Dear Life - Alice Munro

[여국현]

"Going with the flow. Giving. Some people were giving, other people were not very giving. Barriers between the inside and outside of your head were to be trampled down. Authenticity required it. Things like Greta's poems, things that did not flow right out, were suspect, even scorned." 

                   -"To Reach Japan"

It is after this point that Alice Munro's point of view is different from that of other's. Most of all, this kind of stories are headed for the end to show Greta's meeting with her husband Peter, waiting for her at the station, after her deviation with Greg on the train, which might have resulted in losing her daughter, Katy. Peter's waiting for her might have symbolized her safe return and coming back home after a fleeting deviation as some other stories might show. it is, however, not Peter but Harris that is waiting for her at the station.

"She didn't try to escape. She just stood

for waiting whatever had to come next."

The letter reached Japan. What seemed impossible comes true. What happens next, however, depends just on the two, Greta and Harris. No one, including Munro herself, knows what will happen to them except the couple, which is why this short story ends with the meeting of the couple. It is the two who will fill in the blank space of the ellipsis after the meeting, living their own lives. Perhaps, our real life is sparkling in the bleary silence of the ellipsis, rather than lurking in the dazzling light of the rays murmuring and garrulous.....