A Simple Exchange of Niceties Joanne Fedler’s essay begins with the narrator making it obvious that she is pregnant, as well as that she does not care about too much. The narrator shares with the reader her intimate relationship with her favourite bench at the park, conversations she has had with strangers on the bench, as well as personal memories and opinions. The essay revolves around the narrator, her pregnancy, and her intimacy with the specific bench at the park. Fedler created the narrator as an extreme pessimist, not viewing things very positively or in a nice manner. The narrator grew up with a rough childhood – often believing her mother would exchange her for opulent desires, and not knowing whom her own father is. Another hint that the narrator grew up without luxuries, is that she was once a shoplifter. Children and adolescents that are normally caught stealing, are taking it because they can not afford to pay for it – and when the narrator’s bail turned out to be only $500, her mother would not pay for it. From this, the narrator views herself as an underachiever, taking more out of the world than what she contributes. She does not feel worthy of many things in life, bringing many issues upon herself. A fine example of this would be the areas she goes to; one place being where she met Damien (her baby’s father). Damien approached her in a pool pub, which is normally not a nicer area to be (in America), quickly flirting with her via body language; inquiring if she, “got a cigarette on that cute body of yours” [Page 11, lines 52-53]. From the narrator quickly giving in to intercourse with this assertive man from the pool pub, the reader can assume that the narrator feels as if she does not have much to lose, or gain – as she tells the audience about their intercourse, and how her and Damien “hadn’t spoken much” before engaging [Page 9, line 58]. The importance of the “narrator’s” bench is foreshadowed through the quote that lays underneath the title in the essay: “Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.” –Wallace Stevens. The specific bench in the park has a large symbolic roll in this essay; being so that the narrator finds it unique, and accepts it as a gift to find it vacuous when “needed”. To the narrator, the bench is a form of escaping her reality – a quite place, somewhere for her to leave her struggles; as if it is a trusted friend or older cousin [Page 8, lines 21-22]. She makes this clear when she says, “Benches like that don’t seem to mind that you’ve never reached your potential or managed to finish anything you’ve ever started” [Page 8, lines 13-16]. With the narrator frequently feeling that she has been denied in life, or unfulfilled and unaccomplished, she finds comfort through this bench. This bench is the “invitation that is never revoked” [Page 8, line 15]; providing the narrator with a place that she always feels welcomed, something that never “turns it’s back” on her, or tries to hurt her. The bench is also symbolic due to the fact that the majority of the dialogue in the essay occurs with strangers that also enjoy that very bench. While the author does not make the theme of A Simple Exchange of Niceties an obvious one, the narrator fills the canvas for the reader. The theme behind A Simple Exchange of Niceties is that life does not always work out exactly how you expect it to. As the narrator mentions how teenagers generally have dreams of taking vacations to Paris and viewing masterpieces of history [Page 8, line 13]; comforting herself by assuring that not everyone achieves these dreams. As the narrator is consistently mentioning materialistic things that she doesn’t have, yet desires, there is one stranger that she meets on the bench that makes the theme clear. It is a woman who cannot have a baby, even though she yearns for one desperately. The woman says that she would “sell every single thing I own, just to be a mother… everything, every heirloom, diamond ring, Persian carpet… all of it… it’s all worthless.” [Page 10, lines 110-114]. Even after the stranger shares this with the narrator, all the narrator can focus on was the opulent materials listed – both of them desiring what each other have, based off of what they don’t individually have. The author does the narrator’s perspective as first person, so that the narrator is sharing her own stories with the audience; creating a personal bond between the reader and narrator. The author’s style is done so that the reader pities the narrator, appealing to the reader’s senses through pathos. This is done through the focus on how hard of a life the narrator grew up with, and how she never really pulled herself away from it; yet just accepted that she will never amount to anything.