This piece made me feel uneasy. You don’t know the exact details to the individuals in the story and the escalating action towards each other through the baby makes you wonder and worry about these individuals. An element that stands out is at the end “he felt the baby slipping out of his hands and he pulled back very hard”. This makes me think of so many children who are abused by their parents. How people lash out at one another through their children with out thinking of the damage that is occurring.
Verbal Irony is exhibited in this story through “I’m glad you’re leaving! I’m glad you’re leaving! She said. Do you hear...Son of a bitch! I’m so glad you’re leaving! She began to cry.” She is saying that she wants him to go but she really doesn’t. She is saying one thing, but meaning another. I think that the author is trying to demonstrate the selfishness of the couple. How the woman not letting the man take the picture of the baby with him was the trigger object to physical fight that they had over the baby. They were so lost in the hatred for each other that they did not realize that they were hurting what they were fighting over.
The question I have is why you think the mother didn’t let go. It seems to me that when their baby is crying and they are obviously getting hurt, she would do her best to protect him rather than hurt him.
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I think this is a very good question--one I didn't even consider until now. I agree that she didn't let go of their baby because she secretly wanted him to stay. His motivation for the tug-o-war struggle was equally selfish--he didn’t want to go. As unacceptable as their actions were, I think they both underestimated or maybe subconsciously neglected to notice the amount of pain they were inflicting on their child--they were far more engrossed in the amount of pain they were causing each other.
ReplyDeleteGreat question. After reading the story I assumed that because they were so intent on "hurting" the other person by being the one that kept the child, they didnt care about the pain that were inflicting on the child. Spite can be a devastating thing...
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