Analysis Of The Fourth State Of Matter

The Fourth State of Matter Loss can leave us with the feeling that we are no longer in control of our lives, a strong feeling of instability. We must understand our loss to cope and deal with what has happened. Jo Ann Beard the narrator and author of “The Fourth State of Matter” struggles with several losses throughout the text. She appears to deal with her instability by caring for her aged dog as if she was a sick child, when in reality Beard just wants her problems to disappear. When faced with a complication a difficult choice must be made, to do nothing in hopes the problem will resolve itself or face it head-on. When pretending the problem doesn't exist or similarly telling yourself it will go back to how it was, simply allows

This can be seen in the first paragraph, “ We used to call her the face of love”. Using the word, we in this sentence means that Beard and her husband were still together at that point in time. Furthermore, the name of the dog, “ The face of love”, representing the young lover's excitement for one another. A love like a new puppy, always exciting, and no matter the situation it never seems that heavy a burden. Then with age problems begin to arise, small inconveniences seem like a bigger problem than they are, causing a wedge to grow between husband and wife. Beard when seeing her collie in the middle of the night thinking, the face of love, reminds her of how times used to be when her husband was still at home. The comparison between dog and husband is seen again when Beard talks with Chris, her colleague, who asks her “Why are you letting this go one?” (Beard. J. A., June 24, 1996, Para. 35). This can be interpreted as Chris asking about the phone calls Beard’s husband leaves, or about the collie. Beard responds by saying she isn’t letting it go on (Beard. J. A., June 24, 1996, Para. 36). When she isn’t doing anything, she's waiting for the problem to solve itself; for times to go back to what they were. Beard is scared to let go of her collie, her last real tie to what her marriage

(Beard. J. A., June 24, 1996, Para. 25). One would say that Beard even had feelings for Chris, they seemed to have a better relationship than Beard and her husband. It's shown that Chris provides Beard with a sense of confidence, he shows her acceptance. This can be seen when Chris reassures Beard that she will be ok after her husband leaves her (Beard. J. A., June 24, 1996, Para. 27). Then when talking about the crude drawing of the collie on the blackboard where Beard asks Chris about his mom (Beard. J. A., June 24, 1996, Para. 83 & 87). These brief segments of conversation, of accepting one another leads to a deeper relationship than just colleagues. At the end of the text, Beard finds out her beloved colleague has been killed in the school shooting (Beard. J. A., June 24, 1996, Para. 120). After hearing this news, she goes to the bathroom where her collie soon follows to comfort Beard (Beard. J. A., June 24, 1996, Para. 121 & 123). They take a moment to fully realize what has all happened (Beard. J. A., June 24, 1996, Para. 123). In this moment, Beard has a realization of everything that has happened, how old the face of love is, that fact that her husband doesn’t love her like he used to (Beard. J. A., June 24, 1996, Para. 123). Furthermore, that her good friend, her shield from the world, has indeed been taken from her forever. Beard’s husband shows up next, this has been predicted