The descriptions of of town as the young man who walks to his girlfriend's house on Sunday brought vivid imagery to my head. "It is obviously Sunday, for everyone is wearing Sunday clothes and the street-car's noises emphasize the quite of the holiday," lead me to picture families in pastels walking the streets, with horse-and-carriage transportation running around them. Knowing that the story is set in 1909 helps to picture the old-fashion feel portrayed in the description of the setting.
Later in the story, as the young man and his girlfriend are speaking about the book she is reading, it states that, "This is a habit which he very much enjoys, for he feels the utmost superiority and confidence when he is approving or condemning the behavior of other people." I immediately thought of my father and many other boys I know that ironically act the same way. I found it funny that even though the story is set 102 years ago, men still have the same stubborn attributes and feel most manly when they are putting others down, or at least in control of the situation.
The imagery used in describing the ocean and crashing waves was so clear that I could literally picture myself standing on the pier, watching it with the couple. "The moment before they somersault, the moment when they arch their backs so beautifully, showing while veins in the green and black, that moment is intolerable. They finally crack, dashing fiercely upon the sand, actually driving, full force downward, against it, bouncing upward and forward, and at last petering out into a small stream of bubbles which slides up the beach and then is recalled." I have seen this crashing of waves so many times now, but I don't think it would be possible for me to describe the series of events in such a nature. It is amazing how a reader can know and picture exactly what the author is writing about purely through his detailed description.
Overall I found this short story very different. I was expecting it to be uplifting with the way it started, but once the narrator begins crying at the scenes being described, I, as a reader, knew that there was deeper meaning to the couple that just a cute romance. Then, toward the end when the narrator yells for the couple to not follow through with their engagement, it is very clear that later in their life, their marriage falls apart, which in turn took a hard toll on their child (the narrator).
Vocabulary I was not familiar with:
Exaltation (page 473, paragraph 4): a feeling or state of extreme happiness
Mirth (page 474, paragraph 2): amusement, especially as expressed in laughter
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