The short story I read today was 'The Fishing-Boat Picture' by Alan Sillitoe. Out of all the contemporary British short stories I've read lately this one is probably my favorite. It wasn't too long or short, and was fairly easy to understand. However, there's still a lot to get out of the story, and a lot of different ways of interpreting it.
These are some of the main things that I got out of the story:
Regret.
A HUGE theme I found in the short story was regret. You can especially notice it towards the end of the story. Harry - the narrator - regrets letting his wife, Kathy, leave him those so many years ago. You also get the vibe from Kathy and her weekly visits to Harry that she regrets leaving him, and running off with another man.
The last three paragraphs of the short story are also very important to note. It's all Harry reflecting on his life and what purpose it had. Especially the last paragraph:
"Then optimism rides out of the darkness like a knight in armor. If you lover her ...(of course I bloody-well did)...then yo both did the only thing possible it i was to be remembered as love. Now didn't you? Knight in armor goes back into blackness. Yes, I cry, but neither of us did anything about it, and that's the trouble."
This is a feeing that almost everyone can relate to; that bitter regret when you realize what you once had is gone and there is nothing you can do now to get it/them/whatever it is back.
The Picture Itself.
What does the fishing-boat picture represent in the story? It's sure talked a lot about towards about halfway to the end of the story.
In my own opinion, I think it's a representation of Harry's and Kathy's relationship. For one, they obviously don't communicate well. After all, Harry gives the picture to Kathy who sells it. HARry then buys it back, and Kathy ends up selling it again. None of which was actually communicated between them. This illustrates their lack of communication in their own relationship.
I also feel like the painting represents their old relationship. I really liked the quote Harry says,
"I don't think she wanted the picture especially to sell and get money, or to hand in her own house; only to have the pleasure of pawning it, to have someone else buy it so that it wouldn't belong to either of us anymore."
I think that says a lot about what the picture represents: their relationship, how it used to be. All of us in life go through experiences that we would rather not remember, or be shown visual representations of, and that's the way it is with this picture. It reminds them - Kathy especially - of what they used to have how they both make big mistakes.
I really enjoyed this story, and I think it makes a lot of claims about humans and the regret we feel so often. I'll hopefully end up reading another short story similar to this one.
