass of gin upside, allowing it
to spill all over the table. "Gin's gone," he says.
"Now what?" Terri responds. At this point the
narrator ends the story with a description of the four
friends, sitting in silence around the table: "I could
hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone's
heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there
making, no one of us moving, not even when the
room went dark."
Characters
Raymond Carver Laura
seems to be completely harmonious, and their inter- Laura is Nick's wife. They have been together
actions with each other kind and affectionate, Mel for a year and a half. She is thirty five years old and a
and Terri's interactions take on a tone of controlled legal secretary. The narrator describes her as "easy
menace, barely covering a deep-seated resentment to be with." Nick's depiction of Laura is based on
between the two of them. the continuing "honeymoon" tone of their relation-
ship. Laura's comments and her expressions of
The conversation continues on the subject of affection for Nick are presented in marked contrast
love while Mel becomes increasingly drunk. He to the biting tenor of the exchanges between
gives an example of what he considered to be ' 'real Terri and Mel.
love." He tells them about an elderly couple who
had gotten into a terrible car accident when they Mel McGinnis
were hit by a teenage boy. Both of them nearly died,
but they continued to survive, although both were Mel is a friend of the narrator, and husband of
covered from head to toe in bandages. Mel explains Terri. He is a cardiologist and is described as:
that, one day, the old man explained to him in tears "forty-five years old. He was tall and rangy with
that he was upset that, although he and his wife's curly soft hair. His face and arms were brown from
beds were next to each other in the hospital room, he the tennis he played." Mel, clearly an alcoholic, is
could not turn his head to see her face, because of the dominant voice in the conversation between the
his bandages. Mel is taken with the idea that this two couples, and the tone of the conversation changes
man loved his wife so much it was nearly killing as he becomes increasingly drunk. Mel is the one
him not to be able to look at her: ' 'I mean, it was who continues to focus on the question of' 'what we
killing the old fart just because he couldn't look at talk about when we talk about love." He brings up
the . . . woman." Terri's abusive ex-husband as a negative example
of love. He then talks about an old couple who were
Mel, now clearly drunk, decides that he'd like almost killed in a car accident as an example of the
to call and talk to his kids, who live with his ex-wife, "love" he's talking about. Mel's behavior also
Marjorie. He explains that Marjorie is allergic to changes with his drunkenness, as "when he was
bee stings, and part of him would like to appear at sober, his gestures, all his movements, were precise,
her front door and release a swarm of bees into her very careful." As he becomes drunker, his com-
ments to his wife take on an increasingly menacing
298 Short Stories for Students
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
tone, and he begins to seem capable of the abusive Media
behavior Terri's ex-husband had exhibited toward Adaptations
her. He eventually decides that he wishes to call his
kids, who live with his ex-wife, then decides not to. A collection of Carver's short stories was adapted
He effectively turns the conversation between the to the screen and made into a composite narrative
two couples to the silence with which the story ends film entitled Short Cuts (1993), directed by Rob-
when he dumps his shot-glass upside down, spilling ert Altman.
its contents on the table.
Themes
Nick
Love
Nick is the narrator. He is thirty eight years old
but beyond that does not describe himself or what he The central theme of this story is love. The two
does for a living. He primarily plays the part of couples spend the evening drinking gin and discuss-
observer, as his contributions to the conversation ing the nature of "real love." The narrator explains
are minimal. Nick's perspective on his relationship that' 'we somehow got on the subject of love." It is
with Laura, whom he's been with for a year and a Mel who insists on returning to the topic of love. He
half, is in marked contrast to his observations of the believes that "love was nothing less than spiritual
menacing tone of the relationship between Mel and love." They then turn to the topic of Terri's abusive
Terri. He is clearly in love with Laura and believes former husband Ed, who eventually shot himself in
their relationship to be in the category of true love. the head and died. Terri and Mel, both of them
Because Nick is the first-person narrator, the reader married for the second time, debate whether or not
is given only his perspective of the other characters Ed really loved Terri. She claims that Ed ' 'loved her
and is left to wonder if perhaps his relationship with so much he tried to kill her." Mel insists that "that's
Laura is bound to take the bitter turn toward the not love."
veiled hostility of Terri and Mel's relationship.
Mel eventually describes to them an example of
Teresa what he considers to be ''real love," the old couple
who had nearly died in a car accident. This conver-
Teresa is the second wife of Mel, who is also sation about, as Mel puts it, "what we talk about
her second husband. She is described as: "a bone- when we talk about love" is many-layered, how-
thin woman with a pretty face, dark eyes, and brown ever. While they discuss the topic, getting drunker
hair that hung down her back. She liked necklaces all the while, Terri and Mel exhibit an increasingly
made of turquoise, and long pendant earrings." The menacing tone to their interactions with one an-
topic of "love" first revolves around a discussion other. Although they are soft-spoken and civil on
of her abusive former husband Ed, who tried to kill the surface, they express a deep-seated anger and
her, made threats to Mel, and eventually shot him- resentment toward one another. The narrator, Nick,
self in the head, taking three days to die from it, meanwhile, clearly perceives his relationship with
during which Terri stayed at his bedside. Terri's his wife Laura as one of real love, and their warm,
behavior toward Mel walks a line between caution affectionate, harmonious interactions with one an-
and menace; like Mel's comments to her, her com- other seem to demonstrate this. However, as Mel
ments to him, while infused with terms of endear- becomes drunker, the atmosphere of subtle but
ment, such as "honey," smack of a deep-seated distinct menace seems to pervade the entire room,
bitterness that is never directly expressed. It seems leaving the two couples sitting in the dark in silence.
that, in her marriage to Mel, she is in some ways
repeating her relationship with her abusive ex-
husband.
Terri
See Teresa
V o l u m e 12 299
W h a t We T a l k A b o u t When We T a l k A b o u t L a v
Topics for county, or state? What laws exist at the local,
Further state, or national level to protect battered women?
Study What are some of the difficulties faced by bat-
tered women in trying to leave an abusive
While he consistently disclaimed the label, Car- relationship?
ver's writing style, particularly in the stories of
the collection What We Talk About When We Film director Robert Altman has adapted several
Talk About Love, is consistently referred to by of Carver's short stories into a composite fea-
critics in terms of "minimalism." The term ture-length narrative film entitled Short Cuts.
minimalism has also been used to describe stylis- Read at least one of the stories in the published
tic trends in both art and music. Find out more collection Short Cuts, and then watch the film. In
about minimalism in either art or music and pick what ways does the film translate the atmos-
a minimalist artist in either of these mediums to phere, characterization, and dialogue of Carver's
learn more about. How does the minimalist style written stories into the film medium? What ele-
of Carver's story translate into the medium of the ments of these stories are lost in the translation?
artist or composer you have chosen? In what ways does the film medium add to the
meaning of the short stories?
Carver has often cited the nineteenth-century
short story writer and playwright Anton Chekhov Robert Altman is a much-praised filmmaker in
as one of the greatest influences on his own his own right. Carver himself was an admirer of
writing. Read a short story by Chekhov. In what Altman's film Nashville. Learn more about
ways does Carver's writing style seem to draw Altman's directing career, his other films, and
from that of Chekhov? In what ways is Carver's the most notable elements of his film style.
style markedly different from Chekhov's? In what ways are Altman's sensibilities as a
filmmaker similar to Carver's sensibilities as a
A central focus of the discussion between the writer? In what ways is Altman's style com-
four characters in Carver's story is on the abu- pletely different from that of Carver's?
sive behavior of Terri's former husband, Ed.
Find out more about the prevalence and condi-
tions of domestic violence today. What resources
are available to battered women in your town,
There is a sense that the dark underbelly of "real characters. Likewise, for the characters themselves,
love" has been exposed, and the characters are left conversation seems to be a means of masking or
in utter despair, unable to move or speak. evading, rather than expressing, their true feelings.
The "action" of this story consists primarily of
Communication conversation between the four characters, who never
even get up from their chairs over the course of the
A central theme of Carver's stories is commu- story. Yet while much of the story is taken up with
nication between people, especially people in rela- dialogue, the communication between the members
tionships. His characters almost universally lack the of each couple is indicated by their physicalges-
ability to articulate their true feelings or to effec- tures, their silences, and, most of all, what the words
tively make use of language in conducting their that remain upspoken.
relationships. Carver's minimalist style of writing is
especially suited to the exploration of the theme of Marriage and Divorce
communication. In minimalist writing, nine-tenths
of the story's meaning is submerged below the Carver's characters have often been divorced at
surface level dialogue and interactions between the least once and are often remarried. Carver himself
300 Short Stories for Students
What We Talk About When W e T a l k A b o u t L o v e
first married at age eighteen, later divorced, and Style
remarried shortly before his death from cancer. The
characters in this story have experienced divorce Narration
and remarriage. Mel's first wife is Marjorie, with
whom he has had children, and whom he now The story is told from the first-person restricted
supports financially. Terri's first husband was Ed, point-of-view. The narrator, Nick, describes the
an abusive man who eventually shot himself. Mel interactions between the two couples only from his
and Terri are now remarried to each other. Nick, own perspective. Nick portrays his relationship
who has also been divorced, is now married to with his wife, Linda, in glowing terms, full of
Laura. The subject of divorce and remarriage is an warmth, affection, and mutual respect. Given the
important element of the story's focus on the theme atmosphere of the story, and the tone of the conver-
of love. Mel first brings up the topic of Terri's sation, however, the reader is invited to speculate if
abusive former husband, and the two of them debate perhaps Nick's idealized perception of his marriage
whether or not Ed truly loved her. may eventually develop the tone of ' 'benign men-
ace' ' characterized by the relationship between Mel
Mel later mentions his ex-wife, whom he once and Terri. Because the story is related in the past
truly loved, but whom he now hates. Mel uses tense, the narrator suggests a feeling of nostalgia on
the example of remarriage as evidence of the Nick's part, for this early period of his marriage.
impermanence of love. He contrasts such short-
lived marriages with that of the old couple, who Setting: "Carver Country"
maintained ' 'real love'' for one another even through
their hardship. Yet despite this touching anecdote, The story is set around the kitchen table of the
the story as a whole is pervaded by a tone of McGinnis', in Albuquerque, New Mexico, although
pessimism as to the permanence of "what we talk the narrator explains that "we were all from some-
about when we talk about love." where else." This is significant in that many critics
agree Carver's settings are not regionally specific,
Alcoholism but that his characters and the lives they lead
describe a specific segment of white, working-class
Alcoholism is a pervasive theme in Carver's American life many have dubbed "Carver Coun-
stories. Carver himself was an alcoholic for over ten try." Carver's widow, the writer Tess Gallagher,
years. During his final year of drinking, he was has edited a book entitled Carver Country, which
hospitalized on four separate occasions for his alco- includes photographs that capture the flavor of
holism. He took his last drink in 1977, upon which "Carver Country," accompanied by excerpts from
he became dedicated to recovering from his alco- Carver's letters, stories, and poems. In her introduc-
holism. He has stated in numerous interviews that tion, Gallagher explains that "Carver Country was,
he was more proud of having quit drinking than of in fact, an amalgam of feelings and psychic realities
anything else he'd ever done. This story is pervaded which had existed in America, of course, even
by alcohol and alcoholism. All four of the charac- before Ray began to write about them.'' She goes on
ters spend the evening sitting around drinking gin to describe the atmosphere of the world of Carver's
and tonic. The narrator explains that "the gin and fiction as pervaded by "a current of benign men-
the tonic water kept going around." While they all ace." Others have described "Carver Country" as
become drunk, Mel is clearly an alcoholic, and the "Hopelessville, USA" because his characters oc-
conversation is most affected by his increasing cupy a class standing that leaves them without hope
drunkenness. His interactions with Terri become for financial or personal improvement. While the
more bitter, and he becomes even less attuned to characters in this story seem to be more of the
those around him. As the story ends, Mel purpose- professional class (Mel is a cardiologist), the atmos-
fully dumps his glass of gin upside down, allowing phere in which they exist does carry "a current of
it to spill all over the table. He states that the gin is benign menace" in terms of the relationship be-
all gone, and it seems as though the conversation tween Mel and Terri, which is characterized by a
runs out with the gin, leaving the two couples in surface-level civility thinly covering a deep-seated
silence and despair. anger and resentment. Over the course of their
conversation, an atmosphere of "hopelessness"
about the possibility of real love descends upon the
two couples.
V o l u m e 12 3 01
What W e Talk About When We Talk About Love
Closing Imagery style and ability to capture the social milieu of
suburban America, critics have dubbed him "the
Critics have debated about the way in which Chekhov of the suburbs."
Carver characteristically ends his stories. His end-
ings have been described as "tableaus," providing Robert Altman and Shortcuts
a visual image, frozen in time, and infused with
ambiguity. This story has such an ending: "I could Screenwriter and film director Robert Altman
hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone's (born 1925) adapted a collection of Carver's short
heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there stories to the screen in the 1993 feature film Short
making, not one of us moving, not even when the Cuts. Altman first won national attention for his
room went dark." There is no direct information film M*A*S*H (1970), which takes place at a
indicating the future of each of the couples, leaving Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean
the reader to speculate on indirect elements of the War, but is a commentary on the Vietnam War.
story. Some critics have criticized Carver's ambigu- Altman became known for his innovative style,
ous endings as cliche and unsatisfying to the reader. which utilized an ensemble cast, stressed atmos-
Others, however, have praised the "photo-realist" phere and character over plot, and made use of
detail of Carver's tableau endings and asserted that multiple microphones to create an affect of overlap-
the ambiguity invites the reader to actively engage ping dialogue. Altman's other films of note include
in the story and characters, in order to draw his or Nashville, about a political election set in the milieu
her conclusions as to their fate. of the country music scene; McCabe and Mrs.
