Salt garden
Salt gardenShort Story's Essay
In the short story, The Salt Garden, written by Atwood, Alma has a realization that the balance of power in her relationship with Theo and Mort can not last forever. There are many instances of this loss of this power balance throughout the story. In about the middle of this story, the narrator revels to the readers that both Theo and Mort possessed their homes and claimed them as property, much the same as they do with their women. At this point the narrator is displaying to the audience the inconsequential amount of control or power that Alma really posses in these partnerships. Towards the completion of the story, Alma conveys to the audience that she is content with things the way that they are, being with both men, which she later realizes can not continue for long and there is nothing she can say or do to prevent it from happening that way. At the conclusion of the story, when Alma comes to the realization that her and Theo will not be together forever, it is this point in the story when she really begins to see how her power in the relationship is not balanced and how really she has no control on the outcome.
Munro's short story, Miles City Montana, displays a distinct loss of power when the narrator is confronted with the unendurable thought of not being capable of protecting her child from death. The story opens with the narrator's recollection of a childhood memory of a little boy drowning near her home. At the boy's funeral she also recalls thinking of how no one, not ever his father, could have saved him from his demise, yet it wasn't until later on in life that she realized what this had actually meant. The instant in her life that she came to this realization, was not until she, herself was put in a position where her child's death was non preventable, even by her. It was at this time that she figured out that, even as a parent, your power over your children is limited and there will come a time when not even the parents can protect their children from obliteration. Although Meg, the narrator's daughter, did not perish, the event frightened the narrator enough to come to this resolution, parents possess the power to create a child and in doing so, have also created the power to destroy the child. This is a balance of power, created by parents, that can't last.
Man Descending, a story written by Vanderhaeghe, is based around a man's endeavor for power in his relationship, which throws the balance of power in the relationship off course. This story begins with an obvious display of power by Victoria towards her husband Ed. This is the point of the story where the power is exposed as out of balance, since Victoria is...
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