#65 Trespasses- Alice Munro
This story grew on me as it developed. I didn’t get the flow at first, and although
it came together nicely by the end, I think the story’s exposition was a bit
scattered. As always Munro’s characters are thoughtfully rendered, especially
Lauren.
Lauren is a 10-year-old precocious and lonely child. “She
had been brought up to believe that children and adults could be on equal terms
with each other, though she had noticed that many adults did not understand
this…”
Her parents are newspapers writers and have a very open
style of parenting: “we are not your average family. We like to move around.
Try things, be flexible.” This leads to Lauren’s loneliness. She can’t find a
place among her new classmates, and has no interest in having the adult-to-adult
relationship with her parents who insist that she call them by their names
instead of Mom and Dad.
While her parents are out observing the world for stories: “He
was hoping that one day Mr. Palagian would thaw out and tell the story of his
life,” Lauren befriends an older Woman working at the Hotel Coffee Shop. Delphine is eager for this friendship, a
little too eager. While it never crosses the line to be inappropriate, it’s
certainly a bit creepy. We learn later why.
The title references The Lord’s Prayer and the sins of the 3
adults in the story.
Notable Passage: “Everything might still be cheerful but the
cheerfulness was hard as knives.”
I would like to hear some commentary on the significance of the burrs stuck to Lauren's clothing and hands at the end of the story.
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