Miller (1971), a revisionist Western starring War-
Historical Context ren Beatty and Julie Christie; The Long Goodbye
(1973), based on the style of the Raymond Chandler
John Gardner detective novel; and Come Back to the Five and
Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982), based on a
John Gardner (1933-1982), an American nov- stage play and starring Cher. The Player (1992)
elist and poet, was one of Carver's first writing includes an all-star ensemble cast in a spoof of the
teachers. Gardner is perhaps best known for his milieu of the Hollywood film industry.
novel Grendel (1971), which is a retelling of the
traditional Beowulf story from the perspective of Minimalism
the monster. His novel October Light (1976) won
the National Book Critics Circle Award. Gardner Carver's writing style has been referred to as
was also a critic, and wrote two books aimed at "minimalist," because of his rigorously sparse
aspiring writers: On Becoming a Novelist (1983) prose. Minimalism began as a movement in the
and The Art of Fiction (1984), both published after visual arts, primarily in the United States, in the
his death. 1960s. The minimalists were responding to the
abstract expressionism of the 1950s. Minimalism in
John Cheever the visual arts was based on the principal that a work
of art should not refer to anything real, but only to its
John Cheever (1912-1982) was a close friend own visual properties. Minimalism in music was
of Carver, as well as his colleague and fellow fiction largely inspired by minimalism in the visual arts.
writer. In contrast to Carver, whose stories centered Minimalist music is characterized by simple, repeti-
on the working poor, Cheever, a novelist and short tive compositions. Philip Glass (born 1937), whose
story writer, was known for his middle-class subur- style is characterized by monotonous repetition and
ban settings and characters. Among his best known sparse composition, was a leading composer in
works are The Enormous Radio and Other Stories minimalist music in the 1960s. Some of his most
(1953), The Wapshot Chronicle (1957), his first famous compositions are the operas Einstein on the
novel, which won a National Book Award, and The Beach (1976), and The Voyage (1992), which was
Stories of John Cheever (1978), which won the commissioned by the New York Metropolitan Opera.
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Because of his clear prose
Alcoholics Anonymous
Carver's stories often include characters who
are alcoholics, and depict the ways in which alco-
302 Short Stories for Students
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Compare help battered women include providing safe ref-
& uge for women and children escaping abusive
situations, and lobbying efforts to protect women
Contrast from abuse.
1960s-1970s: The dominant trend in fiction is in 1990s: The awareness of the problem of battered
the style of experimental, "postmodern" writ- women grows throughout the 1980s and 1990s:
ing. The American short story is considered to be there is increased funding for and availability of
at a low point. battered women's shelters, increased sensitivity
to the problems of battered women in law en-
1990s: Carver's turn to "neo-realist" subject- forcement training, the passing of numerous
matter, written in a "minimalist" style, which laws designed to protect battered women, in-
goes against the grain of postmodern fiction, is cluding anti-stalking laws adopted in many states
credited with both revitalizing the genre of the and laws against marital rape, and the effective
American short story, and inspiring a generation use of "battered women's syndrome" in court.
of writer's attempting to imitate his minimalist
style. Because of the large number of Carver 1930s: Alcoholics Anonymous is founded by
imitators, however, a backlash against minimalist two friends, with the seminal text of the or-
writing soon follows. Carver's entire oeuvre is ganization, Alcoholic's Anonymous, appear-
now seen in a broader perspective, and Carver is ing in 1939.
indisputably recognized as the foremost Ameri-
can short fiction writer of his generation. 1990s: By the late twentieth century, there are
approximately two million members of Alcohol-
1960s-1970s: While Carver's story, published ics Anonymous throughout the world.
in 1982, focuses on the theme of domestic vio-
lence, the term itself is not mentioned. The
battered women's movement, which begins in
the early-to-mid-1970s, grows out of feminist
efforts at anti-rape legislation. Early efforts to
holism can affect relationships between people. Critical Overview
Carver himself was an alcoholic for over ten years,
until he took his last drink in 1977. The organization Raymond Carver is best known for his four major
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), devoted to helping collections of short stories. His first collection pub-
alcoholics quit drinking and stay sober, was an lished by a major press, Will You Please Be Quiet,
important influence on Carver's life, and he consid- Please? (1976), comprised stories written over a
ered his recovery from alcoholism to be his greatest period of fourteen years. The second, What We Talk
achievement in life. Alcoholics Anonymous origi- About When We Talk About Love (1981), estab-
nated in 1935 when two friends, William Griffith lished his nationalreputation as a leading short story
Wilson (1895-1971), a stockbroker, and Robert writer. The third, Cathedral (1984), is considered
Holbrook Smith (1879-1950), a surgeon, got to- Carver's masterpiece. The fourth, Where I'm Call-
gether to help each other quit drinking. They pub- ing From: New and Selected Stories (1988), in-
lished the book Alcoholics Anonymous in 1939, cludes major revisionsof previously published stories.
which put forth the program they had devised.
There are now approximately two million mem- Carver is perhaps best known for his characteri-
bers of AA throughout the world. According to zation of the sector of struggling white, working
Encyclopaedia Britannica, there are an estimated poor Americans and the atmosphere of despair and
5,400,000 alcoholics in the United States at any defeat in which they take place. Adam Meyer claims
given time. that "of the writers who attempted to depict the
V o l u m e 12 303
W h a t We T a l k A b o u t W h e n W e T a l k A b o u t L o v e
history of this 'blue collar despair,' none did so as favorable review in the New York Review of Books.
fully and accurately as Raymond Carver." Carver Meyer explains that' 'this was to be the volume that
himself was born into a working poor family, his would firmly establish Carver as an important
father a laborer at a sawmill, and Carver occupied a writer." The stories in What We Talk About When
variety of blue-collar jobs before landing his first We Talk About Love are considered the epitome of
white-collar job. Critics have dubbed this milieu Carver's sparse, minimalist writing style. Marshall
"Carver Country," indicating that it represents a Bruce Gentry and William L. Stull refer to the
significant sector of American life, regardless of volume as Carver's "minimalist masterpiece."
regional specificity.
While Carver himself disliked the use of the
Adam Meyer explains that "one thing Carver term, and considered it partly an insult, many aspir-
Country is not is a particular geographic location," ing writers attempted to copy this style for years to
noting that "the great majority of Carver's stories come. Runyon asserts that "Carver has been the
. . . take place in regionally anonymous indoor most influential minimalist . . . while at the same
settings." Meyer describes typical Carver charac- time the least representative." Runyon has stated
ters as: "primarily employed, when they are em- that this volume ' 'is the most minimalist of Carver's
ployed at all, as blue-collar workers—waitresses, collections." Asserting that "thestories have been
mill or factory workers, mechanics, mail-carriers, paired to the bone," Runyon explains, "In this
sales clerks, motel managers, hairdressers. For re- volume Carver went the farthest he ever had to-
laxation they play bingo, watch television, or go wards a terse-ness that is almost silence." Adam
fishing or hunting." Describing the atmosphere of Meyer claims that the writing style in this volume is
Carver's stories, Meyer points out that the charac- ' 'an exaggerated form of minimalism," later refer-
ters' "marginal lives are filled with failure, deterio- ring to it as "the finest book minimalism has to
ration, disenchantment, and despair, leading many offer." He goes on to state that these stories"con-
critics to designate Carver Country 'Hopeless-ville.''' tinue to embody minimalism at its most distinc-
tive," explaining: "The collection has been nick-
Tess Gallagher, however, has defended the named the 'minimalist bible,' and when readers and
positive spirit of "Carver Country," despite the critics consider Carver a minimalist they generally
struggles of his characters: "In his stories Ray had have this volume in mind." Meyer concludes that
been able, in a likeness to the voices and perceptions ' 'because it is the volume that established Carver as
of the people themselves, to reveal the spiritual a major literary figure, it has remained the collec-
tenacity by which these people survived in spite of tion most associated with him." Gentry and Stull
their limited means, and his readers at all economic note that "the bare-boned collection proved im-
levels of the population had been moved toward mensely influential on a younger generation of
new awareness." short-story writers coming of age in the 1980s."
Carver is widely credited with inspiring a ren- Gentry and Stull assert that "by the late 1980s
aissance in the short story form in American litera- there could be little doubt that [Carver] was the
ture. Meyer states that "although Carver was reluc- foremost short-story writer of his generation." Meyer
tant to claim too much personal credit for this claims that "Carver's influence" on American lit-
resurgence" in the short story form, "there is no erature "is undeniable." He explains that "at the
doubt that he played a significant part in that devel- time of his death in 1988 . . . Carver was seemingly
opment." Meyer also notes that "Carver played a at the height of his powers and popularity. Since his
significant part in another revival, that of realist death, though, his popularity has continued to grow,
writing." While the 1970s were dominated by ex- along with critical estimation of his work."
perimental, "postmodern" literary form, Carver
wrote stories about real people in real settings. Criticism
Gentry and Stull point out that, during the 1980s,
"Carver was regularly cast as a 'godfather' to Liz Brent
younger American neorealists, a role he neither
claimed nor wanted." Brent has a Ph.D. in American culture, special-
izing in cinema studies, from the University of
Upon publication, What We Talk About When Michigan. She is a freelance writer and teaches
We Talk About Love received immediate and glow-
ing critical acclaim, earning front page coverage in
the New York Times Book Review as well as a
304 Short Stories for S t udents
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
What that capture the flavor of the struggling working
Do I Read class world depicted in most of Carver's stories.
It includes an introduction by his widowed wife,
Next? the poet Tess Gallagher, and excerpts from let-
ters, poems, and stories by Carver.
Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? (1976) is
Carver's first major collection of short stories. It Remembering Ray: A Composite Biography of
includes works developed over a period of four- Raymond Carver (1993), edited by William L.
teen years. Stull and Maureen P. Carroll, is a collection of
essays by friends and fellow writers close to
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Carver, describing their experiences with him.
(1981) is Carver's second major short story The book is organized chronologically, accord-
collection. It is considered to be the epitome of ing to the various locations around the country in
Carver's "minimalist" style. which Carver lived.
Cathedral (1984) is collection of short stories Conversations with Raymond Carver (1990),
considered Carver's masterpiece. The title story, edited by Marshall Bruce Gentry and William L.
"Cathedral" is recognized as Carver's best. Stull, is a collection of previously published
interviews with Raymond Carver, organized
Where I'm Calling From: New and Selected chronologically.
Stories (1988) is Carver's fourth major collec-
tion of short stories. It includes revised versions
of previously published stories.
Carver Country: The World of Raymond Carver
(1990), with photographs by Bob Adelman, is a
posthumously published collection of photographs
courses in American cinema. In thefollowing essay, figurative connotations in the story, as it is referred
Brent discusses Carver's use of figurative language. to both in the mechanical sense, of the functioning
of the human heart, and the symbolic sense, as the
Carver is best known for his minimalist writing organ of love. Mel is a cardiologist, a doctor who
style, as embodied in a sparse use of language and operates on people's hearts. The opening sentences
paired down prose. He is also known as a neo- of the story, in retrospect, play on the irony of Mel, a
realist, capturing the working class milieu of blue- heart doctor, claiming to be an expert on matters of
collar America with his mundane, naturalistic, ev- the heart: "My friend Mel McGinnis was talking.
eryday dialogue. Nevertheless, he does make use of Mel McGinnis is a cardiologist, so sometimes that
figurative language throughout "What We Talk gives him the right." Mel even describes his own
About When We Talk About Love" by exploring work as that of "just a mechanic," marking the
its central themes of love, relationships, communi- difference between expertise in heart surgery and
cation, and alcoholism. Through the imagery of the knowledge of "true love." When he tells the story
knight's armor, the beekeeper's protective clothing, of the old couple injured in the near-fatal car acci-
the "pill" and the word "heart," Carver demon- dent, the word "heart" again takes on a double
strates that the surface level conversation of his four meaning. Mel concludes his story, in which the old
characters is only the tip of an emotional iceberg. man and woman are so bandaged up that they
cannot see each other even though their beds are
Since the character of Mel dominates the con- next to each other in the same hospital room, by
versation, much of the figurative language is ex- stating that "the man's heart was breaking because
pressive of his own feelings about the subject of he couldn't turn his goddamn head and see his god-
love. The image of the human "heart" takes on
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The image of the human Mel's incorrect use of vessel has further figura-
tive implications. Mel is an alcoholic, and a vessel is
'heart' takes on figurative an object designed to contain something, usually in
reference to a liquid, as a cup or chalice. Through
connotations in the story, as this play on words, the connection is made to Mel's
use of alcohol, which he drinks out of a vessel, or
it is referred to both in the glass, as his means of protective armor against
emotional injury. Furthermore, a vessel, such as an
mechanical sense, of the "empty vessel" may be read figuratively to indi-
cate that everyone is a vessel to be filled with the
functioning of the human love, false or true, of another.
heart, and the symbolic sense, Nick, the narrator, points out to Mel that the
armor worn by knights had its drawbacks. Nick's
as the organ of love." comment extends the metaphor of the armor as
emotional armor in explaining that one's emotional
damn wife." Mel is using the word "heart" in the defenses, or armor, can end up suffocating the
figurative sense here, but it also refers back to the knight in the name of protecting him from harm:
fact that Mel himself had been the attending
cardiologist for the old couple in the aftermath of But sometimes they suffocated in all that armor, Mel.
the car accident. They'd even have heart attacks if it got too hot and
they were too tired and worn out.
Another central element of figurative speech in
this story revolves around Mel's mention that, if he The image of the heart comes up here, implying
could come back in a different life, he would want to that the armor Mel uses to protect himself from
be a "knight." Mel's fascination with the armor emotional suffering in the name of love (a ' 'heart
worn by a knight is perhaps a heavyhanded image of attack") can be the very cause of his suffering. In
Mel's need to protect himself emotionally against reference to Mel's alcoholism, his use of alcohol to
the ravages of love. Mel explains that ' 'you were protect himself from heartache may actually lead to
pretty safe wearing all that armor." The image is a heart attack in terms of the demise of his marriage
extended to suggest that Mel's protective emotional and other personal relationships, as well as some
armor has failed to protect him against the dangers form of heart attack in the sense that alcoholism can
of new love: "It was all right being a knight until be fatal. (This may seem like a leap of logic, but,
gunpowder and muskets and pistols came along." given that this story was written not long after
Mel goes on to expand upon his fascination with the Carver nearly died from alcoholism and eventually
protective armor of knights: "what I liked about quit drinking, it is not an unreasonable interpreta-
knights, besides their ladies, was that they had that tion.) Mel's interest in armor as a means of protect-
suit of armor, you know, and they couldn't get hurt ing himself from love is made clear when he adds
very easy." Mel is expressing a desire to be pro- that, were a knight to be made vulnerable by the
tected from getting ' 'hurt'' at an emotional level in weight of his armor, "Some vassal would come
his relationships with others. along and spear the bastard in the name of love."
