Analyse af 'A Simple Exchange of Niceties'

Consider this; you got something in your stomach that you don’t want. That thing is a baby, and some people can’t get these beautiful creatures, it’s actually a dream for them. The narrator in this story is pregnant with one of these babies, and she doesn’t want it. The creator/writer behind “A Simple Exchange of Niceties” is Joanne Fedler and the story is from 2007. Joanne Fedler is using the As/like-method once: “..my belly was smooth and ripe as watermelon”(p. 11, l. 151)and the language much in the story. She is using this because the narrator is a very young girl and she is very directly in her language and has nothing to hide: “He fucked me from every direction and on every surface in my apartment”, (p. 9, l. 55) and she also uses the word “Whore”, (p. 9, l. 59). The Narrator smokes cigarettes and she don’t care if the baby gets damages: “I know you’re not supposed to smoke when you’re pregnant, but fuck it..”, (p. 8, l. 3-4). In “A Simple Exchange of Niceties” describes Joanne Fedler a bench; this bench has a special role in the story. The Narrator love benches because: “They just sit and wait for you, an invitation that’s never revoked: come, sit”, (p. 8, l. 15-16). There is one bench she always sits on, it’s the bench in the park, “It’s that one just to the left of the big duck pond”, (p. 8, l.7-8). This bench let you forget you’re sitting on public property. She’s relaxing on the benches and smokes a cigarette or two. The narrator means that the bench only is for her, she feel safe on the bench, that’s whys she calls it “my bench”(p. 8, l.18). The bench is the only place, where she can do what she wants and say what she want. The bench doesn’t have an opinion about her, so they can’t hurt her. As I mentioned before, she likes the bench because she feels safe. If a bench is busy, she just go one, until the bench is available again. When she is on a bench, it’s like she is in a bobble and she don’t want to be disturb and “She is not in the mood for small-talk and chit-chat” (p. 9, l. 43-44).She want to be alone on the bench, but sometimes a person come and sit down next to her: “The person comes and sits down without a simple exchange of niceties” (p.8, l. 29-30). She has a little problem with people who have bad manners. The people there is sitting next to her, have to exchange some niceties, like “Do you mind?” or “may I?”, before they can sit down. Many of the scenes in the story take place on a bench. On the bench she meets a woman that reminds her of her Nan. The woman has a bag with her, and in the bag there is: ”A pair of bright red little girl’s shoes”(p. 9, l.39). The woman starts crying, because she can get kids. The narrator has a plan, to give the baby to the woman. A happy ending for both of them. They are talking about the love between a mother and her child. The Narrator believes that her own mother doesn’t love her, “She would have exchanged me for a week’s holiday at a three-star resort..”(p.10, l.101). At last the narrator finds out, that her mother loves her, and she doesn’t want her to get rid of the baby. One day she sits on her bench and just waiting for the woman to come, but she never came. It was a sign to the narrator, that she can make it, with some help from her mother.