Essay About the Short Story: Pool by Corey Campbell

Fairy tales tell us that once upon a time a girl met a boy; they fell in love, and lived happily ever after. Reality is not that simple. Long-term relationships force couples to become more acquainted with each other, include themselves in each others’ worlds and eventually develop further connections. However, a relationship can come to an end point and therefore one will try to come back in the other’s life. This type of relationship is remarked in Fran Kimmel’s short story “Laundry Day”. The author suggests that getting rid of unhealthy relationship leads to happiness, the author uses the protagonist’s transformation, contrasting characters and symbols.

Clearly, “Straight Pool” by John O’Hara can be interpreted in two distinct ways. I can see why you believe that we should feel sympathetic for Mae, but I think you need to see it from my point of view. At first I thought Mae was just a sad wife in a bad relationship, but as I read on I realized that Mae is a manipulative woman. I need you to know that she is a very devious and scheming wife. Mae’s husband, the narrator in this story, sees that he is having problems with his wife.

The book centers around an incident involving Allison Huguet and Beau Donaldson. One night, Allison was hanging out with a group of childhood friends when she was invited to a party at Beau Donaldson’s house. When the party was winding down, the friends decided to stay

As you can see from both stories it about overcoming boundaries, accepting people for who they are, and understanding each relationship in order to co-exist.

For this essay, I am going to be discussing the short story “Swimming” found on the New Yorker, and written by T. Cooper. I have chosen this story for many reasons, and among those reasons is the personal sadness I felt when I first read the story, almost as if the universe was placing a certain theme in my life, that only the main character could possibly understand. I am talking about running, the god given instinct felt by all men, inherent in the nature of fear, and brought out in all who feel sadness in its full intensity. Though in my short life I can not compare the sadness I have felt with that of losing a child at my own hand, but if I had been placed in that situation, if fate had tempted my soul with such a sequence of events, I would like to think I could find the strength to endure and the courage to not abandon all I had previously known. Yet I am able to reconcile the themes of grief, the mode of recovery, and the longing to escape such a terrible tale. I think in this piece, as I will discuss in later parts, the author was able to put into words a transformation we rarely get to observe in closeness, the kind of transformation that turns a kind man into a “just man” the kind of death that turns this world from a beautiful and happy place into a world that is closing in on our main character, that is forcing him to surface temporarily and gasp for air, much like he does when he finds peace in the water, wading breath after air, after sea. I firmly believe that

Paul Newman once said, “People stay married because they want to, not because the doors are locked” (74). There is no such thing as the perfect relationship, however, being involved in a healthy relationship is essential for a person to feel valued, safe, and happy. Unfortunately, in the situation of Kelly Sundberg’s personal essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset,” and Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of An Hour,” include extreme examples of unhealthy relationships. The essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset,” shares painful experiences of Sundberg’s physical and emotional abusive relationship with her husband Caleb, while “The Story of an Hour,” shares a rare reaction of a married woman, Louise Mallard, who explores her emotions cautiously when hearing about the death of her husband. Each woman faces their own prison created by their husbands. The two marriages represent the figurative meaning of doors being locked in a marriage. Both pieces of literature convey the theme of confinement by using the literary devices of foreshadowing, imagery, and conflict.

The bass pounded through bodies as a shadowy figure lurked in the nightclub. Sex and alcohol permeates the stale air, the chorus of the patrons’ voices melding together to a single cacophonous noise. Asari and human dancers flounced about, dangerous curves promising carnality, and yet they are to be untouched. The neon sign bearing the nightclub’s name, The Second Circle, continues to flicker, one letter dead, and another off-color. Nothing has been replaced since the nightclub first opened ten years ago, in 2160.

The story starts out and it is telling about all these people and how they relate to Chris McCandless, but it is extremely hard to tell

The wet tiles that were beneath my feet felt cold, and moist. The locker room was filled with the sound of scalding water slapping the tile floor harshly. The room felt hot and humid like a summer day in Florida. I could feel my anxiety burning within me, in the same way a fire burns down a forest. It grows profusely worse as the second hand on the clock above my locker ticks away. I quickly changed into my swim trunks, and crept into the swimming area with fear and anticipation. I tiptoed my way down the stairs that led into the pool. I could feel the brisk water slowly creep up my leg as I forced myself deeper and deeper. I was on my way to my mother who was going to try and teach me how to do a back float. I remember tipping

     "The Swimmer" by John Cheever describes Neddy Merril's "swim" home. Neddy is a husband and a father, he is also a drunk. The story encompasses about twenty years of his life of alcohol which ruined not only him but also his relationship with his family. One day after waking up with a hangover he drinks a little and decides to swim home. It is obvious he is a drunk because he is constantly searching for a drink on his swim home.

Women are taught from a young age that marriage is the end all be all in happiness, in the short story “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin and the drama “Poof!” by Lynn Nottage, we learn that it is not always the case. Mrs. Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” and Loureen from “Poof!” are different characteristically, story-wise, and time-wise, but share a similar plight. Two women tied down to men whom they no longer love and a life they no longer feel is theirs. Unlike widows in happy marriages Loureen and Mrs., Mallard discover newfound freedom in their respective husband’s deaths. Both stories explore stereotypical housewives who serve their husbands with un-stereotypical reactions to their husband’s deaths.

This drama is touching to the heart as both the man and woman grow in their relationship. It shows meaning to the fact that life goes on no matter what happens and that things do get better. This story means so much because it shows that even through small communication so much is said. People need to remember what it is like to communicate and to remember that in the end it was all worth it.

The story begins with a prison guard arriving at Mrs Spencer's door to give Paula the unfortunate news that her husband, Charlo has died. Then Paula explains the marital status between her and her husband, which is that they are separated. She talks of their wedding, their children and

"The Swimmer," by John Cheever, illustrates one man's journey from a typical suburban life to loneliness and isolation. This short story is characteristic of John Cheever's typical characterizations of suburbia, with all it's finery and entrapments. Cheever has been noted for his "skill as a realist depicter of suburban manners and morals" (Norton, p. 1861). Yet this story presents a deeper look into Neddy Merril's downfall from the contentment of a summer's day to the realization of darker times.

With many of the texts that were assigned to us, each one dealt with the relationship between insiders and outsiders differently. The insider and outsider relationship varies between both the idea of inner conflict and outside conflict. I will be explaining these relationships from the texts of Gooboora, The Silent Pool, The Tell-Tale Heart, and Things Fall Apart. Gooboora, The Silent Pool deals with the relationship of the Aboriginal people of Australia and colonialization, while The Tell-Tale Heart deals with an outsider’s effect on the main character’s subconscious. Things Fall Apart, however, is a mixture of both conflicts that were mentioned. Each of the three texts show how the outside negatively effects the inside.