At this point, the discussion of the knight turns The imagery of "taking a pill" combines sev-
on a pun that comes out of Mel' s misuse of the term eral figurative themes in the story. As Mel becomes
"vessel" when he means "vassal." A vassal is a more clearly drunk, his conversation acquires an
servant to another, and Mel, using vessel by acci- antagonistic edge.
dent, attempts to point out that even knights were
subservient to others. The idea of servitude is ex- 'He's depressed,' Terri said. 'Mel, why don't you take
tended symbolically when Mel points out, "But a pill?' Mel shook his head. 'I've taken everything
then everyone is always a vessel to someone." At there is.' 'We all need a pill now and then,' I said.
this point Terri corrects him, supplying the proper 'Some people are born needing them,' Terri said.
term, vassal for vessel.
Here, the characters themselves are consciously
using the phrase "to take a pill" in a figurative
sense. But the pill imagery also echoes with the fact
that Mel is a doctor, whose job is, in general terms,
to give people pills to make them feel better. Mel's
own pill is clearly alcohol, and his comment that
"I've taken everything there is" expresses a deep
306 Short Stories for Students
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
despair at ever finding a cure for his personal the narrator explains, "I could hear my heart beat-
heartaches. ing. I could hear everyone's heart." The narrator
uses the literal image of a silence so profound that
The figurative language combining the use of he can actually hear the beating of his own and the
alcohol, as contained in a vessel, or the swallowing others' hearts to express a symbolic feeling that he
of a pill, as administered by a doctor, as a means of can "hear everyone's heart." It is as if the excess of
curing the emotional pain caused by love, is also human emotion aroused by the discussion of true
expressed in Terri' s explanation that her abusive ex- love hums about the room without any hope of
husband, Ed, drank rat poison when she left him. articulate expression between the two couples. The
Like Mel's consumption of alcohol, or his figura- term vessel, mentioned earlier, is also echoed with
tive need "to take a pill," Ed's consumption of rat Mel's enigmatic gesture in the closing moments of
poison is his own self-destructive attempt to medi- the story, when he turns his glass of gin upside down
cate his own emotional pain in the face of his on the table. Mel has emptied his vessel of alcohol,
"love" for Terri. Terri explains the effect of the the "gin's gone," and they are left with nothing but
poison; Ed's life was saved at the hospital,' 'but his an ominous feeling of emotional emptiness.
gums went crazy from it. I mean they pulled away
from his teeth. After that, his teeth stood out like Although Carver is considered a minimalist
fangs." The image of Ed'steeth turning into fangs writer, whose stories take on meaning more in what
symbolizes the fact that Ed, an extremely violent is not said than what is said, his use of figurative
and abusive man, is akin to a beast who threatens language gives depth to his stories by expanding
Terri with his fangs. More indirectly, there is a upon their central themes.
suggestion that, just as Ed's drinking of rat poison in
an attempt to cure his emotional pain turns him into Source: Liz Brent, Critical Essay on "What We Talk About
a fanged beast, so Mel's drinking of alcohol in an When We Talk About Love," in Short Stories for Students,
attempt to cure his own emotional pain may be The Gale Group, 2001.
turning him into a beast, posing a threat of danger
to Terri. Adam Meyer
Mel later uses the imagery of a beekeeper's In the following essay, Meyer describes the
protective clothing to express a similar desire for minimal nature of ' 'What We Talk About When We
some form of protection from love. In discussing his Talk About Love,'' and examines the story's themes
ex-wife Marjorie, he explains that she is allergic to of ' 'the difficulty of sustaining relationships'' and
bees, saying that "if I'm not praying she'll get ' 'the effect of alcoholism as a contributing factor to
married again, I'm praying she'll get herself stung that difficulty.''
to death by a swarm of f—ing bees.'' He then makes
what is perhaps his most outwardly menacing ges- Carver had stopped drinking by the time Furious
ture toward his wife: "'Bzzzzzzz,' Mel said, turn- Seasons was published, but he had not yet returned
ing his fingers into bees and buzzing them at to writing. When he did, his stories were markedly
Terri's throat." different from what they had been. The obsessions
were the same, but the stories were much darker,
Mel's expression of hatred for his ex-wife and reflecting the hell of marital discord and alcoholism
his wish that she would die is used as a thinly veiled that Carver himself had experienced. Their style,
expression of a similar hatred for Terri. The gesture moreover, was an exaggerated form of minimalism.
of buzzinghis fingers around her neck combines the Whereas he had once worried that a story like
figurative image of murder by bee sting into a more "Neighbors" might be "too thin, too elliptical and
literal physical gesture threateningly aimed at Terri's subtle," Carver was now writing stories that would
throat. The armor imagery is echoed here in his make "Neighbors" appear positively lush. As one
description of the beekeeper's protective clothing: critic has pointed out, in these new texts' 'language
is used so sparingly and the plots are so minimalthat
Sometimes I think I'll go there dressed like a bee- the stories at first seem to be mere patterns with no
keeper. You know, that hat that's like a helmet with flesh and life in them. . . . Characters frequently
the plate that comes down over your face, the big have no names or only first names and are so briefly
gloves, and the padded coat? I'll knock on the door described that they appear to have no physical
and let loose a hive of bees in the house. presence at all; certainly they have no distinct
identity." Carver, looking back on the volume
The double implications of the word heart
come back into play in the closing image of the
story. As the two couples sit in the dark in silence,
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W h a t We T a l k A b o u t W h e n We T a l k A b o u t L o v e
several years after its initial publication, told an As the story opens, Terri, Mel's second wife,
interviewer that the texts in What We Talk About states that Ed, ' 'the man she lived with before she
When We Talk About Love were "so pared down. lived with Mel[,] loved her so much he tried to kill
Everything I thought I could live without I just got her." Mel argues, however, that she cannot really
rid of, I cut out." Urged on by his editor Gordon call Ed's emotions love. Having been a divinity
Lish, he began implementing Hemingway's "the- student before he became a doctor, Mel feels that
ory of omission. If you can take anything out, take it true love must contain a spiritual dimension. He
out, as doing so will make the work stronger. Pare, argues that '"the kind of love I'm talking about is
pare, and pare some more." That phrase could in [an absolute]. The kind of love I'm talking about,
fact serve as a motto for What We Talk About When you don't try to kill people."' Terri's continuing
We Talk About Love, although critics have more insistence that what Ed felt was love only serves to
often pointed to the following lines from "On anger Mel, and we begin to see signs of strain in
Writing" : "Get in, get out. Don't linger." The their own relationship. To show what real love is,
stories here are indeed shorter, on average, than Mel tells the story of an old couple he had treated in
those in Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? and the hospital. While recovering from a terrible car
Furious Seasons. They also have a more desolate accident, the husband became depressed because,
outlook, which is amplified by their astringency of due to his bandages, '"he couldn't turn his g-dd-n
tone. Nowhere is Carver's minimalist aesthetic more head and see his g-dd-ed wife.'" This old couple
clearly visible than in the five stories from Furi- symbolizes for Mel what the old couple in the
ous Seasons that reappear here in reduced ver- gazebo meant for Holly, a sign of stable and long-
sions, having been ' 'subjected to rigorous cutting." lasting love. During his narration, however, he and
Although Carver eventually reacted against this Terri begin to argue more openly. When Terri kids
extremely pared-down style, the stories in What We Mel about sounding drunk, he quietly responds,
Talk About When We Talk About Love continue to '' 'Just shut up for once in your life.... Will you do
embody minimalism at its most distinctive. The me a favor and do that for a minute?."' Mel begins
collection has been nicknamed the "minimalist to explain about the old couple's injuries, how they
bible," and when readers and critics consider Car- had only lived because they were wearing their seat
ver a minimalist they generally have this volume in belts, and Terri interrupts to say that Mel's story is a
mind. Because it is the volume that established public service message. Mel doesn't find herjest the
Carver as a major literary figure, it has remained the least bit funny. He is concerned with the true
collection most often associated with him, even if it meaning of love, and he presses the point about the
is, as we shall later see, his least representative... . length of this older couple's commitment because,
as he points out, all four of this symposium's
The title story is the collection's longest and participants have been married more than once. As
undoubtedly its greatest achievement, as well as the story points out, "the greatest obstacle to any
being a fitting climax to the volume. Although its ideal love turns out to be the transitoriness of love.''
plot is rather thin, several of the obsessions that Mel notes that "'sometimes I have a hard time
have run through the collection—the difficulty of accounting for the fact that I must have loved my
sustaining relationships, the effect of alcoholism as first wife too''' and he reminds the other couple that
a contributing factor to that difficulty, the problem they '"both loved other people before [they] met
of communication—are given their most extensive each other.'" He even goes on to say that, should
treatment. As the four characters (the narrator, Nick; any of them die, he feels it wouldn't be long before
his wife, Laura; their friend Mel McGinnis, a the widowed person would remarry. This doesn't sit
cardiologist; and his wife, Terri) sit around the table well with Terri, naturally, and the tension mounts.
drinking gin, Carver is able to turn the question of
love in several different directions. For this reason, Counterpoised to the disintegrating relation-
more than one critic has likened the story's situation ship of Mel and Terri are Nick and Laura, still-
to Plato's Symposium, which does indeed seem to glowing newlyweds who, ' 'in addition to being in
be the model for the dialogue. Nevertheless, ' 'the love . . . like each other and enjoy one another's
relative articulateness of these characters by no company." When Laura is asked whether she would
means enables them to reach a satisfactory conclu- call Ed's feelings toward Terri love, for example,
sion." The only resolution reached in this version of she says, '"who can judge anyone else's situa-
the symposium is that we really have no idea What tion?,'" and Nick tells us that "I touched the back
We Talk About When We Talk About Love. of Laura's hand. She gave me a quick smile. I
308 Short Stories for Students
What We Talk About When We T a l k A b o u t L o v e
picked up Laura's hand. It was warm, the nails As the four characters
polished, perfectly manicured. I encircled the broad
wrist with my ringers, and I held her." Such physi- (the narrator, Nick; his wife,
cal intimacy continues throughout the story, al-
though Terri tells them that they're '"still on the Laura; their friend Mel
honeymoon'" and must '"wait awhile'" to see
what married life is really like. She seems to be McQinnis, a cardiologist; and
making fun of them, yet her ' 'remarks contain a hint
of regret; she would like very much, it seems, to his wife, Terri) sit around the
receive gestures of affection like those between
Nick and Laura." They are still in the first throes of table drinking gin, Carver
love, whereas her marriage to Mel seems to have
become stale. is able to turn the question
At the end of the story, the gin is all gone and of love in several different
the four people, who had been planningto go eat at a
new restaurant, seem exhausted and reluctant to directions."
move. Terri says that she will '"put out some
cheese and crackers,"' but she makes no move to do whose definition of love is based on ' 'the chivalric
so. Suddenly the story's tension level increases code," asserts that he would like to have been a
dramatically. Nick states that "I could hear my knight, because armor made it harder to get hurt.
heart beating. I could hear everyone's heart. I could The narrator tells him, however, that sometimes the
hear the human noise we sat there making, not one knights would die because they got too hot in their
of us moving, not even when the room went dark." suits or because they fell off their horses and didn't
As with other Carver stories of menace, such as have the energy to stand up, whereupon they could
"The Bath," the final note here is one of suspen- be trampled by their own horses or killed by rivals.
sion, of tension threatening to explode but not yet What follows is a subtle but telling bit of dialogue:
ignited. The conversation began in the light of
afternoon, but the participants fall silent in the dark "That's right," Mel said. "Some vassal would come
of night and the story ends "in anxious isolation, along and spear the bastard in the name of love. Or
enervation, and stasis." Although one critic has whatever the f-k it was they fought over in those
asserted that "these moments together, deeply im- days." "Same things we fight over today," Terri
bued with shared sensibilities, make up for the said. Laura said, "Nothing's changed."
antagonisms, the regrets, the flirtations, [and] the
spilled gin," such comments seem to miss the mark. When it comes to talking about love—and
Carver's use of the word "noise" in the passage understanding what we mean when we do so—
indicates that, rather than having achieved some Carver indicates treat we are still in the dark ages.
kind of peace beyond words, the four talkers have
reached a point where no communication is effec- Perhaps the most quoted quip concerning What
tive, where nothing can be heard. The seemingly We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and for
imminent explosion may be the one between Mel good reason, comes from Donald Newlove's review
and Terri, but Nick and Laura are necessarily dragged of the collection; he writes that the book includes
into it and implicated as well, since the newly "seventeen tales of Hopelessville, its marriages and
married couple cannot avoid seeing themselves as alcoholic wreckage, told in a prose as sparingly
Mel and Terri in a few years. As with all of Carver's clear as a fifth of iced Smirnoff." Newlove here
first-person narratives, furthermore, we must ask highlights the main features, both of matter and
ourselves who Nick is telling the story to, and when. manner, that unify the collection and give it a great
The implication here is that he is fondly remember- deal of cumulative impact. By the end of the vol-
ing that evening as a time when he and Laura shared ume, having seen so much despair and so few spots
a closeness that perhaps no longer exists. of promise, we are as fatigued and numbed as the
characters themselves. In these stories, then, Carver
Ultimately, the answer to Mel's question '' 'What brilliantly weds his minimalistic style to his dispiriting
do any of us really know about love?'" appears to themes. About the end of "One More Thing," for
be "not very much." A humorous digression in the example, Hamilton E. Cochrane notes that "this
middle of the story underscores this point. Mel, conclusion reflects the unfinished business that is
V o l u m e 12 309
W h a t We T a l k A b o u t W h e n We T a l k A b o u t L o v e
L. D.'s life. L. D. can make no sense of it—can Mel's other anecdote focuses on an elderly
make no connections, draw no conclusions—and couple injured in a car wreck. The injured husband
the fragmentary and inconclusive form of the story drifts into depression because the bandages prevent
itself seems to reinforce this." This marriage of his seeing his wife while they are in the hospital.
