“Eastmouth” is written by Alison Moore and was published in 2014. The genre is short story. The story covers themes such as expectations to life versus reality.
The story takes place in modern time The story is set in a fictional city called Eastmouth located in the southern England.
Sonia and Peter are visiting Peter’s parents in Eastmouth. Peter is exited to be back home, but Sonia isn’t to pleased. Sonia and Peter are warmly welcomed, but Peter’s mother comments on Sonia’s jacket’s colour and hides it away. At dinner Peter’s parents ask Sonia about her plans for the summer. She tells them that she has applied for a new job, and is planning to go to Las Vegas. She informs the parents that the company will call the next day regarding the job-offer. Peter’s father mentions that the night lights on the promenade is just like the Las Vegas lights. Sonia never gets a call from the company, but finds out that she didn’t get the job. The next day Peter’s parents inform her of the evening plans. Dinner at the Grand and a show at the pavilion. They also mention that the father proposed to the mother in that specific restaurant. During the dinner Sonia thinks about the pregnancy test she took the day before, and that Peter’s mother likely knows about it.
The narrator is a 3rd person limited narrator. The story is told from Sonia’s point of view. The narrator only has access to Sonia’s thoughts, and not any of the other characters. “He says this, thinks Sonia, as if he has not heard them for years, but during the time they’ve been at university, he got the train home most weekends.” (l. 8-9). The effect of this is that the reader will be more prone to have sympathy with Sonia, and putting themselves in her place. One thing that is interesting and special about the narrator is that the narrator hides facts from the reader. The narrator doesn’t inform the reader that Sonia has taken a pregnancy-test until a few days after she took it. “She has not yet told him about the test she did in his parents’ bathroom.” (l. 137)
The story begins in medias res, with Sonia and Peter strolling on a beach in Eastmouth. “Sonia stands on the slabs of the promenade, looking out across the pebbly beach. It is like so many of the seaside resorts from her childhood.” (l. 1-2) The story is filled with a lot of different events, that creates tension between the characters, which eventually leads up to a climax.
Some of the events that creates the tension for Sonia, is that Peter calls Eastmouth for both Sonia’s and his home, even though she doesn’t think that way. “”We’re almost home,” and, “Won’t it be nice to be home?” as if this were her home too.” (l. 13-15). Peter’s mother also creates tension when she rejects Sonia’s job-offer on her behalf; “Can hear Peter’s mother talking on the phone at the bottom of the stairs. “No,” she is saying, “I don’t want it. I’ve changed my mind. Please don’t call here again.” (l. 72-74), and when she changes the tags of Sonia’s suitcase.
The climax is hidden from the reader at first, because the narrator describes Sonia finding out that she is pregnant as a flashback. So the reader doesn’t realize that the climax has happened before later in the story. An interesting thing about the story is that the ending is very anti-climatic. Because of all the tension in the story you would expect a climatic ending. In the end Sonia tries to leave the city, but she finds out that the trains don’t run on Sundays. “She looks at her watch, although pointlessly, as it turns out, because when she consults the timetable she finds that no trains run on Sundays.” (l. 173-175).
The characters in the story are described through their actions. The main character is Sonia. Sonia is a young woman, who wants to explore the world, see Las Vegas, and work. She isn’t ready to settle down. That is also why she feel trapped, when visiting Peter’s parents. They intend to plan her and Peter’s future. Sonia doesn’t appear head over heels in love with Peter. There never appears any sign of affection, this could indicate that Sonia doesn’t intend to stay with Peter much longer. “They go to bed early but Sonia lies awake in the darkness, in between the cold wall and Peter, who is fast asleep.” (l. 68-69). Sonia also feels trapped with Peter because she is pregnant. This is expressed when she tries to contact a helicopter. “She raises her hands now and waves, scissoring her arms above her head (…) she does not know how to say “stop”. The helicopter turns away and leaves.” (l. 103-106)
Peter is the exact opposite of Sonia. Peter finds joy in his hometown, he is very conservative and prefers that things never change. (l. 27 – 28). Peter is also very fond of his parents and value their opinions. That is shown when the narrator mentions that Peter wears the key to his parents’ house around his neck. Peter doesn’t really notice that Sonia isn’t feeling well, he his more focused on his plans, than talking about how she feels. “Peter, smiling down at the food on his plate, picking up his fork, begins to talk to Sonia about the possibility of a management position at the pavilion. His dad, he says, can pull a few strings.” (l. 143-145)
The language in the story is very simple and easy to read. The sentences aren’t particularly long. It is possible to sense the polite British tone in the language, ex. When Peter’s mother criticises Sonia’s jacket “Blue and green should never be seen.” (l. 32)
There are many symbolic objects in this story, two of them are the insect and Sonia’s coat.
The insect that Sonia tries to rescue from the candle can symbolize Sonia, who desperately wishes to be saved from the small-town life with Peter. The coat symbolizes Sonia’s dreams and independence. When Peter’s mother hides the coat away, her dreams and independence also gets hidden away.
Imagery also occurs in the text; Both similes, repetition and rhetorical questions.
Similes occur several times in the text; “Scissoring her arms above her head like semaphore, as if she were someone in a high-vis’ jacket on a runway”. (l.104 – 105), “The whole town is heading towards them, like an army in beige and lilac.”, “By what she thinks is the sound of babies crying, but it is only the gulls.” (l.70). The last simile with the gulls also functions as foreshadowing, giving away that Sonia is pregnant.
The repetition occurs in the end of the story when the women in the raincoat repeats “You’re the Websters’ girl. “(l. 183 & l. 188). This repetition has the function of convincing Sonia that she eventually will have to settle in Eastmouth with Peter.
Rhetorical questions also appear. (l. 121 & l- 177 – 178). The rhetorical questions are used to convince Sonia of staying, and also Sonia’s strong desire to leave.
The theme of the story is dreams versus reality. Sonia has a lot of dreams and things that she wants to achieve, but all of this seems to be taken away from her by Peter’s family and her pregnancy. Sonia has to give up her dreams, because she feels forced to. The story’s focus is therefore the frustration that Sonia experiences when she feels forced to stay with a man she doesn’t love and his small-town family, which insists on controlling her life.