tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5785874931969071851.post47376977225028653..comments2014-08-23T03:51:20.368-04:00Comments on LitBitch: SynedoChick’s Review of “Riding the Doghouse” (Best American Short Stories 2007)SynecdoChickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13101168719907586972noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5785874931969071851.post-71598124465644996732008-03-17T14:07:00.000-04:002008-03-17T14:07:00.000-04:00Interesting, SynedoChick. I like the Marxist readi...Interesting, SynedoChick. I like the Marxist reading of the story, but I somewhat disagree... <BR/><BR/>I don't think the narrator consciously thinks, "Hey, my Dad isn't making as much money as my friend's dad." I think kids always wish their parents were something cooler... my child always asks wouldn't it be great if I worked in a toy store or on a construction site or in a bowling alley. That's nothing to do with money, it's pleasure in the activity. <BR/><BR/>Second, I don't find anything in the story (the narrator's envy over a new bicycle, bigger house, better clothes, etc.) that indicates his fear or disappointment in being "poor". Besides, if you look at truck driver salaries and correlate it to the type of driver the narrator's father is, they make almost as much as you and I do/would (and I don't think you would call us lower-class).<BR/><BR/>I just think the narrator's comments and attitudes are rebellion. If the tables were turned and the narrator's father worked in an office, I feel he might complain that so-so's father is a truck driver. <BR/><BR/>Nonetheless, I can't escape the logic of your reading and assessment. While I might ground my argument in realism, I have no doubt that this interpretation, the economic unease, is what the author is trying to do.Fiction Anemichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03787041157272319855noreply@blogger.com