Indledning
The short story “It’s Beginning to Hurt” by James Lasdun (2010) tells the story of the grieving husband, Mr. Bryar who just attended the funeral of his previous affair, Marie.
When returning from the funeral, Mr. Bryar says that he only went out for lunch. On the phone call with his wife, he is asked to bring home a salmon. He leaves the salmon in an old filing cabinet, after finding out it is too big for the office fridge.
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Uddrag
The death of Marie makes Mr. Bryar realize what he has lost and that after several years, he still loves her. At the funeral, Mr. Bryar weeps uncontrollably, a sign that he still loves her:
“Throughout the service he had found himself weeping uncontrollably.” They have not been speaking for seven years, most people would have moved on, and they would probably not even attend the funeral.
You would also think that after cheating on his wife that Mr. Bryar would be too ashamed to attend the funeral. But he comes and even cries, which indicates that he loves her.
He is not ashamed; he wants to be there for her one last time, especially when he has not been there for her the last seven years.
The reason why he loves Marie is that she brings out a different side of him: “Every home they entered was a different world”. With Marie he gets to be someone else, he is not bound by anything.
He is free with Marie in ways he never could be with his wife. Because of how Marie and Mr. Bryar were together, acting different roles, it was more adventurous, and this is what he loved; being something else than the disappointing husband.
The salmon in the filing cabinet is a symbol of Mr. Bryar and his relationship with Marie and through this symbolism their relationship is visualized.
When he goes to put the salmon in the fridge, it is too big: “It was six inches too long for the office fridge”.
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