Floating By Karen Brennan Summary
Langstrand 1
Russel Langstrand
Professor Sayle
English 101-157
9-27-11
The Grim Reaper Floats The story Floating by Karen Brennan is about a woman who can miraculously float. She floats around the house day after day seeming to never leave. Her husband, however, seems completely unimpressed by her ability and sees her as a burden. A burden that he must feed and take care of. It is not long into the story before she finds a baby and brings it into her house. While this is happening another story is being told about a woman who meets Satan, and has a conversation with him in her house. The author intended for all of these events to relate to each other, and also to have some sort of deeper symbolism. The woman who aimlessly floats through the halls of her house does not have a choice, she is trapped. Her and every one else in the story is dead and stuck in Purgatory waiting for their eternal fate to be decided. All of them experiencing death in a different way, the man bitter and mean, the woman and baby oblivious, …show more content…
Another part of the story mentions that the back room is where all the old photos are kept, all of the photos are souls trapped in a photographic tomb. The story also talks about how someone cracked the window with a pellet gun, so the window needed to be covered with a sheet. The window was a tantalizing view of heaven until it was covered leaving the room completely void of hope. The last story was of a woman who spoke with Satan and told him her life story this could also be interpreted in many ways. This last scenario of the story when the woman speaks to Satan in person is pretty straight forward. Whenever you hear of anyone speaking to the dark lord, you generally assume they are going to hell. The woman Lucifer spoke to was the main character of the story, but this event occurred in the past as foreshadowing to the point in time when she dies implying that the woman waiting in Purgatory is destined for
Russel Langstrand
Professor Sayle
English 101-157
9-27-11
The Grim Reaper Floats The story Floating by Karen Brennan is about a woman who can miraculously float. She floats around the house day after day seeming to never leave. Her husband, however, seems completely unimpressed by her ability and sees her as a burden. A burden that he must feed and take care of. It is not long into the story before she finds a baby and brings it into her house. While this is happening another story is being told about a woman who meets Satan, and has a conversation with him in her house. The author intended for all of these events to relate to each other, and also to have some sort of deeper symbolism. The woman who aimlessly floats through the halls of her house does not have a choice, she is trapped. Her and every one else in the story is dead and stuck in Purgatory waiting for their eternal fate to be decided. All of them experiencing death in a different way, the man bitter and mean, the woman and baby oblivious, …show more content…
Another part of the story mentions that the back room is where all the old photos are kept, all of the photos are souls trapped in a photographic tomb. The story also talks about how someone cracked the window with a pellet gun, so the window needed to be covered with a sheet. The window was a tantalizing view of heaven until it was covered leaving the room completely void of hope. The last story was of a woman who spoke with Satan and told him her life story this could also be interpreted in many ways. This last scenario of the story when the woman speaks to Satan in person is pretty straight forward. Whenever you hear of anyone speaking to the dark lord, you generally assume they are going to hell. The woman Lucifer spoke to was the main character of the story, but this event occurred in the past as foreshadowing to the point in time when she dies implying that the woman waiting in Purgatory is destined for