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maximalism and minimalism exercise in class

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16.8 maximalism and minimalism exercise in class(1)

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16.8 maximalism and minimalism exercise in class(1)

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Excerpt  2:

Earl Ober was between jobs as a salesman he had never been a particularly good salesman. But Doreen, his wife, had gone to work nights as a waitress at a twenty-four-hour coffee shop located at the edge of town so they could make ends means.

One night, when he was drinking Earl decided he had, had enough he grown tired with life becoming more and more depressed. Staying home taking care off the kids, he needed some kind of change. he stopped by the coffee shop to have something to eat. He wanted to see where Doreen worked, and he wanted to see if he could keep a straight face while ordering something on the house.

He sat at the counter and studied the menu.

“What are you doing here?” Doreen said when she saw him sitting there.

She handed over an order to the cook. “What are you going to order, Earl?” she said. “The kids okay?”

“They’re fine,” Earl said knowing they were laying in a garbage bag in the car outside. “I’ll have coffee and one of those Number Two sandwiches.”

She wrote it down.

“Any chance of you know?” he said to her and winked hoping she would go out for a quicky in the car as they used to when they were young, Earl was hoping for one last hurray before he drove them all over a cliff finally ending his life off not being a particularly good salesman.

“No,” she said. “Don’t talk to me now, I’m busy.”

from They Are Not Your Husband (first published in 1973)

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Earl Ober was a tall and confident man even though he was between jobs as a salesman. But Doreen, his lovely wife, had gone to work nights as a waitress at a twenty-four hour coffee shop at the edge of town.

It seemed like he never saw her much anymore so one night, when he was drinking Earl decided to stop by the coffee shop and have something to eat. He wanted to see where Doreen worked, and he missed her immensely. He also wanted to see if he could order something on the house.

He sat at the counter and studied the menu and while sneaking a glance at his wife, a smile spread on his face. It always made him happy to see her.

“What are you doing here?” Doreen said when she saw him sitting there.

She handed over an order to the cook. “What are you going to order, Earl?” she said in a dark tone. “The kids okay?” He thought she sounded annoyed and tried in a lighter tone.

“They’re all good,” Earl said. “I’ll have coffee and one of those Number Two sandwiches.”

She ignored his order, so he tried again “how are you darling, has work been busy?”

Earl tried to catch her eye, but Doreen averted his eye contact, and he started wondering if something might be wrong.

Doreen just wrote down his order and turned away.

“Any chance of, you know?” he said to her and winked. Hoping that that might cheer her up.

“No,” she said. “Don’t talk to me now, I’m busy.”

Earl got the feeling that Doreen was slipping away from him, and a tear rolled down his cheek. He wished that she would talk to him like they used to.

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Earl Ober was between jobs as a salesman. Doreen, his wife whose supporting Earl through his periods of unemployment, had gone to work every night as a waitress at a twenty-four hour coffee shop at the edge of town.

One night, when he was drinking Earl decided to stop by the coffee shop and have something to eat. He wanted to see Doreen, and he wanted to see if he could order something on the house.

He sat at the counter and studied the menu. A sad face appeared, a depressed look which Earl hides when Doreen enters.

“What are you doing here?” Doreen said when she saw him sitting there.

She handed over an order to the cook. “What are you going to order, Earl?” she said. “The kids okay?” Earl makes a quick and weird facial reaction, which Doreen sees, but doesn’t mention.

“They’re fine,” Earl said. “I’ll have coffee and one of those Number Two sandwiches.”

She wrote it down. “Anything for you honey” she said with a strained voice.

“Any chance of, you know?” he said to her and winked.

“No,” she said. “Don’t talk to me now, I’m busy.” She leaves.

Earl burst out in tears, he cries out loudly and Doreen comes to hug him.

“What’s the matter hon?” Doreen asks.

“The kids are not okay!” Earl said crying.

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Earl Ober was, because the universe was against him, between jobs as a salesman. But Doreen, his unhelpful wife, had gone to work nights, leaving him and the kids every day, as a waitress at a twenty-four hour coffee shop at the edge of town.

One night, when he was drinking his well-earned smoothie, Earl decided to stop by the coffee shop and have something to eat, and to say hi to the woman of his dreams. He wanted to see where Doreen worked, and he wanted to see if he could order a smile or something on the house.

He sat at the counter and studied Doreen, with love in his eyes over the menu.

