The short story "Straight Pool", written by John O"Hara, is one of the most interesting and mysterious stories in the anthology, Points of View. The story shows O"Hara's masterful ability to create drama and intrigue and to involve the reader in the lives of three characters in few short pages. "Straight Pool" is a very ambiguous story in which the main point of the story is left up to the reader's imagination. The story begins with a monologue by a loyal, yet confused husband, who is playing pool with his friend Jack Mc Morrow. The speaker is discussing his wife and her problems and his feelings about her behavior. But the monologue can be viewed in different lights. On surface, this could be a simple story about two friends playing pool while one complains about his wife. However, with the clues given throughout the text and some imagination, it might be that the narrator's wife is having an affair with his pool partner.
In the beginning of the story, the narrator discusses how long it has been since he has even picked up a cue stick. He talks about his wife, Mae and how she keeps having crying fits, and that he is afraid to leave her alone. As a result he says that he stopped playing pool to take care of his wife. He goes on to say that if he does try to leave the house, his wife "all of a sudden stops crying and sits there looking at me, not saying a word, and it's worse than her crying. (Pg. 32)" In the scenario in which it seems like Mae is having an affair, she could be crying because she feels lost in her marriage and so guilty about her actions. Every time she sees him it reminds her about how bad she feels and what she is doing and she starts sobbing. It seems that she still cares about her husband, but she does not love him. For example, she will not tell him that she his having an affair, either because she is afraid, or just does not want to see him hurt. It could also be argued that her actions are very cruel to her clueless husband.
As you step into the pool hall you can instantly smell stall cigarette smoke. ... She is reading a newspaper, and seem unconcerned with what is caring on in the pool hall. ... When you arrive at table eight you take a few minuets to notice others in the pool hall. ... They chitchat with Kathy while the leisurely play their game of pool. ... Nevertheless people from all background flock to this little old pool all. ...
I closed my eyes and stood straight up in order to calm myself down. ... I powered my hands and chalked up my pool stick for the last time. ... I pulled the pool stick back and pushed it forward as it slid between my fingers. ... The vibrations of the hit course though my bones and body and the sound seemed to ricochet off the thick walls of the bar/pool hall. ... He stood up straight and tense as he watched the eight ball make the trip to the left side corner pocket. ...
John Cheever's, "The Swimmer," is a short story that is highly praised for its blend of realism and surrealism. ... This is evident when he stops in at the Sachses' pool and forgets that his friend Eric had been ill (389). ... As, he continues to progress from pool to pool, he continues to get colder and grow weaker. ... The final pool is freezing cold which suggests to the reader that autumn has arrived fully. ... For example, the bartender at the Biswangers' pool party is rude to him which means, "[Neddy] had suffered some loss of social esteem," (390). ...
Throughout my educational career I received straight As. ... And Mom would wake us all up at 5:30 to swim in the cold pool at the YMCA. ... He had spied me sunbathing in a bikini by the pool at the apartment complex we shared. ... After John was born in November, we gave up our house on lease and moved into a thirty-eight foot trailer in Seminole, Florida. ... Being a NASA engineer, Rusty was busy with work; meanwhile, I spent my days taking Noah and John to the beach, park, and children's museum. ...
"He was far from young", (Cheever 1), is how John Cheever describes the main character Neddy Merrill in his story "The Swimmer." ... Each swimming pool is a symbol of a period of time that Neddy passes through as he swims across the pool. ... John Cheever uses symbolism to reinforce the theme of the unavoidable of aging through the empty house and ladders. ...
Gay-Straight Alliances Have Difficulty Uniting Over the past five years, gay-straight alliances have had to deal with more discrimination than ever. ... According to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, or GLSEN, over 1,000 gay-straight alliances have been developed. Gay-Straight Alliances are high school clubs for gay students and their straight supporters that work against discrimination based on sexual preference. ... Gay-straight alliances provide a safe haven for harassed students. ... Many view gay-straight alliances as clubs dealing with just sex. ...
For instance the diving pool, it's the biggest pool there ranging from seven feet to eleven feet deep. All of the teenage kids that come to the pool are automatically summoned to that particular pool. ... The pool opens at noon and closes at six every day. ... It's like they take over the pool like it's there second home. ... Pool rats get kick out of the pool on an everyday basis. ...
The 1978 MTV program Scared Straight' was a juvenile crime deterrence effort whereby kids of varying ages visit inmates and experience a front-row into the "realities " of prison life. ... The audience in Scared Straight consists of a decidedly middle-class pool of children. ... Critics might argue that children forced to endure a Scared Straight' program is crossing the line. It could traumatize the child, or it could scare them straight. ... The selection for participants in the Scared Straight featured teenage children that were already in trouble (juvenile hall or other documente...
He got involved with this division after his son was kidnaped from a public pool and presumably was murdered. ... In the end, John does not commit the murder. ... Lamar, the director of Precrime had set up John because he knew that John was on to his murder. ... Now they have someone, an anti-conformist, shooting down their great program, a program that has shown positive results for six straight years. ... An officer sees the video as John is watching it. ...
