The short story “A Small Great Thing” was about a boy’s death’s effects on a family. I really enjoyed this story. The conflict really took up most of the story and I understood why the parents were like this. I felt bad for the poor baker who was getting yelled at just because it was time to pick up a cake for the deceased Scotty. The mom blew things way out of proportion by calling the baker an, “evil son of a b****,” just because he called at a bad time.
Unlike “Secret Swimmer,” the child’s death could’ve been prevented. The boy could’ve looked both ways or the driver could’ve yielded to him, but no, the little boy gets hit by the car and nearly hit to a coma. And what did the driver do? He just looked back out the window of his car, saw him get up, and drives away as if nothing happened. I honestly think that the perpetrator was the coldest character in the book since he didn’t even get out of his car to ask the birthday boy, Scotty, if he was okay. That heartless man. This proves that he really didn’t care much for what he had done and decided to just move on with his life.
The parents were so overly dramatic about the whole thing. They seemed to expect that EVERYONE they had come in contact with to give them sympathy. I hated the mom and her overly weeping personality throughout the story. She seemed to be cursing anyone who didn’t mourn with her about her child, but then again a lot of parents are like that. This proves that all parents want the most attention if their child dies.
Anyway, this story really does display an even more clear form of minimalism and has a moral that I can easily see. The moral was stated at the end of the story when the baker was having the people eat their depression away. This proved that no matter what happens in our lives, our life will go on easily if we don’t dwell on it. Another moral was that, like “Secret Swimmer,” not everyone will show sympathy for you no matter what happens to you because they may have 1,000 things going on in their lives that the other person is unaware of. Also, the doctors showed this especially since they have to deal with this every single day. The baker was also just trying to live his life as a baker. He had told everyone who was yelling at him, primarily the mom, “I’m not an evil man.” He was just calling to let them know that the cake they ordered was ready and the mom was b****ing at him just for calling at a bad time. This scene also proves that people just want someone to blame if they don’t know who did anything. It satisfies them, but it’s wrong to do even if it soothes an unhappy soul.
Overall, I enjoyed this story. The drama made me feel bad for both sides and made me get mad at both sides. I felt bad for them because they were really sad or they were being accused of something they didn’t even do. I was mad at both sides because of them being overly dramatic or for their cold hearts, but that’s minimalism for ya. It has bad people and it has sad people.