— Anonymous
The following response will be based on the short story “Adults Alone” by A.M. Homes. The story seemed a bit boring at the start and I did not appreciate the story as it seemed simple. There were many parts in the story, which was self-understandable, but there are many parts were I needed to discuss it with other students to get their perspectives on the thinking of the character and then decide if it was right choice made by the narrator. The narrator was giving both sides of a character, so this story needed a bit more of a discussion to properly understand the state the two characters in the story were in. The story seemed so straight forward that I was thinking to myself if I am missing some hidden meaning that the character is trying to convey. For example, the narrator says, “It is the first time she’s left her children like that. She gets back onto the plane thinking there’s something wrong with her, that she should have a better reason or a better vacation plan, Europe not Westchester”. Does she feel somethings wrong and still goes on with it or is she starting to feel guilty? This type of sentences in the story was confusing and uncomfortable. To get rid of this confusion, I looked up the document that contained important questions regarding the story provided by the professor. The first thing I learned was that Homes stories mostly contain secrets that complex humans have but never let it out in front of the public. The secret thing in Adults Alone was the pleasure of smoking crack as nothing that gave them pleasure before no longer worked for them. It made me think that everyone is weird when they are not in public and do things to keep ourselves entertained. For example, some people play video games when they are depressed or merely for entertainment. Everyone needs a way to figure out their life and sometimes it may seem weird to the public, but normal to the one who is trying to figure it out. The other question was to think about what might crack symbolize in the story. To me, the crack symbolizes freedom without responsibilities. They were able to enjoy that moment without worrying about their children as they were pre-marriage. Although I think it is just an illusion to cover that they don’t have anything in common. Also, I searched up the meaning of “Glowing like a Roman candle” and found out that it was not a simple but a kind of firework. It may be tried to let the reader know that Elaine was feeling like she was young and was free and could do whatever she wanted to without worrying about the consequences. Furthermore, the aspect of motherhood is also two-sided in this story. Elaine loves her two kids but on the other side, she is tired of the responsibilities that come with that. Additionally, the discussion board of the class did make my confusion clear as I got to understand my classmates’ perspectives. To conclude, I enjoyed and appreciated the story after discussing with others and reading the notes provided by the professor which made me think deeply about things I would not have done if not for those questions.
