We Didn't by Stuart Dybek - Essay Example

The arguments between the two are not good for their relationship because it creates tension between them. Gin and the boyfriend finally break up since they cannot agree about the drowned woman and the satisfaction of the desires of the boyfriend. The author drives the story by making the characters negotiate their desires leading to a continuation of the romantic story.

The boyfriend finally discovers that the relationship is no more since they cannot come to a mutual understanding and they part ways because no one can satisfy their desires in the relationship (Dybek, 174). The author uses negotiation to create and resolve tension in the story of the young lovers. Gin and the boyfriend failed to sort out their issues concerning the drowned woman found by the police and that led to the end of their relationship. Tiny, Smiling Daddy: Mary GaitskillIn the story, “Smiling Daddy” by Mary Gaitskill, there is Stew, the daddy, and kitty, the daughter who is having a bad relationship since the daughter is a lesbian and the father does not agree with her sexual preference.

Tension manifests when the daughter writes about the dad, and he becomes anxious when he is unable to get transportation to the store to buy the magazine written by the daughter. (Gaitskill, 222). The daughter’s desire is for the father to accept the way she is, but the father is in denial about the daughter’s way of life. The father views the daughter as bad-tempered and sulky that makes him upset that the daughter has written the article. He is concerned with how the town will view him. Stew thinks more about how other people think about him than his relationship with his daughter and that is the reason he disowns the daughter and tells her not to return.

There is a negotiation between the desires of the father and daughter. They fail to come to a consensus that will enable them to have a happy father-daughter relationship and the story ends with the family ties being broken. The author portrays that Stew had a negative attitude towards the daughter since he could not leave for the store without the car. He could not walk home after reading the magazine because he was certain he was not going to be pleased with the article (Scofield, 93). Stew had a conflict with their inner self about what the daughter might have written about him.

That was the reason he was anxious about reading the article and judging the daughter regarding its contents. It. therefore, created tension in the story. At the end of the story, the father realizes the daughter was not bad at all but was just hurt by the distance between her and the father.