The American short story takes place in America in a town called Franconia, middleclass society. You can tell that it is in a town because of the narrator’s statements about people living there. When telling about her best friend, Jill, who is a beautiful girl, she says: “There were many who wanted to believe she was only beautiful on the outside, and that inside she was horrible and withered.” This is typically people in small towns. They are always very jealous of other people who have something they do not have. In the city people are not that concerned about other people.
I think the society is middleclass because of the two boys in the story, who work at a place called “Food Star delicatessen”. That kind of job is not a job for the upper-class people.
The narrator is a very down-to-earth kind of girl who is desperately seeking a commitment. Therefore she is very picky when it comes to guys. They have to be able to make a commitment, which she indirectly makes clear when she is out on a date, so she always ends up scaring the guys away: “… no one asked me for a second date. I was too nasty, a real wise guy, and all the boys could tell what was beneath my rotten disposition. Deep down, I wanted a commitment with a capital C.” Because she wants a commitment so bad, I think she is jealous of her best friend Jill. When you get pregnant and want to keep the baby you already have some sort of commitment. The father of the child can choose to walk away, but he still has a responsibility; He has to pay child-support. So if he loves the girl whom he has knocked up, he will probably prefer to stay. So here it is: the COMMITMENT. The one thing that the narrator is longing for and here comes her best friend, who is perfect enough already, and is able to make a real commitment to a guy. But in spite of her jealousy, she really cares for Jill. She tells us that she spends a lot of her time defending Jill and she would not do that if she did not care about her.
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