Reading Discussion 2: Fiction

'Enjoy the Little Things'

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     Upon reading 'Morning News,' 'Walking the Baby to the Liquor Store,' and 'Survivors,'I noticed several similarities between them, the most outspoken being 'enjoy the little things.' This is a theme that is most evident in the three stories, though they are all a bit different.

     'Morning News' is about this man who, at the hospital, discovers he is dying. He then decides to join his wife and buy a television. I think this action alone provides enough evidence to show how one should enjoy the small things in life. The speaker mentions his thoughts regarding death, saying that he should feel more adventurous and dangerous and more ambitious about the fact that he is dying, alluding to the desire to have dinner at the Eiffel Tower. However, I think the fact that the speaker does something as ordinary as buying a television set is a display of the inner thoughts we, as people, all have. Sure, if I found out I was to die soon I would love to think that I'd be able to do all of these amazing and breathtaking things, but in reality, the eloquence and intensity of those wishes is ill-fated. The likelihood that any of my wildest dreams would come true is slim to none. Thus, I find a kind of dark humour in this story. It pokes fun at the fact that everyone would think to do all of the fantastic things and breaks the barrier from dreamland into real life where the craziest thing one can do is purchase a large television.

     'Walking the Baby to the Liquor Store' is my light-hearted. It details the author's struggle to write his current pieces, and yet the author is more concerned with taking his daughter to a liquor store. I think this piece s very influential and is a light in the dark, especially in today's world. The speaker wants to accomplish his tasks and finish his work, but his daughter is more important. The speaker states that he would rather give up an award for a book than miss one of these excursions to the liquor store with his daughter. I feel this notion is absent from a lot of families today. Often, one finds that parents are more adamant about their work and about material possessions than their children's lives. Though sad, I feel this is quite common. Still, the fact that the speaker would want to do something as menial as take his daughter to a store than be focused on his work, is quite astonishing.

     'Survivors,' taking on a more serious tone, is quite despondent. It recounts thoughts made by a gay man whose lover is dying of AIDS. The man, also dying of AIDS himself, tells the reader that he wishes to die before his lover. At first glance, the reader interprets the speaker's complaints of having to deal with his lover's family, all of which have hated his lover's sexual orientation and everything to do with being gay, and having to take care of a parrot, as just that, complaints. However, delving deeper and shifting one's viewpoint from oneself to the point of view of the speaker, one can find more intricate and stronger meanings. I find the family to represent the tribulations and the oppression that gay people have to deal with. The speaker mentions that his lover's father '...tried to beat his sexual orientation out of him with a belt...' Even his father, one of the people on this earth who is supposed to love his child unconditionally, is judgmental and shows hate toward his son. The parrot represents the speaker's feelings. He mentions that he '...might even let it out of it's cage and set it free...' It seems to me that the parrot is the embodiment of the speakers feelings. If his lover were to die, I feel he would be trapped inside of himself, hence the bird in the cage. Hence, letting the parrot out of the cage, is a representation of the speaker getting over his lover's death.