The Presence of Oppression

The experience of living within the circumstances of economic, political, or cultural oppression – or rather, of struggling to live within such circumstances – is common to every story in the collection, albeit to varying degrees. The sense of such challenging circumstances is stronger in stories like “No One Writes …” (in which circumstance is a defining component and / or motivator of the action) and “There Are No Thieves ...” (in which there is a very clear sense that Domaso does what he does, or makes his living the way he does, as a result of being forced to live in impoverished circumstances). On the other hand, the sense / spirit of oppression is less overtly present in stories like “One Day …”, “Artificial Roses”, and “…Marvelous Afternoon,” in which there are only passing hints of the oppression within which the characters are struggling to survive. Ultimately, because there...