Sorry for the Loss How can something look so beautiful and innocent and at the same time contain such an ugly and vicious personality? How is that possible? But the fact is that there isn’t always coherence between the outer and inner, and that’s the reason why you shouldn’t judge a person by its outward appearance alone. This issue is a central theme in the short story Sorry for the Loss in which Bridget Keehan makes use of the contrast between the conception and the actual reality.

The short story Sorry for the Loss takes place in a prison. We are told that the character Evie must notify Victor E22A about his grandmother’s death. After some time, the prison guard leads Evie to the prisoner's cell, where she delivers the message. After the meeting she walks away with a strange feeling of not succeeding.

The story starts in medias res “Evie has to tell Victor his Nan is dead” (ll. 1), and one must therefore quickly get an overview of the persons and the environment in the short story, as one are thrown into. By the first sentence we come to know Evie and Victor and the plot of the story. We do not know the relation between the two of them; only that Evie has something to tell Victor. Further on in the story we come to know the two people better. Evie is working in a prison as a chaplain and has for a year. She doesn’t like the environment in the prison, and she fells unwell in there. She is religious and do therefore enjoy when she has the time to be with Good, and to shut the noise of the prison out. She is a loving and caring person; she sees the good in people, even the prisoners. When Evie looks at the prisoners waving at the quest, who have just visit them in prison, she interprets their gestures as declarations of love, “They are (…) blowing kisses and mouthing what she deciphers as, “I love you” to their families and friends opposite.” (ll. 164-­‐165) This way to interpret the situation is innocent compared to the comment from the guard, which suggest that the inmates are saying thanks for the drugs. She is nervous when she has to confront Victor with the death of his Nan, but build up the courage to meet him. Evie describes Victor as a young, good-­‐looking boy. He has beautiful teeth, sparks in his blue eyes and olive skin, and do not quite look like one

who have been in there for five years. On the basis of Victor’s young and innocent appearance, Evie can’t quite understand that he should have done something bad. She even at some point imagine him as her son. Victor behaves well and seems like a kind person when Evie is visiting him. When Evie announces the death of his Nan he doesn’t seem affected by it, but have compassion for the pigeons outside his window. His reaction to the death of his grandmother points to a not very close relationship with his family. While Victor doesn’t express any particular sadness towards the grandmother’s death, he shows a lot of compassion towards the pigeons that the inmate in the cell next to him mistreats. This shows a peaceful and compassion side of him, this is why Evie doesn’t understand the lack of this towards his own family.

The short story is told by a 3. person omniscient narrator, and we hear the story from Evie’s point of view. We often hear Evie’s thoughts, “She thinks it could be the boy…” (l. 6), which makes it seem like the story is told by herself. We know what she thinks and feels throughout the story. The author uses several other narrative techniques. There is use of direct speech between the characters. This is a way of getting to know the individuals in the story, by their acting but also by what they say. The dialogue between Evie and Victor shows a great difference in their level of education. Evie has correct grammar, and indicates a certain level of education. Victor, on the other hand, has incorrect grammar, “Done it in my last nick” (l. 91), “but that’s evil innit?” (l. 131-­‐132)., which indicates that he might skipped school a lot, and also reflect the environment he is in.

The author also uses symbols in the short story. One of the main symbols is the butterfly knife, which symbolizes Victor. It shows that something can be beautiful and at the same time be cruel and fatal. This is genuine theme in the story, a reminding of the message: you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. The story deals with the contrast between the conception and the actual reality. Contrasts are a great part of the story. There is also the contrast between the inside if the prison and the world outside. From a window inside the prison, there is a light of the world on the other side of the bars. Outside the sun is shining and the sky is blue. On the other side, inside the prison, there is noise and chaos. It is hard for Evie to fathom that the walls can separate two such different worlds from

each other, ”Evie considers it a wonder the thick stone walls that separate this world from the one outside contain the noise. But they do.” (ll. 28-­‐29). The sharp contrast between the outside world and the world within the prison walls, amplifiers the story through the use of contrasts.

Not all people are as you first interpret, sometimes a beautiful cover hide an awful truth. Instead of judging by people outer appearance, we should judge by the actions, because in the end it is our actions that define us as people.