form and content marks the style that Carver would
become best known for, and that would so influence That is it—ostensibly. But of course that is not
younger writers. all there is to the story. The little ironies and
revelations of the story help to develop a complete
Many critics, particularly ones who don't like narrative that no summary can ever sufficiently
him, continue to take their measure of Carver from provide. Although not explicit, they are capable of
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, revealing the inability of these characters to see
which is, indeed, the finest book that minimalism themselves or each other honestly.
has to offer. Yet, as Jay Mclnerney has noted,
"Carver's career as a story writer and prose stylist The most graphic scene is Terri's anecdote: Ed
had several distinct phases; only his [third] collec- beat her one night, dragging her around the room by
tion, What We Talk About When We Talk About her ankles, repeating, "I love you, I love you, you
Love,can really be called minimalism—a conscious b—."She says Ed loved her so much he tried to kill
attempt to leave almost everything out." Carver her. Terri's interpretation of such evident ambiva-
himself noted that it "had been in many ways a lence agrees with Ed's—it is love. That an individ-
watershed book for me, but it was a book I didn't ual deems his life not worth living without her must
want to duplicate or write again," and, following seem to her the highest testimony of her value. That
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Ed might have killed himself as one last attempt to
Carver's stories did indeed change again, becom- punish her or that he might have taken his life as an
ing broader, fuller, and more generous. We have act of self-loathing is unacceptable to Terri. That
passed through the narrowest point of the hourglass interpretation would devalue her.
of Carver's minimalism—as exemplified by the
truncations of the Furious Seasons stories—and we Up to a point it is advantageous for Mel to see
are now ready to broaden the form again as we turn more clearly than Terri. If he sees that Ed's passion
to Fires and, especially, Cathedral. hardly qualifies as love, he need not feel quite as
emotionally threatened by the dead lover, but only
Source: Adam Meyer, "The Middle Years: 'What We Talk up to a point. It would not, for example, enhance
About When We Talk About Love,'" in Raymond Carver, Mel's self-image for him to see the parallel between
Twayne, 1995, pp. 86-87, 108-11, 113. Ed's violence toward Terri and his violent feelings
toward his former wife. "She's allergic to bees....
Ewing Campbell I'm praying she'll get herself stung to death by a
swarm of f-ing bees." Then again a moment later,
In the following essay, Campbell discusses the "Sometimes I think I'll go up there dressed like a
' 'several varieties of emotion existing under the beekeeper. You know, that hat that's like a helmet
single rubric of love" in "What We Talk About with the plate that comes down over your face, the
When We Talk About Love. big gloves, and the padded coat? I'll knock on the
door and let loose a hive of bees in the house." Nor
Readers often complain that nothing happens in does Nick, the narrator of the story, his girlfriend, or
stories like "What We Talk About When We Talk Terri seem to notice the parallel pattern. It remains
About Love." Two couples in this story—Mel and invisible to all but the reader.
Terri McGinnis and Nick and Laura—sit around a
table, drinking gin and talking about love. Several At the same time, Mel may sense his own
varieties of emotion, existing under the single rubric susceptibility to sentimentality (in his desire to be a
of love, enter into the conversation either in passing knight), immediate gratification (in eating, drink-
or at length—spiritual love, carnal love, chivalric ing, and getting high), and compulsiveness, features
love, idealized devotion, and even the sort of com- of arrested emotional development shared with Ed,
plex torment that exhibits itself in abuse, often for he says about himself, ' 'I like food.... If I had
murder, and sometimes suicide. Mel the cardiologist to do it all over again, I'd be a chef, you know?"
does most of the talking, and much of that about Mel's alcoholism and attraction to pills also testify
Tern's former lover, Ed, who abused her, threat- to this self-gratifying impulse. Spiritual love, the
ened murder, and finally succeeded on his second idealized state of chivalric love, and the devotion of
attempt at suicide. the elderly couple, having made a strong impres-
310 Short Stories for Students
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
sion on him,may represent antidotes to or, at .Nothing happens. Four
least, havens from his emotional immaturity. Or, people sit around a table
as is more likely, extensions of that immaturity, talking about love. Or so it
for such imaginary escapes are further proof of seems, but the term needs
underdevelopment. defining. Distinct, sometimes
opposite states are
He characterizes the years he spent in the experienced under the name
seminary as the most important years of his life, yet of love: spiritual devotion,
he left that life. He maintains that had he the sexual attraction,
opportunity to come back in a different life, he fellowship, emotional
would come back as a knight, an impossible, senti- dependence, and more."
mental wish. Moreover, he idealizes the elderly
couple's love when he asserts that their example Gentry, Marshall Bruce, and William L. Stull, eds., Conver-
' 'ought to make us feel ashamed when we talk like sations with Raymond Carver. University of Mississippi
we know what we're talking about when we talk Press, 1990, pp. xii, xiii, xvi.
above love." This idealized state amazes Mel, who Meyer, Adam, Raymond Carver, Twayne, 1995, pp. ix, 1, 20,
says,' 'I mean, it was killing the old fart just because 21.27,86,87. 113.
he couldn't look at the f-ing woman." Runyon, Randolph Paul, Reading Raymond Carver, Syra-
cuse University Press, 1992, pp. 4, 85.
Nothing happens. Four people sit around a table
talking about love. Or so it seems, but the term Further Reading
needs defining. Distinct, sometimes opposite states
are experienced under the name of love: spiritual Carver, Raymond, Short Cuts: Selected Stories, Vintage, 1991.
devotion, sexual attraction, fellowship, emotional This collection contains previously published short
dependence, and more. From Mel's incredulity,the stories by Carver, on which Robert Altman's film
reader can rightly infer that nothing he has ever felt Short Cuts was based. It has an introduction by
as love could be favorably compared with what he Altman that discusses the processes of adapting a
found in the elderly man who was depressed be- number of short stories to a single composite narra-
cause he couldn't see his wife. Whatever these tive film.
characters sitting around the table drinking gin
speak of when they talk about love, it is different Carver, Raymond, and Tom Jenks, eds., American Short
from what he has seen in the hospital. Story Masterpieces, Delacorte, 1987.
Different enough for him to realize that their This work is a collection of what the editors deter-
talk around the table and elsewhere never approaches mined to be the best American short stories written
the real thing, and yet Mel remains partly blind to between the 1950s and the 1980s.
the truths of love and self. Not so the careful reader, Cheever, John, The Stories of John Cheever, Knopf, 1978.
for a while at least, because Carver dramatically This book is a collection of short stories, originally
juxtaposes varieties of experience that, when seen published between 1946 and 1975, written by Car-
together, sharpen their lines of difference and no ver's close friend, colleague, and fellow author.
longer pass unquestioned for love. In life though, Foote, Shelby, ed.,Anton Chekhov: Early Short Stories,
just as in literature, moments of the most vivid 1883-1888, Modern Library, 1999.
clarity soon fade, leaving us to fall back on signs Foote has collected the early stories of the playwright
and symbols to guide us in love or in life. and fiction writer that Carver has most cited as having
Source: Ewing Campbell, "Breakthrough: 'What We Talk
About When We Talk About Love,"' in Raymond Carver: A
Study of the Short Fiction, Twayne, 1992, pp. 45-47.
Sources
Gallagher, Tess, Carver Country: The World of Raymond
Carver, Scribner, 1990, pp. 8, 11-12.
Volume 12 3 11
What We Talk About When W e T a l k A b o u t L o v e
influenced his own writing—the Russian writer, Anton aspiring to write novels. This book includes a forward
Chekhov. by Raymond Carver.
, Anton Chekhov: Later Short Stories, 1888-1903, Hemingway, Ernest, The Complete Short Stories of Ernest
Modern Library, 1999. Hemingway, Scribner's, 1987.
This book presents the later stories by Anton Chekhov. This book of short stories is by the American writer to
whose sparse prose and terse dialogue Carver's writ-
Gallagher, Tess, At the Owl Woman Saloon, Scribner, 1997. ing style is often compared.
This work is a collection of short stories by Carver's
second wife and widow, the poet and fiction writer Keyssar, Helene, Robert Altman's America, Oxford Univer-
Tess Gallagher. sity Press, 1991.
Gardner, John, On Becoming a Novelist, Harper, 1983. This work is a critical analysis of the films of Robert
Gardner's book provides advice to young writers Altman, who adapted Carver's short stories to the
screen in the film Short Cuts.
312 Short Stories for Students
Glossary of Literary Terms
A Antagonist: The major character in a narrative or
drama who works against the hero or protagonist.
Aestheticism: A literary and artistic movement of The Misfit in Flannery O'Connor's story "A Good
the nineteenth century. Followers of the movement Man Is Hard to Find'' serves as the antagonist for
believed that art should not be mixed with social, the Grandmother.
political, or moral teaching. The statement "art for
art's sake" is a good summary of aestheticism. The Anthology: A collection of similar works of litera-
movement had its roots in France, but it gained ture, art, or music. Zora Neale Hurston's "The
widespread importance in England in the last half of Eatonville Anthology'' is a collection of stories that
the nineteenth century, where it helped change the take place in the same town.
Victorian practice of including moral lessons in
literature. Edgar Allan Poe is one of the best-known Anthropomorphism: The presentation of animals
American "aesthetes." or objects in human shape or with human character-
istics. The term is derived from the Greek word for
Allegory: A narrative technique in which charac- "human form." The fur necklet in Katherine
ters representing things or abstract ideas are used to Mansfield's story "Miss Brill" has anthropomor-
convey a message or teach a lesson. Allegory is phic characteristics.
typically used to teach moral, ethical, or religious
lessons but is sometimes used for satiric or political Anti-hero: A central character in a work of litera-
purposes. Many fairy tales are allegories. ture who lacks traditional heroic qualities such as
courage, physical prowess, and fortitude. Anti-he-
Allusion: A reference to a familiar literary or his- roes typically distrust conventional values and are
torical person or event, used to make an idea more unable to commit themselves to any ideals. They
easily understood. Joyce Carol Gates's story "Where generally feel helpless in a world over which they
Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" exhibits have no control. Anti-heroes usually accept, and
several allusions to popular music. often celebrate, their positions as social outcasts. A
well-known anti-hero is Walter Mitty in James
Analogy: A comparison of two things made to Thurber's story ' The Secret Life of Walter Mitty."
explain something unfamiliar through its similari-
ties to something familiar, or to prove one point Archetype: The word archetype is commonly used
based on the acceptance of another. Similes and to describe an original pattern or model from which
metaphors are types of analogies. all other things of the same kind are made. Archetypes
are the literary images that grow out of the "collec-
3 ii
Glossary of Literary Terms
live unconscious," a theory proposed by psycholo- Black Humor: Writing that places grotesque ele-
gist Carl Jung. They appear in literature as incidents ments side by side with humorous ones in an
and plots that repeat basic patterns of life. They may attempt to shock the reader, forcing him or her to
also appear as stereotyped characters. The "schlemiel" laugh at the horrifying reality of a disordered world.
of Yiddish literature is an archetype. "Lamb to the Slaughter," by Roald Dahl, in which
a placid housewife murders her husband and serves
Autobiography: A narrative in which an individual the murder weapon to the investigating policemen,
tells his or her life story. Examples include Benja- is an example of black humor.
min Franklin's Autobiography and Amy Hempel's
story "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Bur- C
ied," which has autobiographical characteristics
even though it is a work of fiction. Catharsis: The release or purging of unwanted
emotions—specifically fear and pity—brought about
Avant-garde: A literary term that describes new by exposure to art. The term was first used by the
writing that rejects traditional approaches to litera- Greek philosopher Aristotle in his Poetics to refer to
ture in favor of innovations in style or content. the desired effect of tragedy on spectators.
Twentieth-century examples of the literary avant-
garde include the modernists and the minimalists. Character: Broadly speaking, a person in a literary
work. The actions of characters are what constitute
B the plot of a story, novel, or poem. There are
numerous types of characters, ranging from simple,
Belles-lettres: A French term meaning "fine let- stereotypical figures to intricate, multifaceted ones.
ters" or "beautiful writing." It is often used as a "Characterization" is the process by which an
synonym for literature, typically referring to imagi- author creates vivid, believable characters in a work
native and artistic rather than scientific or exposito- of art. This may be done in a variety of ways,
ry writing. Current usage sometimes restricts the including (1) direct description of the character by
meaning to light or humorous writing and apprecia- the narrator; (2) the direct presentation of the speech,
tive essays about literature. Lewis Carroll's Alice in thoughts, or actions of the character; and (3) the
Wonderland epitomizes the realm of belles-lettres. responses of other characters to the character. The
term ' 'character'' also refers to a form originated by
Bildungsroman: A German word meaning "novel the ancient Greek writer Theophrastus that later
of development." The bildungsroman is a study of became popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth
the maturation of a youthful character, typically centuries. It is a short essay or sketch of a person
brought about through a series of social or sexual who prominently displays a specific attribute or
encounters that lead to self-awareness. J. D. Salin- quality, such as miserliness or ambition. "Miss
ger's Catcher in the Rye is a bildungsroman, and Brill," a story by Katherine Mansfield, is an exam-
Doris Lessing's story "Through the Tunnel" ex- ple of a character sketch.
hibits characteristics of a bildungsroman as well.
Classical: In its strictest definition in literary criti-
Black Aesthetic Movement: A period of artistic cism, classicism refers to works of ancient Greek or
and literary development among African Ameri- Roman literature. The term may also be used to
cans in the 1960s and early 1970s. This was the first describe a literary work of recognized importance (a
major African-American artistic movement since "classic") from any time period or literature that
the Harlem Renaissance and was closely paralleled exhibits the traits of classicism. Examples of later
by the civil rights and black power movements. The works and authors now described as classical in-
black aesthetic writers attempted to produce works clude French literature of the seventeenth century,
of art that would be meaningful to the black masses. Western novels of the nineteenth century, and Ameri-
Key figures in black aesthetics included one of its can fiction of the mid-nineteenth century such as
founders, poet and playwright Amiri Baraka, for- that written by James Fenimore Cooper and Mark
merly known as LeRoi Jones; poet and essayist Twain.
