While life outside the walls of the prison can move freely, so many people are suffering in prison behind the walls in captivity and can only dream through to the outside world. In Bridget Keehan’s short story Sorry for the loss from 2008 are the yearning for freedom plotted where we among other things by a chaplain meet Evie and the young criminal Victor. Evie has come in a situation where she's going to tell Victor that his Nan is dead but the situation takes a turn when she finds out that he is a killer instead of a young sweet boy whom had stolen something.
Bridget Keehan’s short story starts in medias res “Evie has to tell Victor his Nan is dead”. This technique does that the reader starts in an open action were the characters already is introduced. The story Sorry for the loss is told by a third person omniscient narrator where we in passengers see it from Evie’s point of view. “The mix of sounds creates such a cacophonous din that Evie consider it a wonder the thick stone walls that separate this world from the one outside contain the noise”. The narrator has access to Evie’s thoughts as they often are described and therefore it seems like that Evie herself tells the story. It seems like she tells the story because the narrator throughout the story doesn’t comment on the text which does that it’s only her thoughts and not the narrators we hear through the story.
We get an idea of who the characters are through the narrative technique. It can be seen by the use of direct speech how some of the characters are either educated or have a lack of training and you can see that the narrator has pointed out. “No I’m safe ta, would you?”, Done it in my last nick” and “I know he isn’t right in the head but that’s evil innit?”. The criminal Victor has a lack of training and it’s clearly visible through a dialogue with Evie where she exudes correct grammar. Victor’s grammar is bad and one can therefore see that the narrator has attached importance to Victor have missed school due to having done something stupid and thus ended up in prison, where he has so far served five years and is still fairly young. “a slight, good-looking boy who appears barely old enough to be in an adult jail”.
The story is told very descriptive. The characters, for the most part Victor, is described detailed which is important because the story starts in medias res and therefore the reader have to sense like they already know the characters. The short story makes use of the figurative language simile where two different things are compared with each other to suggest that they are alike. “bellowed form testosterone voices that have been trained like tenors to reach the gods”, “The officer, bulkily built like a rugby player, moves along…” and “As she prays she feels comforted as though a fleece, gentle and soft, were enveloping her”. By the use of these figurative language the story are getting more vividly and more interesting for the reader.
Some of it which also appears in the story is the central symbols the story possesses. The pigeons that are flying around and lives in front of Victor’s, and his cell-mate beside, windows is a symbol of freedom. The freedom they all longed for. The delicacy of freedom comes into view, as Victor’s cell neighbor treats the pigeons badly and at times if he catches one of them he actually kills them. The prisoners know how fast the freedom can be taken away from them in just a moment and it’s thus illustrated with the pigeons and the way they are treated. The window plays a central role when it’s the symbol for the prisoners’ dream of freedom. ”a slice of road leading out of town”. Every day they look out the windows and out on the rest of the world and thereby concerning a dream life on the other side of the wall. They see how life out there all the time is changing and how free all the others is that they dream of being free and living a better life instead of sitting in jail and be cut off from the outside world and thus also their freedom. The most important symbol is the butterfly knife as overall symbolizes Victor. It shows how it’s possible to hide something brutal. What we thought was beautiful and real can end up causing really huge harm. That's what the story deals with and what the butterfly knife symbolizes. Victor is a young good-looking boy by appearance but possessing something horrible inside as a result of his violent act.
The story seems to have incredible number of contrasts which are important for Bridget Keehan. Life outside prison and prisoners is one of the most important contrasts where the differences really are important. The prisoners stand all the time at the windows to look out to the rest of the world – they are trapped in prison and therefore have no possibility of freedom as all the others have out behind the wall. There arises therefore yet another contrast ‘to be free’ and ‘to be caught’. This is also illustrated through office workers as the prisoners can see out from their window out on the street. They see workers walking to and from work. They are free men who have normal jobs and living a rich life while prisoners don’t have any purpose in their lives since they are sitting behind walls, no freedom has or possesses a rich life. "the office workers who spill from the surrounding buildings on two the street for lunch and after work drinks have any notion of the envious eyes watching from above". In addition, there is the contrast between the way the inside of jail is described in relation to the outside, outside the prison. Prison isn’t described advantageously. ”with its banging of gates and scraping of keys in locks and the clatter of each prisoner’s metal food tray” whereas the outer side, nature, is described nicely “It’s a bright, blue-sky day, and as the sun streams in from the large solitary window and warms her face”.
In relation to the main character there is a contrast between the environment in prison and Evie. Evie follow the rules when she is very religious. She appears as a naive woman who has not done anything illegal. Unlike prison harsh environment Evie appears as a fragile woman with a wish that she can get the prisoners to show emotions even if they are criminals and tough guys. She is, therefore, also a contrast to the prisoners because she follows God’s rules while prisoners have committed murder or other criminal acts which are contrary to the Catholic religion. The last contrast can be found in Victor. Victor holds both the good and the bad. He is good at, due to his appearance, to save on his internal I. At the beginning of the story the reader feels sad for him because he's so young but when the officer tells Evie that he is a killer so it goes up for reader that he keeps on a facade and that's why the butterfly knife symbolize him – the knife looks nice and undamaging out but can cause great injury – a little bit like Victor.