LaTisha Jordan
Humanities 201
Professor Sean Doyle
October 1, 2013
Short Essay 1 – Story Profile: Amy Bloom By-and-by In Amy Bloom’s By-and-by, I considered the primary conflict in this short story to what happened to Anne as a result of being missing and last seen with a serial killer. Bloom presents this when she notes that Anne was with a serial killer during her disappearance. It led me to believe that someone is dead and there will be an issue of how they died instead of if they actually did or not. The climax could be when Eugene Trask had his trial and the details of what happened to Anne was revealed. Bloom had a way to show tension and unease about Anne’s disappearance when Mrs. Warburg considers that Anne may be very well alive and Mr. Warburg hurries her off the phone when she tells the narrator this theory. Another way that Bloom builds suspense is by noting specific details of what happens to the brain cells and heart when death is approaching. This gives the reader a clear indication that a body is decomposing somewhere in the midst. Bloom indirectly characterizes (show method) the characters in this story. In Anne’s case, you can get a depiction of how Anne was from her mother, Mrs. Warburg. She noted that Anne was “her mother’s daughter”. She also noted that Anne loves glamorous when she said, “We love glamorous”. This method was also true in Eugene Trask’s case because he was said to be a “worthless piece of shit” by his sister, Rose. This was kind of ironic to me because here he is going around on a murder spree. I believe that Anne was a static character in this story because she remained the same. She didn’t change because she died and all they had was the recollection of her. In the story I can recall the narrator saying that she and Mr. Warburg spoke of the past Anne. I think that Bloom wanted us to identify with Anne’s death and not particularly her because of how the narrator chose to deal and explain the details surrounding Anne. She uses the gory details of Anne’s corpse, the creepiness of her being in Anne’s room, talking to Anne’s mother and wearing Anne’s clothes. Everything about Anne’s room is related to the theme of death. Anne died and here the narrator is, grieving in the room and talking to Anne’s mom. If the setting were to be at the site where Anne was killed, it could have set a different atmosphere as far as how the relevance of grief was perceived in the story. The story would have probably be focused on the details regarding the way she was killed instead of just noting that she was stabbed a couple of times when she tried to get away after she was raped. It probably would’ve downplayed the eccentricity of Mrs. Warburg and the roommate’s coping mechanism of drinking and reminiscing. I do not think that the room particularly was important because after Anne’s death it was not mentioned and Mrs. Warburg and the narrator discontinued their conversations. The narrator noted that she even missed the talks and the rum and coke. This story is told through the deceased Anne’s roommate in first person. This way made me feel constricted to the feelings of the narrator. The roommate is more concerned with “death” and is grieving accordingly. I think that I could have gotten a clear depiction of Anne and her life if it was told by the mother because she seemed to be the one who was considered to be just like Anne. She even mentioned how alike they were in the story and knew things that Anne would or wouldn’t do (like not baking pineapple cake). The roommate, in my opinion, was reliable in her account of what happened to them all in this story. She told us what happened to the people involved without any biased opinions and let that be up to the reader. She also told her feelings about the whole ordeal in her reflection at the end. How she missed the people and things involved and how she missed the dead. As far as I could see, the overall theme of this story is death. It is tied throughout the story. When you read the story you see words like die, killed, dark, and dead on numerous occasions. The author establishes the theme from the very beginning when she writes, “Every death is violent”. This added suspense and drama which drew me in to keep reading. Then Bloom goes on to accounts as to how the body decomposes. I figured that the roommate had something going on mentally, but I realized that this was a method to keep the tone in a dark place. Then it goes on to the reality that murders do happen for reasons we cannot explain. It was not clear on why Eugene did those things to those people. I saw that the reason for Anne’s death was resistance because she tried to fight back.
Seeing that the overall theme was death, this word was connected from the beginning to the end and set the tone for the story. The roommate gave a clear insight on what happened to Anne and the people in her life after her death. The setting gave a personal feel to connect the roommate to Anne. Since the roommate was the closest thing to Anne surrounding her death, the roommate’s point of view was necessary to grasp the short story. When someone reads this story they will get a clear picture of how some people respond when there is the issue of dying. It will force to take an in depth look at certain details that could be involved.