Miranda
Teen pregnancy is a heavily disputed subject. Often, when the accident of a pregnancy occurs, the young people are sensible enough to resort to an abortion. In ordinary circumstances a couple that have decided to have a child is ready financially and personally. But how will ones parents react, when an inexperienced teenager is ready to drop out of college and set aside a proper education? In Andre Dubus’ short story the main character Miranda is torn between the love of a child and the expectations from one’s parents.

The story starts in medias res, where we are thrown directly into the plot. In the story we see a build up in tension, where the point of no return, is where Miranda finds out that she is pregnant. The tension then keeps adding up, as we hear Miranda’s future plan on the basis of the pregnancy. Furthermore, we encounter the climax when Miranda and her boyfriend argue with her parents. Afterwards the tension fades in the ending, when Michael is persuaded and an abortion is decided.
Miranda is an 18-year-old girl who is set, to leave Los Angeles for a college in Boston. The day before she has to depart is a day with lots of emotions. She has to take her leave with her parents and her beloved boyfriend, Michael. By doing so, she has a date with Michael, where it becomes clear that Miranda really is in love with Michael. This becomes clear with Miranda’s action: “ […] kissed him and with her tongue she told him yes” this action indicates that Miranda has decided to give herself to Michael. But later Miranda says that she did it because she was not thinking. She truly is blinded by love, which is expressed in the last part of they story. She has to confront her pregnancy and marriage plans with her parents. But many times during the conversation, Miranda looks at Michael and practically spaces out. You could characterize her as an insecure and docile girl, as she has trouble with stating her mind. It is expressed throughout the story e.g. when she is unwilling to confront her roommate in Boston because she is afraid to feel disapproved by her. She is also a girl who is compliant which is seen in a conversation with her roommate Holly: “I want to be owned” where she says that she wants to be owned. Holly in this story and in relation to Miranda works as a contrast to Miranda’s personality because of her different view on the events that occur. First of all, Holly is surprised with Miranda’s certainty of keeping the child; secondly she is very detached about her relationships with men. In this way, she is a great contrast to Miranda in the matter of experience. Michael is an odd match, when you compare him with Miranda. Michael is not excited for actually keeping the baby, which is expressed in the conversation between Miranda and Michael: “»This one is all right for me, maybe all right for two, but with a « he stopped.”. This quote shows how he is not able to actually mention the word baby, which signifies his wavering certainty in actually wanting the baby. Miranda’s parents also indicate that Michael only is a subsidiary part of Miranda’s life. The statement can be substantiated by Miranda’s and Michael’s different social setting. Michael is not very rich. He drives an old and dented Plymouth, which substantiates his lack of wealth. Miranda, on the other hand, is well off. Her family owns a Corvette and Miranda is enrolling for college, which costs a fortune in the US. Her parents are also fixated on Miranda’s future, whereas it is implied that she is going to have an unhappy future: “»What scares us, though, is you being unhappy; and the odds are that you will be«” According to her parents, she is going to be unhappy with keeping the child and marrying Michael. Firstly because Miranda and Michael will not be able to financially have a child. Second, because Miranda’s mom also consider Miranda to be personally unready to take care of her child, because of her relation to marriage: “»You can’t make marriage the be-all and end-all. Because if you do it won’t work.«” The quote shows how Miranda is ready to drop everything and forsake a future with a good education and a well-paid job.
In the ending of the story, however, we see Michael give in to Miranda’s parents and at that point Miranda knew that she had lost: “She would have cried, but she felt dry inside, she was tired, and she knew the night was ended”. The ending of the story also implies the ending for the relationship between Miranda and Michael, which is expressed through the narrator: “That was how she would most often remember him; even later when she would most often remember him”. This quote indicates that Miranda sees Michael later, but only remembers him in the last moment, where he, in a way, betrayed Miranda. But the story is only told from Miranda’s point of view. This means that even though Michael and her parents are the most rational and sensible ones towards this pregnancy, we still feel sorry for Miranda, as it feels like they are disrespecting her own choices. The author does this through the narrator, who is a third person narrator. The narrator only knows what Miranda has on his or hers mind, and is therefore a limited third person narrator. We therefore receive a very subjective point of view, since Miranda clearly is deeply attached to the child emotionally. All in all the plot of the story is based on Miranda’s escalating conflict between her emotionally attached child and the rational choice of abortion. In the start of the story, we see a normal teenage girl. She has her own place, a boyfriend and a family that will do everything to give her a good future. But later, as the pregnancy develops, we see a young woman who is ready to drop out of college and let pregnancy be the be-all and end-all. She ends up being sceptical of her surroundings, as things do not seem to go, as she emotionally wants. The frustration by her parents’ strict love and expectations and by the true feelings from her boyfriend leads to the choice of abortion.

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[ 1 ]. P. 1 l. 10
[ 2 ]. P.4 l. 95
[ 3 ]. P. 6 ll. 171-172
[ 4 ]. P. 5 ll. 150-151
[ 5 ]. P. 6 ll. 193-194