The short story entitled, “The New Year” by Pamela Painter is great example of writing. To begin with, the foreshadowing clues that indicate conflict within the story are the Christmas bonus being referenced as “dumb”, the “shock of the character discovering personal belongings outside of the building”, and the “garbage bags placed next to the items (Painter, 2017, p. 69)”. A deeper look through the analytical binoculars provides the audience with hints as to why theses clues indicate conflict. In the opening sentence the author states, “It’s late Christmas Eve at Spinelli’s when Dominic presents us, the waitstaff, with his dumb idea of a bonus” (Painter, 2017, p. 69). It is this reader’s interpretation that when first seeing Christmas time many are reminded of family gatherings, church, and presents. The very mention of a bonus as a gift during the holiday season is generally welcomed with warmth, and here we have the first clue that conflict is lurking. In the second paragraph, our character comes home only to find out personal items were placed on the stairs next to garbage bags. In the real world when one takes out the garbage they are getting rid of waste from their lives. The same logic applies to the main character in the, “The New Year.” This leaves the reader questioning if the couple will get back together, and the details which led up this holiday eviction notice.
Moving forward, the details this reader noticed which were expertly characterized by Pamela Painter were the descriptions of body language and tone set within the story. For example, the author referencing Gilda mentions, “Arms crossed, scarlet nails tapping the white satin sleeves of her robe” in the second paragraph of the story” (Painter, 2017, p. 69). Generally speaking, when one has their arms crossed it translates through human behavior as one being bored, annoyed, or relaxed. Once the tapping of the nails is added into the equation the author is setting the tone for annoyance and an upsetting atmosphere. Additionally, we see similar descriptions in our characters search for forgiveness. The author mentions how the character begs by writing, “ham in both hands, cradling it as if it might have been our child” (Painter, 2017, p. 69). The significance of hands shows up repeatedly throughout the rest of the story as well through implication. Our character uses the phone to call and ask forgiveness. In fact, argument can be made that the thesis of the story lies within the fact that our main character cannot hold on to anything because after all, we generally hold onto things with our hands.
Finally, this story makes hard turns a number of times by setting time and location only to pull the rug out from under the reader by taking us through an intricate maze of turns. Take a look at the title itself. The story is called “The New Year”. Symbolically one may draw the conclusion that a new year means turning the page with a fresh start. We certainly see our main character asking for a fresh start right? The hardest turn for this reader in the story was the revelation that Fiona was the significant other of Dominic. To open the third paragraph the author says, “Fiona belongs to Dominic, and we are a short sad story of one night’s restaurant despair” (Painter, 2017, p. 69). This turn was unexpected, and totally brought everything full circle.
Works Cited
Painter, P. (2017). The New Year . In H. Sellers, The Practice of Creative Writing (p. 69). Boston,MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s Macmillan Learning .
