Short Short Stories

Most of these stories all had great meaning and I could have chose any number of them to write about. It was difficult to decide which one to write and analysis about. Some of my favorites were The Wallet and Walking The Baby To The Liquor Store, but I decided to write this blog about one of the stories that we didn't discuss in class. This didn't leave me very many options but in the end I chose to go with Morning News by Jerome Stern.

In this story, the beginning line gives way to the whole story, "I get  bad news in the morning and faint. Lying on tile, I think about death..." I take this line as the main character gets news that he has some illness that is causing him to die sooner then he thought. He reminisces with his wife about a tombstone that they saw a while back that said Peace at last. That makes me think that this guy did not know about his illness, or possibly thought it was getting better, and then the doctor hits him with the bad news. But the saying on the tombstone makes me think that his illness has caused him to be in pain and he just wants peace from it all.

When people find out they're going to die soon they start to think about what they did during their life and what they still would like to do. In this story the man thinks about what he wants to do, and states, "I feel a failure of imagination. I should want something fantastic-- a final meal atop the Eiffel Tower." He can't think of anything that he wants to do that is spectacular like that, and he blames it on not being brought up religious. The thing that I find kind of funny in this story is that at the end he says him and his wife drive to the discount warehouse and they pick out the largest television set in the store. It makes me laugh that that's all he can think of to do when he knows he is going to die soon.

In the end this story makes me actually think what I might do if I was in his situation. I can't imagine knowing that I was going to die soon and possibly be relieved because I wouldn't be in pain anymore. Wondering what I might do to go out with a bang. Something fantastic maybe. Makes me feel a lot of emotions towards this man in the story and his wife even, because as much as the man is going through the illness his wife is right along for the ride with him.