On Moving On and the Big Cat

The conclusion in "Moving On" was apt at making the narrator hopeful for the future. It was a release of pain a release of the fears that she had while grieving her husband. The ability to have the narrator delve deep into her mind on the thoughts of moving on from her first husband all the while on a journey to cleanse her body and mind of the death of an important art of her life. The ending doesn't wrap the story in a neat little bow but it does allow the reader a jumping point for the development of the character of the narrator. This ability to take something so severe as losing a loved one then trying to forget them into obscurity is played very well in the story. It begins with the loss of her "window friend" the man that became a replacement for her husband. The narrator is made to move on from her husband forcefully until she herself forces the development of moving on from her husband. It starts with the letter of love, of apology towards her husband that begins to set the conclusion. Step by step the narrator deals with the transformation from grieving widow to a prospect for a marriage. At the diner meet up with the new husband Charlie the wave of regret comes up by the narrator mentioning that kids was something on the first husbands mind. She apologizes for breaking the rules. This slip up reminds the narrator that the difference of how she sees her husband and how she should see him. About the transformation from a festering wound that will never be forgotten to the mere passing, platonic recollection that she one day imagines her first dead husband is going to be.

In the conclusion of "Big Cat" we see the integration of the narrator towards the family that he let behind. This uneasiness that the narrator feels towards Elida's family. How the family takes him in because he is still Valery's father. It is a feeling of violence towards his image of a perfect family. In the end he is no longer seen as an innocent bystander of the snoring of the family he is a target. He can never feel comfortable again because he has attached himself permanently towards Elida.