ENGL 4310

One of my favorite sentences comes at the end of this story, “In this moment she felt she had been robbed of an enormous number of valuable things . . . all that she had had, and all that she had missed, were lost together, and were twice lost in this landslide of remembered losses” (Porter 64). She, the main character, is suddenly filled with regret for all these things she had once had, and filled with that regret a second time. In that single moment there was such a disenchantment of the self. With every item that she lost there was a disillusionment of her. She had lost herself. It made me want to go make a list of things I could remember losing.

On another note, she is so paranoid about losing her purse in the story; her reaction after it was stolen was surprising. “She came out of the bathroom to get a cigarette from the package in the purse. The purse was gone. She dressed and made coffee, and at by the window while she drank it” (Porter 63). In the beginning of the story she seems to have almost an extension of self when it comes to the purse. She makes conscious checks on the purse and the items in it. When it comes up missing she takes her time getting dressed, makes coffee, and sits down to casually drink it? I found myself laughing a little at the fact that there was no urgency. It seemed completly out of character. It made me wonder if there was something else to it. I almost wondered if she left it out on purpose, like she wanted to have something taken. Just a thought.