Response to "Sea Oaks"

This story has a lot of things going on and it seems like several parts of are for shock value.  Especially the portions of it concerning "Joysticks" and people showing off their uh... joysticks as well as most of the other goings on in the restaurant.  A lot of the language seems geared towards shocking us as well as the way Aunt Bernie's disposition changes once she comes back to life.  I think the author did this in order to force us to look at the way people in poverty are forced to live.  A lot of these character's lives seems like to have the car crash effect: they keep us from being able to look away by being so upsetting. 

I don't think that the theme of the story is necessarily that these people's lives are riddled with tragedy however.  I think the author was trying to show us that even people who are very poor have good and bad parts of their lives.  A lot of the story is very funny and the main character seems to have a very level head he is just trapped because he has to take care of his sister, cousin, and aunt.  There is also a theme of redemption and not only taking what life gives you. 

The imagery is sort of sparse in this story but it works well.  Most things are described as plain and most of the story takes place through the main character's thoughts and things people say to him.  There are several times when something is described in a way that makes it seem ordinary such as the funeral home and the graveyard.  This serves the purpose of showing how bleak most of the things that the characters own are. 

I also liked the opening of the story because it grabs your attention almost instantly and almost leads you to believe the story is going to be about pilots.