What Is The Theme Of After Work

Skyler Granatir
Misener
English 125.078
September 20, 2015

First

In Gabriel Heller’s short story “After Work,” one man portrays a typical day after departing from work. The narrator is a busy father who juggles his occupation and the demanding role of being a father. Facing the stories of a murder and a young person’s injury, the narrator is saddened throughout the play, but inevitably refreshed by his daughter and her needs. Heller uses juxtaposition, themes of childhood, and themes of parenting to deeply engage the reader and relay deeper meanings. The passage depicts the common experiences that prevail in childhood. The daughter is exulted by the simple sighting of her parents; when she sees her mom she runs in circles and indulges
These are everyday events for a child: being distracted, being attended to when demanding something random, finding enjoyment in the most random things life presents. The passage portrays this theme of childhood to depict the simplicity and ignorance that is so prevalent in any toddler, and induces the reader into a nostalgic state. Watching the silliness of the youth makes us wish to be young once again. The passage also illustrates the everyday occurrences and themes of being a parent. The story immediately begins with a narrator’s interaction with a fellow parent of a child whose age was the same as the narrator’s son. They discuss work, annoyances, and the death of the woman’s friend. This story of death evidently saddens both parents and impedes their ability to
The passage makes this presumption in the quote “she was running in circles on the rug again, and I was looking at pictures of corpses.” This quote relays the benefits of blindness. The ending of the story contains the most powerful juxtaposition: “now I had watched someone I knew in the violent moments leading up to his death, and it was not a good feeling at all.. The days were getting shorter and shorter, soon it would be winter. I heard my daughter splashing in the bath and singing.” Both of these quotes obviously juxtapose the happiness of the daughter and the worries and apathy of the father. As the days get “shorter and shorter” the father’s life becomes more dull, and becomes filled with more sad experiences that will stay with him, just as the woman in the beginning of the story continues to mourn of her friends death. As individuals age, they carry more sadness and become vulnerable and reactive to the horrors of the world; a parent’s only satisfaction comes from living through the young who remain at peace in their