Reconciliation †Polly Clark Essay

Separation is one of the main themes in the short story. Marriage is very valuable and precious, because it is a promise of an everlasting love between a man and woman. People getting married, but people are also getting divorced as well. A marriage does not always turn out the way people had hoped for, and sometimes they will have to separate. A separation is usually a very emotional phase, especially after a divorce. Separation is a contrast to the title of the short story – reconciliation. Moving on, is also one of the main themes in the text. The husband Vernon have moved on, beside that Laura haven’t. In the text, Vernon seems to be the one, who have the most control over himself and his life. Whereas Laura seems to have mental issues and she isen’t thinking clear. In the short story Reconciliation, written by Polly Clark in 2006, we meet Laura who is floating between marriage and divorce. She is first-person narrator, because we are able to know how she is thinking and feeling, even when she dosen’t know it. Laura had a relationship to Vernon for half of her life. It appears, when Laura knows how her husband used to walk â€Å"His walk, just as I remember, is heavier on the left than the right†. Laura and her husband’s relationship are falling apart. For months she and her husband haven’t spoke a word. There have been months of â€Å"†¦Frozen silence.† When Laura dosen’t knows how to resume their contact, she applies for a job at her husband’s office. Laura is very nervous, and she seems doubtful around her husband Vernon, or Mr. Pringle as he is called in the text, by his employer Janny. This is expressed in her following quotes in the start: â€Å"†¦I have forgotten my shoes†, â€Å"I don’t know if I reply, if I do it is in a whisper†, â€Å"I bite my lip as I reach the desk†. The fact that Laura has forgotten her shoes and wearing the clothes, the clothes she have been sleeping with, shows that she’s not able to think clearly and the fact that she can’t speak clearly, but only whisper when Vernon is around, shows that she’s nervous. It makes her look like she has some smaller mental issues, which is caused because she is losing her husband. Laura feels like she is nothing without her husband. It seems like Laura is more interested of getting her husband back, than he is. She still got feelings for him. â€Å"We began our relationship – half my life ago – in a bar, and those were our best times, telling each other the truths of our lives in the warm light.† And later Laura tells Vernon she have grown some onions and had an interview. â€Å"These are both, technically, lies, but could be true†. Laura misses the times, when she and Vernon told each other the truth. But now, when their relationship is falling apart, she starts to lie. Laura wants her husband back. She can’t recognize Vernon anymore, and it seems that her husband has moved on and dosen’t fell the same way as she does. This is expressed in the text: â€Å"How has he managed to remain himself, to become – dare I say it – even more himself, with not even a scar and even a brand new blue shirt†, â€Å"What do you think about this then? You and me, you and me in a place like this†, â€Å"I hope he realizes how much planning, thought, how much normality it took for me to be here today†. Blue is also a color for wisdom and confidence, in contrast to Laura, who dosen’t have confidence, and dosen’t seem wise. When the narrator, Laura, introduce us to her husband Vernon, she describe him as a turtle without its carapace, which is an example of imagery. The way Vernon looks around the room is described as the way a chameleon look around. â€Å"His eyes flick about the room, an alarmed chameleon.†Another example of imagery in the text is when Laura is going to find matching numbers on the sheet with Janny. There is two numbers or two times, called 22.48 and 22.49. Laura is wondering if they are matching together, because they are â€Å"nearly the same. But still they are so different, they present them self. This can be put into perspective to Laura and Vernon. Laura sees herself, as one individual, but still she is wondering if she matching to Vernon. Laura does still wonder why 22.48 are so narrowly missed being 22.49. Laura asks Janny what if she can’t find the reconciliation on the sheet. Janny tells that they remain unreconciled. Sometimes everything isn’t going to work out the way you wanted it to be. But we have to move on, so everything can be reconciled.