The story "Israel", is written by Mary-Beth Hughes. It talks about a young girl lives with her mother in London. Her parents have been separated for nine months. Even though her father and mother live in different places not far away from each other, her father occasionally stops by her house and acts as if her were still living with them. His visiting continues even after the girl's mother starts to date a lover called Dr. Dunclaf. One day Dr. Dan Ovita, Dr. Duncalf's friend, visits her house, and observes their family situation and studies them. The girl is attracted by the hand surgeon's stories, and also changes this young girl's life of struggle into a happy life. One morning when she sees her mom sleeping with Dr. Duncalf, she becomes nervous and notices her dad weeping in the bathroom. Later, her mom and dad are together in the bathroom and her mother keeps calling her father the wrong name and the girl feels nervous again. The event makes the girl leave the house and begins a new life in Israel by going with the hand surgeon. In the end, she gets her own happy life; she meets a soldier-lover. Therefore, getting out of a hopeless environment and changing to a new environment will give a sufferer an opportunity to get a happier life.
The beginning of the story is confusing me, because the girl has no names are introduced and the setting of the room is very vague. Without properly describing how the living room looks, the girl uses the world "cheesy" to create her living room. The girl begins the story in the middle of an action and use short, simple sentences. Most of the sentences simply tell actions instead of describing her feeling. However, after reading the story many times, I was able to find many clues that the girl provides to see her confusion and overcome.
The title "Israel" shows wars and conflicts. This story takes place, the setting, in London. London is a place that symbolizes the difficult time that the girl has to go through with her mother.