Haki R. Madhubuti, formerly Don L. Lee; poet and
playwright Sonia Sanchez; and dramatist Ed Bullins. Climax: The turning point in a narrative, the mo-
Works representative of the Black Aesthetic Move- ment when the conflict is at its most intense. Typi-
ment include Amiri Baraka's play Dutchman, a cally, the structure of stories, novels, and plays is
1964 Obie award-winner.
3 i4 Short Stories for Students
Glossary of Literary Terms
one of rising action, in which tension builds to the Deduction: The process of reaching a conclusion
climax, followed by falling action, in which tension through reasoning from general premises to a spe-
lessens as the story moves to its conclusion. cific premise. Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sher-
lock Holmes often used deductive reasoning to
Comedy: One of two major types of drama, the solve mysteries.
other being tragedy. Its aim is to amuse, and it
typically ends happily. Comedy assumes many forms, Denotation: The definition of a word, apart from
such as farce and burlesque, and uses a variety of the impressions or feelings it creates in the reader.
techniques, from parody to satire. In a restricted The word "apartheid" denotes a political and eco-
sense the term comedy refers only to dramatic nomic policy of segregation by race, but its con-
presentations, but in general usage it is commonly notations—oppression, slavery, inequality—are
applied to nondramatic works as well. numerous.
Comic Relief: The use of humor to lighten the Denouement: A French word meaning "the
mood of a serious or tragic story, especially in plays. unknotting." In literature, it denotes the resolution
The technique is very common in Elizabethan works, of conflict in fiction or drama. The denouement
and can be an integral part of the plot or simply a follows the climax and provides an outcome to the
brief event designed to break the tension of the primary plot situation as well as an explanation of
scene. secondary plot complications. A well-known exam-
ple of denouement is the last scene of the play As
Conflict: The conflict in a work of fiction is the You Like It by William Shakespeare, in which
issue to be resolved in the story. It usually occurs couples are married, an evildoer repents, the identi-
between two characters, the protagonist and the ties of two disguised characters are revealed, and a
antagonist, or between the protagonist and society ruler is restored to power. Also known as ' 'falling
or the protagonist and himself or herself. The con- action."
flict in Washington Irving's story "The Devil and
Tom Walker'' i s that the Devil wants Tom Walker's Detective Story: A narrative about the solution of a
soul but Tom does not want to go to hell. mystery or the identification of a criminal. The
conventions of the detective story include the detec-
Criticism: The systematic study and evaluation of tive's scrupulous use of logic in solving the mys-
literary works, usually based on a specific method tery; incompetent or ineffectual police; a suspect
or set of principles. An important part of literary who appears guilty at first but is later proved
studies since ancient times, the practice of criticism innocent; and the detective's friend or confidant—
has given rise to numerous theories, methods, and often the narrator—whose slowness in interpreting
"schools," sometimes producing conflicting, even clues emphasizes by contrast the detective's bril-
contradictory, interpretations of literature in general liance. Edgar Allan Poe's "Murders in the Rue
as well as of individual works. Even such basic Morgue" is commonly regarded as the earliest
issues as what constitutes a poem or a novel have example of this type of story. Other practitioners are
been the subject of much criticism over the centu- Arthur Conan Doyle, Dashiell Hammett, and Aga-
ries. Seminal texts of literary criticism include Pla- tha Christie.
to's Republic, Aristotle's Poetics, Sir Philip Sid-
ney's The Defence ofPoesie, and John Dryden's Of Dialogue: Dialogue is conversation between people
Dramatic Poesie. Contemporary schools of criti- in a literary work. In its most restricted sense, it
cism include deconstruction, feminist, psychoana- refers specifically to the speech of characters in a
lytic, poststructuralist, new historicist, postcolonialist, drama. As a specific literary genre, a "dialogue" is
and reader-response. a composition in which characters debate an issue
or idea.
D
Didactic: A term used to describe works of litera-
Deconstruction: A method of literary criticism ture that aim to teach a moral, religious, political, or
characterized by multiple conflicting interpretations practical lesson. Although didactic elements are
of a given work. Deconstructionists consider the often found in artistically pleasing works, the term
impact of the language of a work and suggest that "didactic" usually refers to literature in which the
the true meaning of the work is not necessarily the message is more important than the form. The term
meaning that the author intended. may also be used to criticize a work that the critic
finds "overly didactic," that is, heavy-handed in its
V o l u m e 12 3 15
Glossary of Literary Terms
delivery of a lesson. An example of didactic litera- epithet applied to Professor Moriarty, arch-rival of
ture is John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Sherlock Holmes in Arthur Conan Doyle's series of
detective stories.
Dramatic Irony: Occurs when the reader of a work
of literature knows something that a character in the Existentialism: A predominantly twentieth-centu-
work itself does not know. The irony is in the ry philosophy concerned with the nature andper-
contrast between the intended meaning of the state- ception of human existence. There are two major
ments or actions of a character and the additional strains of existentialist thought: atheistic and Chris-
information understood by the audience. tian. Followers of atheistic existentialism believe
that the individual is alone in a godless universe and
Dystopia: An imaginary place in a work of fiction that the basic human condition is one of suffering
where the characters lead dehumanized, fearful and loneliness. Nevertheless, because there are no
lives. George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four, and fixed values, individuals can create their own char-
Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale portray ver- acters—indeed, they can shape themselves—through
sions of dystopia. the exercise of free will. The atheistic strain culmi-
nates in and is popularly associated with the works
E of Jean-Paul Sartre. The Christian existentialists, on
the other hand, believe that only in God may people
Edwardian: Describes cultural conventions identi- find freedom from life's anguish. The two strains
fied with the period of the reign of Edward VII of hold certain beliefs in common: that existence can-
England (1901-1910). Writers of the Edwardian not be fully understood or described through em-
Age typically displayed a strong reaction against the pirical effort; that anguish is a universal element of
propriety and conservatism of the VictorianAge. life; that individuals must bear responsibility for
Their work often exhibits distrust of authority in their actions; and that there is no common standard
religion, politics, and art and expresses strong doubts of behavior or perception for religious and ethical
about the soundness of conventional values. Writers matters. Existentialist thought figures prominently
of this era include E. M. Forster, H. G. Wells, and in the works of such authors as Franz Kafka, Fyodor
Joseph Conrad. Dostoyevsky, and Albert Camus.
Empathy: A sense of shared experience, including Expatriatism: The practice of leaving one's coun-
emotional and physical feelings, with someone or try to live for an extended period in another country.
something other than oneself. Empathy is often Literary expatriates include Irish author James Joyce
used to describe the response of a reader to a literary who moved to Italy and France, American writers
character. James Baldwin, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein,
and F. Scott Fitzgerald who lived and wrote in Paris,
Epilogue: A concluding statement or section of a and Polish novelist Joseph Conrad in England.
literary work. In dramas, particularly those of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the epilogue Exposition: Writing intended to explain the nature
is a closing speech, often in verse, delivered by an of an idea, thing, or theme. Expository writing is
actor at the end of a play and spoken directly to the often combined with description, narration, or
audience. argument.
Epiphany: A sudden revelation of truth inspired by Expressionism: An indistinct literary term, origi-
a seemingly trivial incident. The term was widely nally used to describe an early twentieth-century
used by James Joyce in his critical writings, and the school of German painting. The term applies to
stories in Joyce's Dubliners are commonly called almost any mode of unconventional, highly subjec-
"epiphanies." tive writing that distorts reality in some way. Advo-
cates of Expressionism include Federico Garcia
Epistolary Novel: A novel in the form of letters. Lorca, Eugene O'Neill, Franz Kafka, and James
The form was particularly popular in the eighteenth Joyce.
century. The form can also be applied to short
stories, as in Edwidge Danticat's "Children of the F
Sea."
Fable: A prose or verse narrative intended to con-
Epithet: A word or phrase, often disparaging or vey a moral. Animals or inanimate objects with
abusive, that expresses a character trait of someone human characteristics often serve as characters in
or something. "The Napoleon of crime" is an
3 16 Short Stories for Students
Glossary of Literary Terms
fables. A famous fable is Aesop's "The Tortoise Foreshadowing: A device used in literature to
and the Hare." create expectation or to set up an explanation of
later developments. Edgar Allan Poe uses foreshad-
Fantasy: A literary form related to mythology and owing to create suspense in ' The Fall of the House
folklore. Fantasy literature is typically set in non- of Usher" when the narrator comments on the
existent realms and features supernatural beings. crumbling state of disrepair in which he finds the
Notable examples of literature with elements of house.
fantasy are Gabriel Garcia Marquez's story "The
Handsomest Drowned Man in the World" and G
Ursula K. LeGuin's "The Ones Who Walk Away
from Omelas." Genre: A category of literary work. Genre may
refer to both the content of a given work—tragedy,
Farce: A type of comedy characterized by broad comedy, horror, science fiction—and to its form,
humor, outlandish incidents, and often vulgar sub- such as poetry, novel, or drama.
ject matter. Much of the comedy in film and televi-
sion could more accurately be described as farce. Gilded Age: A period in American history during
the 1870s and after characterized by political cor-
Fiction: Any story that is the product of imagina- ruption and materialism. A number of important
tion rather than a documentation of fact. Characters novels of social and political criticism were written
and events in such narratives may be based in real during this time. Henry James and Kate Chopin are
life but their ultimate form and configuration is a two writers who were prominent during the Gild-
creation of the author. ed Age.
Figurative Language: A technique in which an Gothicism: In literature, works characterized by a
author uses figures of speech such as hyperbole, taste for medieval or morbid characters and situa-
irony, metaphor, or simile for a particular effect. tions. A gothic novel prominently features elements
Figurative language is the opposite of literal lan- of horror, the supernatural, gloom, and violence:
guage, in which every word is truthful, accurate, clanking chains, terror, ghosts, medieval castles,
and free of exaggeration or embellishment. and unexplained phenomena. The term "gothic
novel" is also applied to novels that lack elements
Flashback: A device used in literature to present of the traditional Gothic setting but that create a
action that occurred before the beginning of the similar atmosphere of terror or dread. The term can
story. Flashbacks are often introduced as the dreams also be applied to stories, plays, and poems. Mary
or recollections of one or more characters. Shelley's Frankenstein and Joyce Carol Gates's
Bellefleur are both gothic novels.
Foil: A character in a work of literature whose
physical or psychological qualitiescontrast strongly Grotesque: In literature, a work that is character-
with, and therefore highlight, the corresponding ized by exaggeration, deformity, freakishness, and
qualities of another character. In his Sherlock Holmes disorder. The grotesque often includes an element
stories, Arthur Conan Doyle portrayed Dr. Watson of comic absurdity. Examples of the grotesque can
as a man of normal habits and intelligence,making be found in the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Flannery
him a foil for the eccentric and unusually perceptive O'Connor, Joseph Heller, and Shirley Jackson.
Sherlock Holmes.
H
Folklore: Traditions and myths preserved in a
culture or group of people. Typically, these are Harlem Renaissance: The Harlem Renaissance of
passed on by word of mouth in various forms—such the 1920s is generally considered the first signifi-
as legends, songs, and proverbs—or preserved in cant movement of black writers and artists in the
customs and ceremonies. Washington Irving, in United States. During this period, new and estab-
"The Devil and Tom Walker" and many of his lished black writers, many of whom lived in the
other stories, incorporates many elements of the region of New York City known as Harlem, pub-
folklore of New England and Germany. lished more fiction and poetry than ever before, the
first influential black literary journals were estab-
Folktale: A story originating in oral tradition. lished, and black authors and artists received their
Folktales fall into a variety of categories, including first widespread recognition and serious critical
legends, ghost stories, fairy tales, fables, and anec-
dotes based on historical figures and events.
Volume 12 3 17
Glossary of Literary Terms
appraisal. Among the major writers associated with is stated. The title of Jonathan Swift's "A Modest
this period are Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Proposal" is ironic because what Swift proposes in
Arna Bontemps, and Zora Neale Hurston. this essay is cannibalism—hardly "modest."
Hero/Heroine: The principal sympathetic charac- J
ter in a literary work. Heroes and heroines typically
exhibit admirable traits: idealism, courage, and in- Jargon: Language that is used or understood only
tegrity, for example. Famous heroes and heroines of by a select group of people. Jargon may refer to
literature include Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist, terminology used in a certain profession, such as
Margaret Mitchell's Scarlett O'Hara, and the anony- computer jargon, or it may refer to any nonsensical
mous narrator in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. language that is not understood by most people.
Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange and James
Hyperbole: Deliberate exaggeration used to achieve Thurber's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" both
an effect. In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady use jargon.
Macbeth hyperbolizes when she says, "All the
perfumes of Arabia could not sweeten this little
hand."
/ K
Image: A concrete representation of an object or Knickerbocker Group: An indistinct group of
sensory experience. Typically, such a representa- New York writers of the first half of the nineteenth
tion helps evoke the feelings associated with the century. Members of the group were linked only by
object or experience itself. Images are either ' 'liter- location and a common theme: New York life. Two
al" or "figurative." Literal images are especially famous members of the Knickerbocker Group were
concrete and involve little or no extension of the Washington Irving and William Cullen Bryant. The
obvious meaning of the words used to express them. group's name derives from Irving's Knickerbock-
Figurative images do not follow the literal meaning er's History of New York.
of the words exactly. Images in literature are usually
visual, but the term "image" can also refer to the L
representation of any sensory experience.
