Summary

The main character of A Great Effort is simply referred to as “he,” and he begins the story by describing a recurring dream he has where he and his father were “a yellow animal, a single animal looking at itself in the mirror” (189). Deciding to do something about it, he resolves to go see Mrs. Linn. During his weekly massages, he says his anxiety disappeared and he had a “residual peace” that lasted for a few days (190). During his sixth session, he talked about his father, telling her about when he was found walking along a highway median. In the eighth session, he told her about the next time his father tried to leave his family, making sure to repeat that he was staring at the yellow tiles. When his father tried to leave, his mother reminded him of the shopping list...