Essay: Irregularities by Courtney Jones

The story is written in a first-person account of the narrator, who is an administrative assistant at a cardiac care unit who is in love with her boss Dr. Soleander, who seems, sadly for the narrator, to be married. She is nearly three months pregnant with Dr. Soleander’s baby, which adds further complications to the story. The main character is in a dilemma about what to do, which sets up the main conflicts shown throughout the story. At first she wants to inform Soleander about her pregnancy, but on the other side she wants to wait and see if he notices it himself. Why is it that the situation makes the truth so problematic to tell?
James Soleander is a highly qualified medicinal doctor who wears expensive clothes, such as his “Cashmere coat”. Although he is the unaware father of the narrator’s unborn baby, which we find out when the narrator says: “My boss, James Soleander, M.D., doesn’t even know yet about the baby inside me, though I believe he ought to. He’s the one who put it there.” (page 8. 11-12). He is married to Donna. Donna is characterized as a “beautiful, sweet, well-groomed and charming wife” and is an anesthesiologist.  She often comes by her husband’s office, which leaves the narrator with a large sense of guilt (page 10. 84-86)
Throughout the story, the narrator’s mindset is portrayed as an evil circle of frustration (8. 15-18) whilst also the narrator is being characterized as a whimsical and dreamy person, who only has good thoughts about her boss (page 9. 45-54 & page 11. 127-129). She also has a naive perspective on her own situations; she’s a woman, who has dedicated herself to articles in women’s magazines and uses them as a starting point to seek advice, to help her life go on. (page 8. 3-6 & 18-19).
The structure of the story can be clearly seen; firstly, the title “irregularities” is the main symbolic theme that runs throughout the story. The title irregularities do not only symbolize the irregular heart that she has but also the point in the history, such as the affair, and all the things you go through as a pregnant mother. The story builds up with the introduction of the narrator and James Soleander’s relationship, which leads to the problems that have arisen due to their complicated relationship. The reader is therefore presented with the difficult situation, which solution should she choose? The main events in the story are structured chronologically, as well as containing a few flashbacks. Flashbacks add effect to this story because they give an insight into the narrator’s current motivation and emotional state. It also shows events that happened before the story begins, which is vitally important for the reader to know in order to fully understand the tension and circumstances of the current story.
The relationship between Soleander and the narrator begins with a normal, professional employee to employer relationship; however, it then develops into a non-typical boss/secretary situation; a love affair. It began when Soleander had to examine her because she was worried after she had done a routine physical. It turned out to be nothing other than a normal examination, where she found to have an irregular heartbeat, which Dr. Soleander found very attractive, this can be seen on (page 10, 89-90). When the narrator said: “Dr. Soleander is attracted to my heart. He’s become addicted to my irregular heartbeat”. The narrator’s irregular heartbeat was one of the main reasons the affair with Dr. Soleander began and is also the main thing keeping him close to her. At night, at the conference Dr. Soleander listens to her heart again, he thinks she is rare and different from others because of her strange heartbeat which causes him to start feeling attracted to her. Her irregular heart, which brought them together in the first place, is her key to his heart. She is clearly naive and dreams of her future family (11. 127-129) by clinging to Soleander as near as possible. When her gynecologist says that she may not be capable of having a baby, she makes use of the first opportunity she gets and tells Soleander about it. To try and grab his attention, she says: “Want to hear something strange?” (page 11. 153). However, no matter how hard she tries, he just won’t listen. In its place he makes fun of her and laughs; “You know you slay me sometimes, you really do”. Heartburn has nothing to do with your heart at all. (page 12. 175-179). Unfortunately for her all optimism of being with Soleander is at an end for the narrator, she struggles to see anything positive, not even her failed pregnancy; “Even though now I can go back to doing all the fun things I did before my short-lived relationship with this baby (…) I don’t do it.” (page 11. 156-160). At the end of the story, it only leads to more unanswered questions.
The main themes as we see in the story is irregularity, pregnancy and love affair, which is reflected very good in this essay and is based on the very basic thoughts flowing through one as narrator. That gives the story such a good perspective, compared to Dr. James Soleander perspective of the story. Irregularity is a clearly theme throughout the story, which we see in her mind-frustrations and the boss/secretary affair she has with James Soleander.