Literal Language: An author uses literal language
Imagery: The array of images in a literary work. when he or she writes without exaggerating or
Also used to convey the author's overall use of embellishing the subject matter and without any
figurative language in a work. tools of figurative language. To say ' 'He ran very
quickly down the street'' is to use literal language,
In medias res: A Latin term meaning ' 'in themiddle whereas to say ' 'He ran like a hare down the street''
of things." It refers to the technique of beginning a would be using figurative language.
story at its midpoint and then using various flash-
back devices to reveal previous action. This tech- Literature: Literature is broadly defined as any
nique originated in such epics as Virgil's Aeneid. written or spoken material, but the term most often
refers to creative works. Literature includes poetry,
Interior Monologue: A narrative technique in which drama, fiction, and many kinds of nonfiction writ-
characters' thoughts are revealed in a way that ing, as well as oral, dramatic, and broadcast compo-
appears to be uncontrolled by the author. The interi- sitions not necessarily preserved in a written format,
or monologue typically aims to reveal the inner self such as films and television programs.
of a character. It portrays emotional experiences as
they occur at both a conscious and unconscious Lost Generation: A term first used by Gertrude
level. One of the best-known interior monologues in Stein to describe the post-World War I generation of
English is the Molly Bloom section at the close of American writers: men and women haunted by a
James Joyce's Ulysses. Katherine Anne Porter's sense of betrayal and emptiness brought about by
"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" is also told in the destructiveness of the war. The term is common-
the form of an interior monologue. ly applied to Hart Crane, Ernest Hemingway, F.
Scott Fitzgerald, and others.
Irony: In literary criticism, the effect of language in
which the intended meaning is the opposite of what
3 18 Short Stories for Students
Glossary of Literary Terms
M N
Magic Realism: A form of literature that incorpo- Narration: The telling of a series of events, real or
rates fantasy elements or supernatural occurrences invented. A narration may be either a simple narra-
into the narrative and accepts them as truth. Gabriel tive, in which the events are recounted chronologi-
Garcia Marquez and Laura Esquivel are two writers cally, or a narrative with a plot, in which the account
known for their works of magic realism. is given in a style reflecting the author's artistic
concept of the story. Narration is sometimes used as
Metaphor: A figure of speech that expresses an a synonym for "storyline."
idea through the image of another object. Meta-
phors suggest the essence of the first object by Narrative: A verse or prose accounting of an event
identifying it with certain qualities of the second or sequence of events, real or invented. The term is
object. An example is "But soft, what light through also used as an adjective in the sense "method of
yonder window breaks?/ It is the east, and Juliet is narration." For example, in literary criticism, the
the sun" in William Shakespeare's Romeo and expression "narrative technique" usually refers to
Juliet. Here, Juliet, the first object, is identified with the way the author structures and presents his or her
qualities of the second object, the sun. story. Different narrative forms include diaries,
travelogues, novels, ballads, epics, short stories,
Minimalism: A literary style characterized by spare, and other fictional forms.
simple prose with few elaborations. In minimalism,
the main theme of the work is often never discussed Narrator: The teller of a story. The narrator may be
directly. Amy Hempel and Ernest Hemingway are the author or a character in the story through whom
two writers known for their works of minimalism. the author speaks. Huckleberry Finn is the narrator
of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry
Modernism: Modern literary practices. Also, the Finn.
principles of a literary school that lasted from
roughly the beginning of the twentieth century until Novella: An Italian term meaning "story." This
the end of World War II. Modernism is defined by term has been especially used to describe four-
its rejection of the literary conventions of the nine- teenth-century Italian tales, but it also refers to
teenth century and by its opposition to conventional modern short novels. Modern novellas include Leo
morality, taste, traditions, and economic values. Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilich, Fyodor
Many writers are associated with the concepts of Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground, and
modernism, including Albert Camus, D. H. Law- Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
rence, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Eu-
gene O'Neill, and James Joyce. o
Monologue: A composition, written or oral, by a Oedipus Complex: A son's romantic obsession
single individual. More specifically, a speech given with his mother. The phrase is derived from the
by a single individual in a drama or other public story of the ancient Theban hero Oedipus, who
entertainment. It has no set length, although it is unknowingly killed his father and married his moth-
usually several or more lines long. "I Stand Here er, and was popularized by Sigmund Freud's theory
Ironing" by Tillie Olsen is an example of a story of psychoanalysis. Literary occurrences of the Oedi-
written in the form of a monologue. pus complex include Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and
D. H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner."
Mood: The prevailing emotions of a work or of the
author in his or her creation of the work. The mood Onomatopoeia: The use of words whose sounds
of a work is not always what might be expected express or suggest their meaning. In its simplest
based on its subject matter. sense, onomatopoeia may be represented by words
that mimic the sounds they denote such as' 'hiss'' or
Motif: A theme, character type, image, metaphor, or "meow." At a more subtle level, the pattern and
other verbal element that recurs throughout a single rhythm of sounds and rhymes of a line or poem may
work of literature or occurs in a number of different be onomatopoeic.
works over a period of time. For example, the color
white in Herman Melville's Moby Dick is a ' 'specif- Oral Tradition: A process by which songs, ballads,
ic" motif, while the trials of star-crossed lovers is a folklore, and other material are transmitted by word
"conventional" motif from the literature of all of mouth. The tradition of oral transmission pre-
periods. dates the written record systems of literate society.
V o l u m e 12 3 19
Glossary of Literary Terms
Oral transmission preserves material sometimes composing the work and helps the reader follow the
over generations, although often with variations. work. Typically, plots exhibit causality and unity
Memory plays a large part in the recitation and and have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Some-
preservation of orally transmitted material. Native times, however, a plot may consist of a series of
American myths and legends, and African folktales disconnected events, in which case it is known as an
told by plantation slaves are examples of orally "episodic plot."
transmitted literature.
Poetic Justice: An outcome in a literary work, not
p necessarily a poem, in which the good are rewarded
and the evil are punished, especially in ways that
Parable: A story intended to teach a moral lesson or particularly fit their virtues or crimes. For example,
answer an ethical question. Examples of parables a murderer may himself be murdered, or a thief will
are the stories told by Jesus Christ in the New find himself penniless.
Testament, notably "The Prodigal Son," but par-
ables also are used in Sufism, rabbinic literature, Poetic License: Distortions of fact and literary
Hasidism, and Zen Buddhism. Isaac BashevisSing- convention made by a writer—not always a poet—
er's story "Gimpel the Fool" exhibits characteris- for the sake of the effect gained. Poetic license is
tics of a parable. closely related to the concept of' 'artistic freedom.''
An author exercises poetic license by saying that a
Paradox: A statement that appears illogical or pile of money "reaches as high as a mountain"
contradictory at first, but may actually point to an when the pile is actually only a foot or two high.
underlying truth. A literary example of a paradox is
George Orwell's statement "All animals are equal, Point of View: The narrative perspective from
but some animals are more equal than others" in which a literary work is presented to the reader.
Animal Farm. There are four traditional points of view. The ' 'third
person omniscient" gives the reader a "godlike"
Parody: In literature, this term refers to an imitation perspective, unrestricted by time or place, from
of a serious literary work or the signature style of a which to see actions and look into the minds of
particular author in a ridiculous manner. A typical characters. This allows the author to comment openly
parody adopts the style of the original and applies it on characters and events in the work. The "third
to an inappropriate subject for humorous effect. person'' point of view presents the events of the
Parody is a form of satire and could be considered story from outside of any single character's percep-
the literary equivalent of a caricature or cartoon. tion, much like the omniscient point of view, but the
Henry Fielding's Shamela is a parody of Samuel reader must understand the action as it takes place
Richardson's Pamela. and without any special insight into characters'
minds or motivations. The "first person" or "per-
Persona: A Latin term meaning ' 'mask." Personae sonal" point of view relates events as they are
are the characters in a fictional work of literature. perceived by a single character. The main character
The persona generally functions as a mask through "tells" the story and may offer opinions about the
which the author tells a story in a voice other than action and characters which differ from those of the
his or her own. A persona is usually either a charac- author. Much less common than omniscient, third
ter in a story who acts as a narrator or an ' 'implied person, and first person is the "second person"
author," a voice created by the author to act as the point of view, wherein the author tells the story as if
narrator for himself or herself. The persona in it is happening to the reader. James Thurber em-
Charlotte Perkins Oilman's story "The Yellow ploys the omniscient point of view in his short story
Wallpaper'' is the unnamed young mother experi- ' 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.'' Ernest Heming-
encing a mental breakdown. way's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" is a short
story told from the third person point of view. Mark
Personification: A figure of speech that gives Twain's novel Huckleberry Finn is presented from
human qualities to abstract ideas, animals, and the first person viewpoint. Jay Mclnerney's Bright
inanimate objects. To say that "the sun is smiling" Lights, Big City is an example of a novel which uses
is to personify the sun. the second person point of view.
Plot: The pattern of events in a narrative or drama. Pornography: Writing intended to provoke feel-
In its simplest sense, the plot guides the author in ings of lust in the reader. Such works are often
condemned by critics and teachers, but those which
320 Short S t o r i e s for Students
G / o s s a r y of L i t e r a r y T e r m s
can be shown to have literary value are viewed less R
harshly. Literary works that have been described as
pornographic include D. H. Lawrence's Lady Realism: A nineteenth-century European literary
Chatterley's Lover and James Joyce's Ulysses. movement that sought to portray familiar charac-
ters, situations, and settings in a realistic manner.
Post-Aesthetic Movement: An artistic response This was done primarily by using an objective
made by African Americans to the black aesthetic narrative point of view and through the buildup of
movement of the 1960s and early 1970s. Writers accurate detail. The standard for success of any
since that time have adopted a somewhat different realistic work depends on how faithfully it transfers
tone in their work, with less emphasis placed on the common experience into fictional forms. The realis-
disparity between black and white in the United tic method may be altered or extended, as in stream
States. In the words of post-aesthetic authors such of consciousness writing, to record highly subjec-
as Toni Morrison, John Edgar Wideman, and Kristin tive experience. Contemporary authors who often
Hunter, African Americans are portrayed as looking write in a realistic way include Nadine Gordimer
inward for answers to their own questions, rather and Grace Paley.
than always looking to the outside world. Two well-
known examples of works produced as part of the Resolution: The portion of a story following the
post-aesthetic movement are the Pulitzer Prize- climax, in which the conflict is resolved. The reso-
winning novels The Color Purple by Alice Walker lution of Jane Austen's Nonhanger Abbey is neatly
and Beloved by Toni Morrison. summed up in the following sentence: "Henry and
Catherine were married, the bells rang and every
Postmodernism: Writing from the 1960s forward body smiled."
characterized by experimentation and application of
modernist elements, which include existentialism Rising Action: The part of a drama where the plot
and alienation. Postmodernists have gone a step becomes increasingly complicated. Rising action
further in the rejection of tradition begun with the leads up to the climax, or turning point, of a drama.
modernists by also rejecting traditional forms,pre- The final "chase scene" of an action film is gener-
ferring the anti-novel over the novel and the anti- ally the rising action which culminates in the film's
hero over the hero. Postmodern writers include climax.
Thomas Pynchon, Margaret Drabble, and Gabriel
Garcia Marquez. Roman a clef: A French phrase meaning "novel
with a key." It refers to a narrative in which real
Prologue: An introductory section of a literary persons are portrayed under fictitious names. Jack
work. It often contains information establishing the Kerouac, for example, portrayed various his friends
situation of the characters or presents information under fictitious names in the novel On the Road. D.
about the setting, time period, or action. In drama, H. Lawrence based ' The Rocking-Horse Winner''
the prologue is spoken by a chorus or by one of the on a family he knew.
principal characters.
Romanticism: This term has two widely accepted
Prose: A literary medium that attempts to mirror the meanings. In historical criticism, it refers to a Euro-
language of everyday speech. It is distinguished pean intellectual and artistic movement of the late
from poetry by its use of unmetered, unrhymed eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries that sought
language consisting of logically related sentences. greater freedom of personal expression than that
Prose is usually grouped into paragraphs that form a allowed by the strict rules of literary form and logic
cohesive whole such as an essay or a novel. The of the eighteenth-century neoclassicists. The Ro-
term is sometimes used to mean an author's general mantics preferred emotional and imaginative ex-
writing. pression to rational analysis. They considered the
individual to be at the center of all experience and so
Protagonist: The central character of a story who placed him or her at the center of their art. The
serves as a focus for its themes and incidents and as Romantics believed that the creative imagination
the principal rationale for its development. The reveals nobler truths—unique feelings and attitudes—
protagonist is sometimes referred to in discussions than those that could be discovered by logic or by
of modern literature as the hero or anti-hero. Well- scientific examination. "Romanticism" is also used
known protagonists are Hamlet in William Shake- as a general term to refer to a type of sensibility
speare's Hamlet and Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzger- found in all periods of literary history and usually
ald's The Great Gatsbv. considered to be in opposition to the principles of
V o l u m e 12 321
Glossary of Literary Terms
classicism. In this sense, Romanticism signifies any established as a dogma by the first Soviet Congress
work or philosophy in which the exotic or dreamlike of Writers. It demanded adherence to a communist
figure strongly, or that is devoted to individualistic worldview in works of literature. Its doctrines re-
expression, self-analysis, or a pursuit of a higher quired an objective viewpoint comprehensible to
realm of knowledge than can be discovered by the working classes and themes of social struggle
human reason. Prominent Romantics include Jean- featuring strong proletarian heroes. Gabriel Garcia
Jacques Rousseau, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Marquez's stories exhibit some characteristics of
Lord Byron, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Socialist Realism.
s Stereotype: A stereotype was originally the name
for a duplication made during the printing process;
Satire: A work that uses ridicule, humor, and wit to this led to its modern definition as a person or thing
criticize and provoke change in human nature and that is (or is assumed to be) the same as all others of
institutions. Voltaire's novella Candide and Jona- its type. Common stereotypical characters include
than Swift's essay "A Modest Proposal" are both the absent-minded professor, the nagging wife, the
satires. Flannery O'Connor's portrayal of the fami- troublemaking teenager, and the kindhearted
ly in ' 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'' is a satire of a grandmother.
modern, Southern, American family.
