The Uplifting Tale of Today Will Be a Quiet Day Essay -- Today Will Be

The Uplifting Tale of Today Will Be a Quiet Day Some readers see death, but when I read the tarradiddle Today Will Be a Quiet Day by Amy Hempel, I find it to be a light hearted, first-hand account of people get by with transition. Even its location in the t subject of contents under the heading Childhood and Adolescent (Barnet), implies that the story is not about death at all. A newly defined family, sensation man, a boy and a girl, is faced with the aftermath of divorce and explore among themselves the intricacies of life. The story gives us sublime but subtile insight into the transition and adjustments these three people make in this story. The childrens transition is marked by a rivalry, one that surfaces early on in the story and is portrayed through delightful banter and retorts. The childrens bantering relieves some stress created by the un screwn tiny steps they are taking in establishing a new type of relationship with their father in the absence of their mother. At no time do the childrens harmless antics towards one other escalate as indicated by critic Tara Baker when she explains that their arguments become deeper than the usual childish bickering. Baker seems to believe the childrens digs into one another are being fueled by difficult situations they have had to deal with lately (170). Brian Motzenbecker supports my idea that the parents are divorced but finds symbolism in what the children wrangle and the fathers quips (174). I can suggest to the contrary that these stories within the story are meaningful but not symbolic at all. The speedy succession of jumping from one topic to the next suggests to me that the need for conversation without a break is necessary. It keeps everyone from simultaneously t... ...d happily due to the father being able to encompass the entire days events into his affirmation. The natural resilience his children display is admirable and probably has much to do with how he and their mother raised them. They s ay a type of frustration that is both contained and civilized. They avoid expressing their emotions too much throughout the story. Their lives are continuing, and at this point Im sure the children know that even their father is going to be all right. Work Cited Baker, Tara. Is Today Really Quiet? Ode To Friendship Ed. Connie Bellamy. Virginia Beach Gann Designs, 1997. Hemple, Amy. Today Will Be a Quiet Day. Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York HarperCollins, 1991. Motzenbecker, Brian. Does It Spell Disaster? Ode To Friendship. Ed. Connie Bellamy. Virginia Beach Gann Designs, 1997.