In her short story “Paris 1991,” Kate Walbert immediately contrasts light and dark. The story opens with Rebecca’s arrival by plane “into the city of light [where] she descends in darkness.” This first juxtaposition of light and dark imagery illustrates the tension between illusion and reality in the story, as Rebecca’s fanciful imagination clashes with…
Paris 1991 – Setting
A Woman’s Place and Purpose During the first few decades of the twentieth century, feminist thinkers on both sides of the Atlantic engaged in a rigorous investigation of female identity as it related to all aspects of women’s lives. Some criticized the institution of marriage, identifying patterns and inequities within the traditional sex roles arrangement…
Paris 1991 – Literary Devices
Imagery Walbert uses selected images to convey a scene, focusing on certain details to describe a street or view through a window. Her style is reminiscent of the Imagists, including Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell, a group of American and British poets in the second decade of the twentieth century who were noted for the…
Paris 1991 – Themes
Self-fulfillment Although readers do not get many details about Marion’s life, Rebecca suggests that her mother experienced the same kind of discontentment as does she. When she buys the devil postcard, Rebecca implies that Marion lived vicariously though her daughter’s travels, ones that she, as a married woman during the 1950s and 1960s in the…
Paris 1991 – Characters
Marion Marion, Rebecca’s mother, died of cancer months before Rebecca and Tom go to Paris. She still has a profound influence, however, on her daughter. Rebecca seems to feel pressure to live an exciting, adventurous life that her mother could not have. When Rebecca buys the devil postcard and muses about how Marion would respond,…
Paris 1991 – Summary
In the opening scene of “Paris 1991,” Rebecca and her husband, Tom, fly into Paris at night where they hope to conceive a baby. They take a taxi to their room, which is so small that by stretching out his arms Tom can touch the walls on both sides of the bed. Rebecca leans out…
The Necessary Grace to Fall – Analysis
Although Ochsner’s first collection of stories, Necessary Grace to Fall , won literary awards, it attracted little attention from reviewers. This is not unusual for a first collection from a young, unknown writer. However, Ochsner’s second collection of stories, People I Wanted to Be (2005), did attract some notice. Interestingly, many of the comments of…
The Necessary Grace to Fall – Setting
Suicide in the United States Suicide is a widespread social problem that occurs in all human societies. In the United States in 2000, suicide was the eleventh leading cause of death. The total number of suicides was 29,350, or 1.2 percent of all deaths. In 2001, the figure was 30,622. Suicide is more common than…
The Necessary Grace to Fall – Literary Devices
Imagery of the Human Body The story contains much imagery of the human body in its different forms. Leonard’s muscular physique is emphasized, as is the physical presence of the corpse of Svea Johnson. But the main examples are in reference to Howard. Unlike Leonard, who is extremely comfortable inside his own skin, Howard is…
The Necessary Grace to Fall – Themes
Mortality, Suicide, and the Affirmation of Life The characters vary greatly in the extent to which the life force and the desire to live flows through them. Leonard, with his physical fitness, well-defined muscles and constant munching of “energy bars,” has a strong hold on life, as does the aggressive Carla, with her desire to…