Stream of Consciousness: A narrative technique
Science Fiction: A type of narrative based upon for rendering the inward experience of a character.
real or imagined scientific theories and technology. This technique is designed to give the impression of
Science fiction is often peopled with alien creatures an ever-changing series of thoughts, emotions, im-
and set on other planets or in different dimensions. ages, and memories in the spontaneous and seem-
Popular writers of science fiction are Isaac Asimov, ingly illogical order that they occur in life. The
Karel Capek, Ray Bradbury, and Ursula K. Le Guin. textbook example of stream of consciousness is the
last section of James Joyce's Ulysses.
Setting: The time, place, and culture in which the
action of a narrative takes place. The elements of Structure: The form taken by a piece of literature.
setting may include geographic location, charac- The structure may be made obvious for ease of
ters's physical and mental environments, prevailing understanding, as in nonfiction works, or may ob-
cultural attitudes, or the historical time in which the scured for artistic purposes, as in some poetry or
action takes place. seemingly "unstructured" prose.
Short Story: A fictional prose narrative shorter and Style: A writer's distinctive manner of arranging
more focused than a novella. The short story usually words to suit his or her ideas and purpose in writing.
deals with a single episode and often a single The unique imprint of the author's personality upon
character. The "tone," the author's attitude toward his or her writing, style is the product of an author's
his or her subject and audience, is uniform through- way of arranging ideas and his or her use of diction,
out. The short story frequently also lacks denoue- different sentence structures, rhythm, figures of
ment, ending instead at its climax. speech, rhetorical principles, and other elements of
composition.
Signifying Monkey: A popular trickster figure in
black folklore, with hundreds of tales about this Suspense: A literary device in which the author
character documented since the 19th century. Henry maintains the audience's attention through the build-
Louis Gates Jr. examines the history of the signify- up of events, the outcome of which will soon be
ing monkey in The Signifying Monkey: Towards a revealed. Suspense in William Shakespeare's Ham-
Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism, pub- let is sustainedthroughout by the question of wheth-
lished in 1988. er or not the Prince will achieve what he has been
instructed to do and of what he intends to do.
Simile: A comparison, usually using "like" or
"as,"of two essentially dissimilar things, as in Symbol: Something that suggests or stands for
"coffee as cold as ice" or "He sounded like a something else without losing its original identity.
broken record." The title of Ernest Hemingway's In literature, symbols combine their literal meaning
"Hills Like White Elephants" contains a simile. with the suggestion of an abstract concept. Literary
symbols are of two types: those that carry complex
Social Realism: The Socialist Realism school of associations of meaning no matter what their con-
literary theory was proposed by Maxim Gorky and texts, and those that derive their suggestive meaning
322 Short Stories for Students
Glossary of Literary Terms
from their functions in specific literary works. Ex- cause of some tragic character flaw, brings ruin
amples of symbols are sunshine suggesting happi- upon him- or herself. Tragedy treats its subjects in a
ness, rain suggesting sorrow, and storm clouds dignified and serious manner, using poetic language
suggesting despair. to help evoke pity and fear and bring about cathar-
sis, a purging of these emotions. The tragic form
T was practiced extensively by the ancient Greeks.
The classical form of tragedy was revived in the
Tale: A story told by a narrator with a simple plot sixteenth century; it flourished especially on the
and little character development. Tales are usually Elizabethan stage. In modern times, dramatists have
relatively short and often carry a simple message. attempted to adapt the form to the needs of modern
Examples of tales can be found in the works of Saki, society by drawing their heroes from the ranks of
Anton Chekhov, Guy de Maupassant, and O. Henry. ordinary men and women and defining the nobility
of these heroes in terms of spirit rather than exalted
Tall Tale: A humorous tale told in a straightfor- social standing. Some contemporary works that are
ward, credible tone but relating absolutely impossi- thought of as tragedies include The Great Gatsby by
ble events or feats of the characters. Such tales were F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The Sound and the Fury by
commonly told of frontier adventures during the William Faulkner.
settlement of the west in the United States. Literary
use of tall tales can be found in Washington Irving's Tragic Flaw: In a tragedy, the quality within the
History of New York, Mark Twain's Life on the hero or heroine which leads to his or her downfall.
Mississippi, and in the German R. F. Raspe's Baron Examples of the tragic flaw include Othello's jeal-
Munchausen's Narratives of His Marvellous Trav- ousy and Hamlet's indecisiveness, although most
els and Campaigns in Russia. great tragedies defy such simple interpretation.
Theme: The main point of a work of literature. The u
term is used interchangeably with thesis. Many
works have multiple themes. One of the themes of Utopia: A fictional perfect place, such as "para-
Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" dise" or "heaven." An early literary Utopia was
is loss of faith. described in Plato's Republic, and in modern litera-
ture, Ursula K. Le Guin depicts a Utopia in "The
Tone: The author's attitude toward his or her audi- Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas."
ence may be deduced from the tone of the work. A
formal tone may create distance or convey polite- V
ness, while an informal tone may encourage a
friendly, intimate, or intrusive feeling in the reader. Victorian: Refers broadly to the reign of Queen
The author's attitude toward his or her subject Victoria of England (1837-1901) and to anything
matter may also be deduced from the tone of the with qualities typical of that era. For example, the
words he or she uses in discussing it. The tone of qualities of smug narrow-mindedness, bourgeois
John F. Kennedy's speech which included the ap- materialism, faith in social progress, and priggish
peal to ' 'ask not what your country can do for you'' morality are often considered Victorian. In litera-
was intended to instill feelings of camaraderie and ture, the Victorian Period was the great age of the
national pride in listeners. English novel, and the latter part of the era saw the
rise of movements such as decadence and symbolism.
Tragedy: A drama in prose or poetry about a noble,
courageous hero of excellent character who, be-
V o l u m e 12 323
Cumulative
Author/Title Index
A Barthelme, Donald Bowen, Elizabeth
Robert Kennedy Saved from The Demon Lover: V5
A&P (Updike): V3 Drowning: V3
Achebe, Chinua Boyle, Kay
Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of The White Horses of Vienna: VI0
Vengeful Creditor. V3 Wall Street (Melville): V3
Aiken, Conrad Boys and Girls (Munro): V5
Bates, H. E. Bradbury, Ray
Silent Snow, Secret Snow: V8 The Daffodil Sky: VI
Allende, Isabel There Will Come Soft Rains: VI
The Bear (Faulkner): V2 Butler, Octavia
And of Clay Are We The Beast in the Jungle (James): V6
Created: VII Beattie, Ann Bloodchild: V6
Butler, Robert Olen
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Janus: V9
(Bierce): V2 The Beginning ofHomewood A Good Scent from a Strange
Mountain: VI1
And of Clay Are We Created (Wideman): V12
(Allende): VI1 Bellow, Saul c
Anderson, Sherwood Leaving the Yellow House: V12 Calvino, Italo
Death in the Woods: VI0 Berriault, Gina The Feathered Ogre: V12
Hands: VI1
Sophistication: V4 The Stone Boy: VI Camus, Albert
Bierce, Ambrose The Guest: V4
Araby (Joyce): VI
Atwood, Margaret An Occurrence at Owl Creek The Canterville Ghost (Wilde): V7
Bridge: V2 Capote, Truman
Rape Fantasies: V3
Axolotl (Cortazar): V3 The Boarded Window: V9 A Christmas Memory: V2
Big Blonde (Parker): V5 Carter, Angela
B Blackberry Winter (Warren): V8
Bliss (Mansfield): V10 The Bloody Chamber: V4
Babel, Isaac Blood-Burning Moon (Toomer): V5 TheErlking:V\2
My First Goose: V10 Bloodchild (Butler): V6 Carver, Raymond
The Bloody Chamber (Carter): V4 Cathedral: V6
Babylon Revisited (Fitzgerald): V4 Bloom, Amy What We Talk About When We
Baldwin, James
Silver Water: VI1 Talk About Love: V12
Sonny's Blues: V2 Blues Ain 't No Mockin Bird Where I'm Calling From: V3
Bambara, Toni Cade The Cask of Amontillado (Poe): V7
(Bambara): V4 The Catbird Seat (Thurber): V10
Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird: V4 The Blues I'm Playing (Hughes): V7 Cathedral (Carver): V6
The Lesson: V12 The Boarded Window (Bierce): V9 Gather, Willa
Raymond's Run: VI Borges, Jorge Luis Neighbour Rosicky: VI
Barn Burning (Faulkner): V5 Paul's Case: V2
Barth, John The Garden of Forking Paths: V9
Lost in the Funhouse: V6 Pierre Menard, Author of the
Quixote: V4
325
Cumulative Author/Title Index
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Dubus, Andre Glaspell, Susan
Calaveras County (Twain): The Fat Girl: V10 A Jury of Her Peers: V3
VI
E Gogol, Nikolai
Cheever, John The Overcoat: V7
The Swimmer: V2 The Eatonville Anthology (Hurston
and Hughes): VI A Good Man Is Hard to Find
Chekhov, Anton (O'Connor): V2
The Lady with the Pet Dog: V5 Eliot, George
The Lifted Veil: V8 A Good Scent from a Strange
Chesnutt, Charles Waddell Mountain (Butler): VI1
The Sheriff's Children: VI1 Ellison, Ralph
King of the Bingo Game: VI Goodbye, Columbus (Roth): V12
Children of the Sea (Danticat): VI Gordimer, Nadine
Chopin, Kate The Erlking (Carter): V12
Everyday Use (Walker): V2 The Trainfrom Rhodesia: V2
The Story of an Hour: V2 Everything That Rises Must The Grand Inquisitor
A Christmas Memory (Capote): V2
The Chrysanthemums (Steinbeck): Converge (O'Connor): VI0 (Dostoevsky): V8
The Grave (Porter): VI1
V6 F The Guest (Camus): V4
Cisneros, Sandra Guests of the Nation (O'Connor): V5
The Fall of the House of Usher A Guide to Berlin (Nabokov): V6
Woman Hollering Creek: V3 (Poe): V2
Clarke, Arthur C. H
Far, Sui Sin
The Star: V4 Mrs. Spring Fragrance: V4 Haifa Day (Mahfouz): V9
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place Hands (Anderson): VI1
The Fat Girl (Dubus): V10 The Handsomest Drowned Man in
(Hemingway): V9 Faulkner, William
Connell, Richard the World (Marquez): VI
Barn Burning: V5 Han's Crime (Naoya): V5
The Most Dangerous Game: VI The Bear: V2 Harrison Bergeron (Vonnegut): V5
Conrad, Joseph A Rose for Emily: V6 Harte, Bret
That Evening Sun: VI2
Heart of Darkness: VI2 The Feathered Ogre (Calvino): V12 The Outcasts of Poker Flat: V3
The Secret Sharer: VI Fever (Wideman): V6 Hawthorne, Nathaniel
A Conversation with My Father Fitzgerald, F. Scott
Babylon Revisited: V4 The Minister's Black Veil: V7
(Paley): V3 Flaubert, Gustave My Kinsman, Major
Cortazar, Julio A Simple Heart: V6
Flight (Steinbeck): V3 Molineux: VI1
Axolotl: V3 Flowering Judas (Porter): V8 Young Goodman Brown: VI
Crane, Stephen Fountains in the Rain Head, Bessie
Snapshots of a Wedding: V5
The Open Boat: V4 (Mishima): V12 Heart of Darkness (Conrad): VI2
Freeman, Mary E. Wilkins Heinlein, Robert A.
D Waldo: V7
A New England Nun: V8 Hemingway, Ernest
The Daffodil Sky (Bates): V7 The Revolt of 'Mother': V4 A Clean, Well-Lighted Place: V9
Dahl, Roald Hills Like White Elephants: V6
G In Another Country: V8
Lamb to the Slaughter: V4 The Short Happy Life of Francis
Danticat, Edwidge Gaines, Ernest
The Sky is Gray: V5 Macomber: VI
Children of the Sea: VI The Snows of Kilimanjaro: VI1
de Balzac, Honore Galsworthy, John Hempel, Amy
The Japanese Quince: V3 In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson
La Grande Breteche: V10
The Dead (Joyce): V6 The Garden of Forking Paths Is Buried: V2
Death in the Woods (Anderson): VI0 (Borges): V9 Henry, O.
Death in Venice (Mann): V9
The Death of Ivan Ilych The Garden Party (Mansfield): V8 The Gift of the Magi: V2
Gardner, John Hills Like White Elephants
(Tolstoy): V5
Debbie and Julie (Lessing): VI2 Redemption: V8 (Hemingway): V6
The Demon Lover (Bowen): V5 The Gift of the Magi (Henry): V2 The Hitchhiking Game
The Devil and Tom Walker Gilchrist, Ellen
(Kundera): V10
(Irving): VI Victory Over Japan: V9 A Horse and Two Goats
The Difference (Glasgow): V9 The Gilded Six-Bits (Hurston and
Dinesen,Isak (Narayan): V5
Hughes): VI1 How I Contemplated the World
The Ring: V6 Gilman, Charlotte Perkins
Sorrow-Acre: V3 from the Detroit House of
Disorder and Early Sorrow The Yellow Wallpaper: VI Correction and Began My Life
Gimpel the Fool (Singer): V2 Over Again (Oates): V8
(Mann): V4 Girl (Kincaid): V7 Hughes, Langston
The Door in the Wall (Wells): V3 Glasgow, Ellen The Blues I'm Playing: V7
Dostoevsky, Fyodor Slave on the Block: V4
The Difference: V9
The Grand Inquisitor: V8
Doyle, Arthur Conan
The Red-Headed League: V2
326 Short Stories for Students
Cumulative Author/Title Index
A Hunger Artist (Kafka): V7 Kundera, Milan Marquez, Gabriel Garcia
Hurston, Zora Neale The Hitchhiking Game: V10 The Handsomest Drowned Man in
the World: VI
The Eatonville Anthology: VI L A Very Old Man with Enormous
The Gilded Six-Bits: VI1 Wings: V6
Spunk: V6 La Grande Breteche (de
Balzac): V10 Marriage a la Mode
I (Mansfield): VI1
The Lady, or the Tiger?
I Stand Here Ironing (Olsen): VI (Stockton): V3 Mason, Bobbie Ann
In Another Country Residents and Transients: V8
The Lady with the Pet Dog Shiloh: V3
(Hemingway): V8 (Chekhov): V5
In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is The Masque of the Red Death
Lamb to the Slaughter (Dahl): V4 (Poe): V8
Buried (Hempel): V2 Lawrence, D. H.
