Junot Diaz
“Most people don’t realize how sophisticated pool tables are. Yes, tables have bolts and staples on the rails but these suckers hold together mostly by gravity and by the precision of their construction. If you treat a good table right it will outlast you. Believe me. Cathedrals are built like that. There are Incan roads in Andes that even today you couldn’t work a knife between two of the cobblestones. The sewers that the Romans built in Bath were so good that they weren’t replaced until the 1950s. That’s the sort of thing I can believe in” (129).
The narrator of this story admires the types of tables that he builds because of their longevity. He takes pride in the fact that, if built right, the tables will last longer than their owners will. This passage is important to my interpretation of this short story because it provides insight into the narrator’s character and personality. The narrator lives a relatively stable life. Meaning, he doesn’t make a lot of money, but he gets by. He doesn’t know how to save money so he constantly finds himself on the edge of financial security and utter instability. His romantic life is also unstable and I did not interpret this story as a romantic love story. His girlfriend left him and has since married another man. The narrator neglects to reveal his feelings about his life because he takes pride in his complacency. Instead, readers see what he approves or disapproves of based on his interactions with his partner, Wayne. He disapproves of the fact that Wayne regularly cheats on his wife. He believes that he can treat women better than Wayne.
Although the narrator appears to be complacent with his life, the reader understands that he is anything but happy. He believes in things that are consistent and don’t change. Delivering and building pool tables is not satisfying work but it is consistent. The narrator makes references to the fact that his work schedule will always remain the same. That is to say, there will always be deliveries to make and disgruntled customers to deal with. The reader also knows that the narrator does not deal with loss or rejection well. When the narrator fears that he may lose his job, he gets drunk. The next day, when he is allowed to return to work, he is hungover. He also talks to his ex-girlfriend on a regular basis because he can’t let her go.
The narrator has such a deep appreciation for ancient structures that are stable to this day. He talks about the beauty in their longevity. Evidenced in the title as well as throughout the story, the narrator craves purpose and stability. Edison, New Jersey, the town that the narrator longs for at the end, is a middle class town with average incomes, average populations, average weather, and average crime rates. Nothing about the town is above or below average. The narrator wants to be there because of its longevity. Edison is consistently average and that’s what the narrator finds remarkable about it.
Edison, New Jersey
Township
Township of Edison
Nickname(s): "Birthplace of the Modern World"
Motto: "Let There Be Light"
Census Bureau map of Edison, New Jersey
Coordinates: 40.503991°N 74.349411°WCoordinates: 40.503991°N 74.349411°W[1][2]
Country
United States of America
U.S. state
New Jersey
County
Middlesex
Settled 1651
Incorporated
March 17, 1870 (as Raritan Township)
Renamed November 10, 1954 (as Edison Township)
Named for
Thomas Edison
Government[4]
• Type Faulkner Act Mayor-Council
• Mayor
Thomas Lankey (term ends December 31, 2017)
• Clerk
Cheryl Russomanno (acting)[3]
Area[2]
• Total 30.638 sq mi (79.351 km2)
• Land 29.940 sq mi (77.543 km2)
• Water 0.698 sq mi (1.808 km2) 2.28%
Area rank 88th of 566 in state
4th of 25 in county[2]
Elevation[5]
39 ft (12 m)
Population (2010 Census)[6][7][8]
• Total 99,967
• Estimate (2013)[9]
101,450
• Rank 5th of 566 in state
1st of 25 in county[10]
• Density 3,339.0/sq mi (1,289.2/km2)
• Density rank 198th of 566 in state
15th of 25 in county[10]
Time zone
Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)
Eastern (EDT) (UTC-4)
ZIP codes
08817, 08818, 08820, 08837, 08899[11][12]
Area code(s)
732 and 908[13]
FIPS code
3402320230[14][2][15]
GNIS feature ID
0882166[16][2]
Website www.edisonnj.org
No comments:
Post a Comment