Bedtimes Tim Parks

985 Words2 Pages

I don’t want to get married. Tim Parks’ latest short story, “Bedtimes”, featured in The New Yorker magazine explores the deteriorating suburban institute of marriage and their dramas following the central idea of communication (or lack thereof). The use of various literary techniques such as structure, use of metaphor, and simplistic language present readers to follow “a week in the life” of Thomas and Mary, two stale lovers stuck in a relatable rut. Through the focus of their issues, “Bedtimes” helps us to understand and make sense of the purposefully colourless and tiring week that explores ideas central to family values and relationships. Park’s use of structure creates an intentionally boring “week in the life” type narrative that positions …show more content…

Working repetitively to create meaning, the idea of “the wall” can be seen as a symbolic barrier in the marriage. Almost every night, we see either Thomas or Mary heading to bed to find their partner alone, “face to the wall.” This idea of a wall in the marriage suggests that there is something stopping the characters from continuing. The constant “turning to face the wall” suggests ignorance towards a central underlying problem in the marriage - communication. “Thomas feels he should protest, but doesn’t”, and “…these thoughts are discouraging, and eventually he rolls over toward the wall and falls asleep,” reflect the absence of direct conversation within the relationship, as well as the internal thoughts of …show more content…

Parks highlights this through his interpretation of marriage and relationships within “Bedtimes”. To conclude, Parks’ clever use of a range of specific literary styles help project to us the marriage of Thomas and Mary. With structure, we follow the long week through Monday to Friday in a diary styled cry for help, which builds tension yet ends anticlimactically as “yet another week has gone by”. Through metaphor, the idea of “the wall” helps create a subjective barrier for the characters that they at times choose to ignore. With use of simplistic language, Parks further presents the marriage as boring and tired, whilst adding to the fact that beneath the surface, the marriage is complicated. It is through these techniques that help us make meaning of the narrative and make us too wonder where it all went

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