“STRAYS”—SAMPLE PARAGRAPHS, SUMMER 2006

Mark Richard gives us characters who exist not only in physical poverty but also in emotional poverty; consequently, each character comes to resemble the stray dogs for which the story is named. In March Richard’s “Strays”, two brothers from a “poor White trash” family are abandoned by both of their parents for months. The story revolves around these two derelict boys being at the mercy of a negligent adult, their Uncle Trash. The boys live a life of extreme poverty. This can is evidenced by the inadequate belongings they are forced to make do with. The most telling material evidence of their pauperism are the screens that their father has yet to put back on the windows for spring. The narrator mentions these three times in the story. After explaining how they are not on the windows yet, the boy says his father plans to “weave patches against mosquitoes.”

But the screens get run over by Uncle Trash both on his way to the boys’ house and on the way out. Yet again, the screens crop up near the end of the story. The boy tells us his mosquito bites are infected and “{t}he screens are rusty squares in the driveway dirt.” The next place in the story where signs of their poverty stand out is when the boys have “banana sandwiches for supper.” It is likely that most people have never even heard of banana sandwiches. Sadly, it seem that this meal was born only out of necessity for who else would subject themselves to banana sandwiches? The other tasteless and nutritionally lacking meal they eat in the story is of sirloins, Champale, and cigars. Considering that most people put food near the top of their priorities, this meal indicates that they have not the money to afford better. The Four of July celebration is indicative also of their financial despair. “Uncle Trash bunches cattails in the fenders of his bicycle” and this means that they probably cannot afford more expensive decorations. He also clips the boys Old Maid card to his spokes for sound effects. These Old Maid cards are mentioned here for the second time in the story as well. This seems to indicate that they have a miniscule number of toys otherwise they would play with new ones. Then there is the “front cut-out crate” on Uncle Trash’s bike. Who knows exactly what this is but it seems to be some sort of recycled material that they have found a use for. And to top this experience off, they throw “penny candy” at the crowd.

Two brothers, in Mark Richard’s story “Strays,” endure an emotional poverty unthinkable for young children. In fact, their lot in life seems more fitting of a pair of stray dogs. With both parents gone on a whim, their absence- evidently- indefinite, the boys are left to fend for themselves. The presence of their Uncle Trash contradicts the potential for adult supervision and guidance. He lures them into a game of cards to reveal the realities of gambling. Unfortunately the lesson involves, not just a theoretical understanding, but, the very tangible loss of “everything [they] own” -not excluding the clothes off their backs. In the midst of Uncle Trash’s pathetic attempt at a kind gesture- dinner followed by cigars- the older boy acknowledges the emotional state he shares with his brother, “in our hearts we are low and lonesome.” Yet it doesn’t occur to him that the world necessarily owes them anything more. So, as the boys cope with the lack of love and support, their only consolation lies with the stray dogs beneath the house.

Richard makes a mind blowing comparison between the abandoned children and the stray dogs, both left by their parents and caretakers; they are left to fend for themselves to find their own food and shelter. The mother leaves discouraged with her husband for not fixing the screens the last straw of a list of many to do’s the husband never seemed to fulfill. The screen symbolizes a gate to the evil of the world. Once the screens are taken out of the window the children are exposed to the world. Bugs have no barrier to break through into their home anymore, just as the children are no longer protected or taken care of in any way left like strays. Stray children longing for compassion is the image readers receive when they see the picture of the dogs gathering together which was the young boy’s favorite part of stomping on the boards. Ironically, it is had to find the differences between the stray dogs and the abandoned children.

In his short story “Strays”, Mark Richard describes the severe emotional poverty of the characters. The main character and his younger brother are forced to deal with their mother’s mental illness, being left with an inadequate caregiver, and also the emotional strain caused by their physical poverty. Their mother’s mental illness is clearly displayed in the third paragraph. The narrator, the oldest brother, describes his mothers’ actions: “she pulls the preserves off the shelves onto the floor, sticks my brother and my Easter Sunday drawings in her mouth, and leaves the house through the field.” The actions of the mother obviously caused an emotional strain on the two children. The mother’s actions here cause the boys’ father to neglectfully leave them in the care of their Uncle Trash. Uncle Trash is depicted as an alcoholic who is addicted to gambling and fighting. For example, in the middle of the story, Uncle Trash begins to gamble with the boys to try and test his hand that was injured the night before in a fight. He eventually takes all of the boys’ possessions, including their underwear. In many parts of the story the boys were left entirely on their own. They were left to prepare their own meals and take care of themselves while Uncle Trash is at Cuts, a local store, gambling and drinking. Even when Uncle Trash is at the house he is either drunk, passed out or acting completely outrageous. Being left with their Uncle Trash definitely had a negative impact on the boys emotionally. The narrator and his younger brother also had to deal with their physical poverty. In the first sentence, for example, the house that they live in is described as a shelter for stray dogs during the night. Leaky pipes, screen-less windows, and his father’s dirty shirt are all descriptions that Richard uses to point to the fact that these characters lived in squalor. The state of poverty in which these two boys lived definitely had an emotional impact on their lives. At one point in the story the narrator says “ I am burning hot at Uncle Trash, then I am burning hot at our father for leaving us with him to look for our mother, and then I am burning hot at my mother for running off through the fields leaving me with my brother and then I am burning hot at my brother who is starting to cry.” Their mother’s mental illness, being left with Uncle Trash, and also the poverty in which they lived all had a hand in the emotional poverty that these two young children lived in.