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From Red to Green

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B – ”Red from Green”
By Maile Meloy

This is a short story by Maile Meloy and is named “Red from Green”. They are trying to tell us in this story that it isn’t easy to be able to find out who you are, what you stand for, to grow up and to discover the terrible truths about life. One day in our lives we will all find out that we have to be able to stand on our own feet’s. In a crossroad our main character, named Sam, finds herself. In the process of the story she is trying to discover things about herself, like her sexuality and where she wants to see herself in life, later on. She is forcing herself to see her father’s and her own relationship in a new way, in the time where they are at a float trip like and this grown man is on too, who shows an big interest in her. In her process in the story she reaches an emotionally place in herself were she can separate herself from her father and begin to be a more independent women, because she doesn’t see herself as an innocent girl anymore but rather as a young woman.

The short story is not only told from a one person perspective, but from a third person perspective and also from Sam’s perspective. Sam is a fifteen year old girl, who is about to start her second year as a student. She has American routes from the little town Montana. Sam’s lives with her father because her mother died, which has created a stronger bond between them that they didn’t have before. Her dad wasn’t very excited about the fact that Sam had been offered a boarding school scholarship, she was very unsure about her how her father would feel about it, so she hasn’t decided it yet. It was clearly a topic they rather stay out of. “Applying had been her father’s idea, but now he looked dismayed every time the subject came up”. This is not the first time Sam and her father had been on those kinds of float trips before, it was something they did a lot together, but this time her uncle and his client Layton, joined them on the trip. It made her think that this trips purpose might be to gain the good will of he’s new client, “…it was the feeling she got - that they were going for the client”. Layton was very fast to make a good impression on Sam by complimenting her teeth, we clearly see that she is not used to get those kinds of compliments, “And she was wondering if she really had perfect teeth, and if anyone but adults would ever care”.

In the progress of Sam and her father’s relationship, Layton plays a very big role. Because of him she becomes awake of her own sexuality, “His attention was different…”. It’s because of him Sam sees her father in a different way than what she usually did. Her father ignores Layton’s behavior not only one time, but multiple times, “Sam knew that her father wouldn’t tolerate poaching… her father just looked hard at the shotgun and started loading the boat”. This very firm side of her father didn’t she know. He puts his own values to the side, only to get what he wants from Layton; it does not seem normal for Sam that her father is behaving so strange and different.

She realized that’s adults sometimes change their behavior and values when they are trying to convince people about something or want something from them, when they want to reach their own gold’s. Later that evening her father decides to leave them and go to bed. She felt her very betrayed of him that he would leave her alone with Layton. Layton did not only have an effect on Sam and her father’s relationship, but also on Sam her as well. At the time were they were sitting at the campfire, she realizes a grown man’s sexuality for the first time “His eyes were cloudy and intent (…) there has never been a man looking at her that way ‘before”. She felt that she got closer to the “adulthood” after that and isn’t seen as the little innocent girl any longer.

With this new kind of way on a perspective on right and wrong, is described by our title “Red from Green”. The setting of this short story is in the nature of Montana through a very hot summer in the month July. Sam had a changing and emotionally trip on her own down the river, which had brought her a little closer to the adult life. On this long trip, Sam has discovered a lot of new feelings in herself that she did not know she had before. The feeling she felt at the campfire made her discover her dawning sexuality. We are told that the fire has made her cold on one side, and hot on the other when she steps on Layton’s back ”The right side of her body was warm from the fire, the left side was cold”, her emotions and her torn state of mind is symbolized here. Layton is not like most of the adults we know, he is different and Sam was always very attentive to his actions in the story. Sam discovers a lot of new sides of herself, as well as her father does.

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