“What are you doing here?” Doreen said wryly when she saw him sitting there.

She handed over an order to the cook. “What are you going to order, Earl?” she said, not even looking at him. “The kids behave okay?”

“They’re fine. Little angels.” Earl said, with a tear in his eyes. “I’ll have some of that famous coffee of yours and one of those Number Two sandwiches please.”

She wrote it down and grunted while rolling her eyes.

“Any chance of, you know?” he said to her and winked and pouted his lips.

“No,” she said. “Don’t talk to me now, I’m busy.”

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Earl Ober was currently out of a job, as a salesman. But Doreen, his wife, and the mother to his children, had gone to work strenuous nights as a waitress at a dreary twenty-four hour coffee shop at the edge of town, quite the distance away from home, into mostly unfamiliar territory.

One night, when he was excessively drinking and wastefully using Doreen’s hard-earned money on hard liquor and booze, Earl decided to drunkenly stop by the coffee shop and have something to eat. He wanted to see where Doreen worked, and he wanted to see if he could use his marital status as her husband, to order something on the house, call it a “marital discount”, if you will.

He sat at the counter and studied the menu intensely, and thoroughly.

“What are you doing here?” Doreen said reluctantly when she saw him sitting there, reeking with the stench of alcohol, an unfortunately common occurrence as of late.

She timidly handed over an order to the cook. “When are you going to order something, Earl?” she said. “What about the kids, are they okay?” She asked with genuine expression of concern on her face.

“They’re fine,” Earl said with a slurred speech. “I’ll have coffee and one of those Number Two sandwiches, sweetheart” Earl said with a sleazy tone of voice, with a smug grin on his face.

She averted her eyes away from him, and with a sigh, wrote his order down.

“Any chance of, you know what?” he said to her with a flirtatious connotation, and gave a prideful, arrogant wink in her direction.

“No, Earl” she said with a reluctant, slight trembling to her voice. “Don’t talk to me now, I’m busy.” She continued with a quivering of her lip, visibly upset and reluctant in her demeanor.

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The plot

Earl goes to the coffee shop, where Doreen works, his wife. At the diner two businessmen comments negatively on his wife’s appearance, and that starts an obsession about putting Doreen on a diet.

Doreen stops eating and loses a lot of weight.

In the end Earl is sitting in the coffee shop, and asks a customer about his wife’s appearance, and another waitress asks who this person (Earl) is. The situation becomes awkward for everybody.

Structure and composition

Chronological. Short introduction to Earl and Doreen.

Point of view

Third person “fly-on-the-wall”. We get into the mindset of Earl a little bit.

The title

They’re not your husband. Ownership - this is what Earl tells Doreen when she is complaining over the diet, that Earl has put her on.

The ending

Loveless marriage.

The theme

Being insecure.

The message

Be happy for what you have.

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Find adjectives to characterize Doreen as a wife, as a mother, as a co-worker

-        People pleaser, line 58

-        Compliant

-        Caring mother

-        Loyal wife

-        Great coworker, professional

She went back to bed after the children had left for school, and she napped in the afternoons before going to work, 119

She handed over an order to the cook. "What are you going to order, Earl?" she said. "The kids okay?", 7

He sat at the counter and waited. When she saw him, she said, "Kids okay?", 124

That I'm too pale, for one thing," she said. "That I don't look like myself. They're afraid I'm losing too much weight."

"What is wrong with losing?" he said. "Don't you pay any attention to them. Tell them to mind their own business. They're not your husband. You don't have to live with them."

"I have to work with them," Doreen said.

"That's right," Earl said. "But they're not your husband. "

"He's a salesman. He's my husband, " Doreen said at last, shrugging. Then she put the unfinished chocolate sundae in front of him and went to total up his check., 167

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A pitiful and narcissistic salesman with a need for validation of other people. He’s projecting his insecurities towards his wife. He’s deeply insecure about himself but disguise it really well in his dialogue by holding people with secure actions and short responses and not responding directly.

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4. Setting and symbols:

A town in America. It takes place in a diner and in the home of Earl and Doreen Ober.

It takes place before people primarily used the computer for job searching. Probably the 1970’s or 80’s.

The scale and the counting of Doreen’s tips represent Earl’s control and obsession.

The businessmen represent status. Earl would like to be them which makes their opinion very important to him. He ends up imitating them at the end of the story.