I thought this was a pretty great short story, however there were a couple things I didn't particularly like. The first is China's name. It is just a little too overtly political and chiding, but I appreciate that the message itself wasn't too obvious. There were a few things flying around; overpopulation, pregnancy as a negative thing, infanticide is ruinous (duh), and maybe abortion has a place in the scheme of things. Also, the perfect "nicest nice guy" Jeremy was right off the bat very callous about China's pregnancy. No nice guy is going to insist to his girlfriend "You have to get rid of it."
I'm very anxious (read: excited) to hear people respond to this in class. For some people I'm sure this was a very difficult read, what with the presumption by the characters that abortion is morally sound, the very hard to read imagery of the baby in a dumpster, the reference throughout the story to the baby as "it", but I rather enjoyed it. I'm curious if the writer intended this as a kind of warning to sexually active teens, or a reflection on the validity of capital murder charges for infanticide or what, but it was definitely interesting.
In the political atmosphere now there is very strong message that women are trying to get across, (one which I agree with) the idea of "my body, my choice, nobody else's business." This story, however brings to light problems with this mentality, in that China's decisions with how she manages her pregnancy end up effectively destroying Jeremy's life.
Interesting thougts about the implications of China's name . . . . as I read it, I thought it mainly characterized her parents as being of a certain class, wanting to give thir daughter an "exotic"/interesting name. It sounds like the name of a spoiled girl.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the intention was a warning to sexually active teens -- if it were, I think it would be a failure.