A Simple Exchange Of Niceties

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”A Simple Exchange of Niceties” is a short story written by Joanne Fedler in 2007. In the story, we follow a young woman who has become pregnant by accident and left alone by the boyfriend. Through the story, we also follow the development of the woman’s and her mother’s relationship, meet her closest friend and even a stranger who also plays the most significant role. My task in the essay will be to come across most significant parts (such as the bench) and interpret the story. In the story we never get the main character’s name introduced. You get the impression of her that she’s the type of woman who keeps things to herself and the bench helps her express herself for us. She seems like she thinks highly of herself and blames other things around her instead of herself. The problem for her is the pregnancy. She didn’t mean to become pregnant and since then she starts to hate herself a lot. She met her ex-boyfriend, Damien close to a pool while he leaned on her and asked for a cigarette. She couldn’t resist and ended up having sex with him from time to time. Her boyfriend called her names and after it happened, he just left her. While she’s sitting on the bench, she sees two black swans swim along together and wishes it was her. The swans are something rare, special and it’s kind of a symbol of closeness. She realises that she seperates so much from the swans. She believes that she’s just the opposite of the swans. The married lady who can’t get pregnant affects the main character’s decision about what she’ll do with the child. They have much in common, but are still so separate from each other. They like the bench and see it as a place to be when you have something to struggle with. They both have major problems and they’re both the solution for the problems, but they just don’t realise it at first. In the beginning, the main character acts very mean, but

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