Low Visibility Essay Example

something he was lacking, and he expected it to seep into him. He did not think of her, and how she felt.

To Laura, his criticism became like a dripping tap he never fixed (p. 2, l. 27). In their marriage, there was only Laura's fear and John's greed. At a point where Laura asks John not to go out to the riot, we learn that this is the first time in four years that she had spoken a command to him. Though considered her fear of him, this is not surprising. John blamed her for his unhappiness, and as he did so, he grew bigger on her misery (p. 4, l. 154). The reason for the riots in the street is unknown. We first hear of the riot attacking the police with fire, winning against them.

Next we hear that the mob has pulled a guy out of his van and beat him up. Afterwards they put his van on fire. After showing who is in charge for the night, they start robbing the groceries for everything they have got. All of this is occurring on a local plan, and the riot gradually gets closer to the John and Laura is. At last the riot gets to the shop beneath John and Laura, rob the shop, and puts it on fire. John gets downstairs to fight with them, but ends beaten up on the street. Laura does not get harmed, in fact a man pushing a stolen trolley gives her a friendly message, when John asks for help: ”Save a mint on the rental,” he says as he passes, dropping her a friendly wink. ” (p.

5, l. 147)

This could be interpreted as another way of saying 'you are free to go, mrs'. In this way, Laura is pushed one step further to leaving John. The story starts out in medias res at John's and Laura's place, where we at first through their TV get to know about the riot going on in town. Throughout the story the focus switches between what is going on outside, and the relationship John and Laura have, describing the past and present of it.

Gradually as the riot approaches to their place, and finally gets too close, we see how Laura protests, and takes her chance to get away from John. She is not strong at will at first. Though it is not until John is on the ground bleeding from the fight with the mob that she can shake the feeling of guilt off of her. Before taking her decision to leave, she reflects upon their relationship, and confirms to herself that she does not owe him anything. The culmination with the mob was her escape, and her chance to realize that her spirit and hope is not gone.

As she balances between giving back John what he deserves and choosing to walk away, she sees the horror in his eyes. This horror reminds her of the horror he inflicted on her, which would seem to justify the situation. After all, now he knows how she felt. The end of control in the local society is the end of their relationship. Another remarkable detail of the story is that we do not get to know that her name is Laura before she is set free in

the very end. This punctuates that she has regained her identity. “Low Visibility” is a title which symbolizes different aspects of the story. One of them is the way John treats Laura.

He does not think outside of his own needs, which shows he has a low visibility, when it comes to her feelings. Another symbolization is Laura's situation, because John had been overclouding her life, and made sure she did not see a way out of his firm grip. Also Laura in her appearance was invisible while under John's control, so she was hard to notice. As mentioned, she gets away from him, and becomes visible. A woman can handle many things, and has to put up with a lot through life. A woman needs to care for who she is, rather than let people remold her. This short story underlines just that.