In the Garden of the North American Mateo Falcone (Merimee): V8
Odour of Chrysanthemums: V6 Maupassant, Guy de
Martyrs (Wolff): V4 The Rocking-Horse Winner. V2
In the Penal Colony (Kafka): V3 Le Guin, Ursula K. The Necklace: V4
The Invisible Man or Battle Royal The Ones Who Walk Away from McCullers, Carson
(Ellison): VI1 Omelas: V2 Wunderkind: V5
Irving, Washington Leaving the Yellow House Melanctha (Stein): V5
Melville, Herman
The Devil and Tom Walker: VI (Bellow): V12
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: V8 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of
Wall Street: V3
J (Irving): V8
Lessing, Doris Merimee, Prosper
Jackson, Shirley Mateo Falcone: V8
The Lottery: VI Debbie and Julie: V12
Through the Tunnel: VI The Metamorphosis (Kafka): V12
Jacobs, W. W. The Lesson (Bambara): VI2 The Minister's Black Veil
The Monkey's Paw: V2 The Life You Save May Be Your Own
(Hawthorne): V7
James, Henry (O'Connor): V7 Mishima, Yukio
The Beast in the Jungle: V6 The Lifted Veil (Eliot): V8
The Jolly Corner: V9 London, Jack Fountains in the Rain: V12
Swaddling Clothes: V5
Janus (Beattie): V9 To Build a Fire: VI Miss Brill (Mansfield): V2
The Japanese Quince Lost in the Funhouse (Barth): V6 Mistry, Rohinton
The Lottery (Jackson): VI Swimming Lessons: V6
(Galsworthy): V3 Lullaby (Silko): V10 The Monkey's Paw (Jacobs): V2
Jeeves Takes Charge Morrison, Toni
M Recitatif: V5
(Wodehouse): V10 The Most Dangerous Game
Jewett, Sarah Orne The Magic Barrel (Malamud): V8
Mahfouz, Naguib (Cornell): VI
A White Heron: V4 Mphahlele, Es'kia (Ezekiel)
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall Haifa Day: V9
Malamud, Bernard Mrs. Plum: VI1
(Porter): VI Mrs. Bathurst (Kipling): V8
The Jolly Corner (James): V9 The Magic Barrel: V8 Mrs. Plum (Mphahlele): VI1
Joyce, James The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg Mrs. Spring Fragrance (Far): V4
Mukherjee, Bharati
Araby: VI (Twain): V7
The Dead: V6 The Man to Send Rain Clouds The Management of Grief: V7
A Jury of Her Peers (Glaspell): V3 Munro, Alice
(Silko): V8
K The Man Who Lived Underground Boys and Girls: V5
My First Goose (Babel): V10
Kafka, Franz (Wright): V3 My Kinsman, Major Molineux
A Hunger Artist: V7 The Man Who Was Almost a Man
In the Penal Colony: V3 (Hawthorne): VI1
The Metamorphosis: VI2 (Wright): V9
The Management of Grief N
Kew Gardens (Woolf): V12
Kincaid, Jamaica (Mukherjee): V7 Nabokov, Vladimir
Mann, Thomas A Guide to Berlin: V6
Girl: VI
What I Have Been Doing Death in Venice: V9 Naoya, Shiga
Disorder and Early Sorrow: V4 Han's Crime: V5
Lately: V5 Mansfield, Katherine
King of the Bingo Game Bliss: V10 Narayan, R. K.
The Garden Party: V8 A Horse and Two Goats: V5
(Ellison): VI Marriage a la Mode: VI1
Kingston, Maxine Hong Miss Brill: V2 The Necklace (Maupassant): V4
Marmon Silko, Leslie Neighbour Rosicky (Gather): V7
On Discovery: V3 Storyteller: VI1 The New Dress (Woolf): V4
Kipling, Rudyard A New England Nun (Freeman): V8
Mrs. Bathurst: V8
V o l u m e 12 327
Cumulative Author/Title Index
The News from Ireland Pomegranate Seed (Wharton): V6 The Spinoza of Market
(Trevor): V10 Porter, Katherine Anne Street: V12
o Flowering Judas: V8 The Sky is Gray (Gaines): V5
The Jilting of Granny Slave on the Block (Hughes): V4
Gates, Joyce Carol Snapshots of a Wedding (Head): V5
How I Contemplated the World Weatherall: VI The Snows of Kilimanjaro
from the Detroit House of Porter, Katherine Katherine
Correction and Began My Life (Hemingway): VI1
Over Again: V8 The Grave: VI1 Solzhenitsyn, Alexandr
Where Are You Going, Where Pushkin, Alexander
Have You Been?: VI One Day in the Life of Ivan
The Stationmaster: V9 Denisovich: V9
O'Brien, Tim
The Things They Carried: V5 R Sonny's Blues (Baldwin): V2
Sontag, Susan
O'Connor, Flannery Rape Fantasies (Atwood): V3
Everything That Rises Must Raymond's Run (Bambara): V7 The Way We Live Now: V10
Converge: VI0 Recitatif (Morrison): V5 Sophistication (Anderson): V4
A Good Man Is Hard to Find: V2 Redemption (Gardner): V8 Sorrow-Acre (Dinesen): V3
The Life You Save May Be The Red-Headed League (Doyle): V2 Souvenir (Phillips): V4
Your Own: V7 Residents and Transients The Spinoza of Market Street
O'Connor, Frank (Mason): V8 (Singer): V12
Guests of the Nation: V5 The Revolt of 'Mother' A Spinster's Tale (Taylor): V9
Spunk (Hurston and Hughes): V6
Odour of Chrysanthemums (Freeman): V4 The Star (Clarke): V4
(Lawrence): V6 The Ring (Dinesen): V6 The Stationmaster (Pushkin): V9
Robert Kennedy Saved from Stein, Gertrude
O'Flaherty, Liam
The Wave: V5 Drowning (Barthelme): V3 Melanctha: V5
The Rocking-Horse Winner Steinbeck, John
Olsen, Tillie
/ Stand Here Ironing: VI (Lawrence): V2 The Chrysanthemums: V6
Roman Fever (Wharton): V7 Flight: V3
On Discovery (Kingston): V3 A Rose for Emily (Faulkner): V6 Stockton, Frank R.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Roselily (Walker): VI1 The Lady, or the Tiger?: V3
Roth, Philip The Stone Boy (Berriault): V7
Denisovich (Solzhenitsyn): V9 The Story of an Hour (Chopin): V2
The Ones Who Walk Away from Goodbye, Columbus: VI2 Storyteller (Marmon Silko): VI1
Suspicion (Sayers): VI2
Omelas (Le Gum): V2 s Swaddling Clothes (Mishima): V5
The Open Boat (Crane): V4 The Swimmer (Cheever): V2
The Open Window (Saki): VI Saki Swimming Lessons (Mistry): V6
Orwell, George The Open Window: VI
T
Shooting an Elephant: V4 Sartre, Jean-Paul
The Outcasts of Poker Flat The Wall: V9 Tan, Amy
Two Kinds: V9
(Harte): V3 Say Yes (Wolff): VI1
The Overcoat (Gogol): V7 Sayers, Dorothy L. Taylor, Peter
Ozick, Cynthia A Spinster's Tale: V9
Suspicion: VI2
The Pagan Rabbi: VI2 Scott, Sir Walter The Tell-Tale Heart (Poe): V4
The Shawl: V3 That Evening Sun (Faulkner): V12
Wandering Willie's Tale: V10 There Will Come Soft Rains
P The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
(Bradbury): VI
The Pagan Rabbi (Ozick): V12 (Thurber): VI The Things They Carried
Paley, Grace The Secret Sharer (Conrad): VI
The Shawl (Ozick): V3 (O'Brien): V5
A Conversation with My The Sheriff's Children Through the Tunnel (Lessing): VI
Father: V3 Thurber, James
(Chesnutt): VI1
Parker, Dortothy Shiloh (Mason): V3 The Catbird Seat: V10
Big Blonde: V5 Shooting an Elephant (Orwell): V4 The Secret Life of Walter
The Short Happy Life of Francis
Paul's Case (Gather): V2 Mitty: VI
Phillips, Jayne Anne Macomber (Hemingway): VI To Build a Fire (London): V7
Silent Snow, Secret Snow Tolstoy, Leo
Souvenir: V4
Pierre Menard, Author of the (Aiken): V8 The Death of Ivan Ilych: V5
Silko, Leslie Marmon Toomer, Jean
Quixote (Borges): V4
Poe, Edgar Allan Lullaby: V10 Blood-Burning Moon: V5
The Man to Send Rain The Trainfrom Rhodesia
The Cask of Amontillado: VI
The Fall of the House of Clouds: V8 (Gordimer): V2
Yellow Woman: V4 Trevor, William
Usher: V2 Silver Water (Bloom): VI1
The Masque of the Red A Simple Heart (Flaubert): V6 The News from Ireland: VI0
Singer, Isaac Bashevis
Death: V8 Gimpel the Fool: V2
The Tell-Tale Heart: V4
328 Short Stories for Students
Cumulative Author/Title Index
Twain, Mark Wandering Willie's Tale (Scott): V10 Fever: V6
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Warren, Robert Penn Wilde, Oscar
Calaveras County: VI
The Man That Corrupted Blackberry Winter: V8 The Canterville Ghost: VI
Hadleyburg: V7 The Wave (O'Flaherty): V5 Wodehouse, Pelham Grenville
The Way We Live Now
Two Kinds (Tan): V9 Jeeves Takes Charge: V10
(Sontag): V10 Wolff, Tobias
U Wells, H. G.
Updike, John In the Garden of the North
The Door in the Wall: V3 American Martyrs: V4
A & P: V3 Welty, Eudora
Say Yes: Vll
V Why I Live at the P.O.: V10 Woman Hollering Creek
Vengeful Creditor (Achebe): V3 A Worn Path: V2
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wharton, Edith (Cisneros): V3
Pomegranate Seed: V6 Women in Their Beds
Wings (Marquez): V6 Roman Fever: V7
Victory Over Japan (Gilchrist): V9 What I Have Been Doing Lately (Berriault): Vll
Vonnegut, Kurt Woolf, Virginia
(Kincaid): V5
Harrison Bergeron: V5 What We Talk About When We Talk Kew Gardens: V12
The New Dress: V4
w About Love (Carver): V12 A Worn Path (Welty): V2
Where Are You Going, Where Have Wright, Richard
Waldo (Heinlein): V7 The Man Who Lived
Walker, Alice You Been? (Gates): VI
Where I'm Calling From Underground: V3
Everyday Use: V2 Wunderkind (McCullers): V5
Roselily.VU (Carver): V3
The Wall (Sartre): V9 A White Heron (Jewett): V4 Y
The White Horses of Vienna
The Yellow Wallpaper (Oilman): VI
(Boyle): V10 Yellow Woman (Silko): V4
Why I Live at the P.O. (Welty): V10 Young Goodman Brown
Wideman, John Edgar
(Hawthorne): VI
The Beginning ofHomewood: VI2
V o l u m e 12 329
Nationality/Ethnicity Index
African American Anderson, Sherwood Capote, Truman
Death in the Woods: V10 A Christmas Memory: V2
Baldwin, James Hands: Vll
Sonny's Blues: V2 Sophistication: V4 Carver, Raymond
Cathedral: V6
Bambara, Toni Cade Baldwin, James What We Talk About When We
Blues Ain 't No Mockin Bird: V4 Sonny's Blues: V2 Talk About Love: V12
The Lesson: V12 Where I'm Calling From: V3
Raymond's Run: VI Bambara, Toni Cade
Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird: V4 Gather, Willa
Butler, Octavia The Lesson: V12 Neighbour Rosicky: VI
Bloodchild: V6 Raymond's Run: VI Paul's Case: V2
Chesnutt, Charles Waddell Barm, John Cheever, John
The Sheriff's Children: VI1 Lost in the Funhouse: V6 The Swimmer: V2
Ellison, Ralph Barthelme, Donald Chesnutt, Charles Waddell
King of the Bingo Game: VI Robert Kennedy Saved from The Sheriff's Children: Vll
Drowning: V3
Hughes, Langston Chopin, Kate
The Blues I'm Playing: VI Beattie, Ann The Story of an Hour: V2
Slave on the Block: V4 Janus: V9
Cisneros, Sandra
Hurston, Zora Neale Bellow, Saul Woman Hollering Creek: V3
The Eatonville Anthology: VI Leaving the Yellow House: V12
The Gilded Six-Bits: VI1 Connell, Richard
Spunk: V6 Berriault, Gina The Most Dangerous Game: VI
The Stone Boy: VI
Toomer, Jean Women in Their Beds: Vll Crane, Stephen
Blood-Burning Moon: V5 The Open Boat: V4
Bierce, Ambrose
Walker, Alice An Occurrence at Owl Creek Dubus, Andre
Everyday Use: V2 Bridge: V2 The Fat Girl: V10
Roselily.Vll The Boarded Window: V9
Ellison, Ralph
Wideman, John Edgar Bloom, Amy The Invisible Man or Battle
The Beginning ofHomewood: V12 Silver Water: Vll Royal: Vll
Fever: V6 King of the Bingo Game: VI
Boyle, Kay
Wright, Richard The White Horses of Vienna: V10 Faulkner, William
The Man Who Lived Barn Burning: V5
Underground: V3 Bradbury, Ray The Bear: V2
There Will Come Soft Rains: VI A Rose for Emily: V6
American That Evening Sun: V12
Butler, Octavia
Aiken, Conrad Bloodchild: V6 Fitzgerald, F. Scott
Silent Snow, Secret Snow: V8 Babylon Revisited: V4
Butler, Robert Olen
A Good Scent from a Strange Freeman, Mary E. Wilkins
Mountain: Vll A New England Nun: V8
331
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Short Stories for Students_ Presenting Analysis, Context and Criticism on Commonly Studied Short Stories (Short Stories for Students, Vol 12) ( PDFDrive )
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