Jim Shepard's The Zero Meter Diving Team

A cause and effect analysis of “The Zero Meter Diving Team,” a short story, by Jim Shepard. The analysis will discuss Shepard introduction of the events leading up to the explosion and the events following the explosion setting the tone for the irrefutable fate of both Chernobyl and the Prushinsky brothers. Shepard introduces these events through the five stages of grief; the five stages of grief are as follows: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Notably, not all reach the final stage of acceptance peacefully. Five stages of grief pre-explosion; first stage of denial, “For thirty years, accidents went unreported, so that the lessons derived from these accidents remained with those who’d experienced them. It was as if no

‘What is?’ I asked, wild with rage at the both of us” (Shepard 13). The third stage bargaining in childhood, “I was ten and imagined myself his ally. Petya was five. Mikhail was seven. Both are weeping in the photo, their hands on their thighs” (Shepard 1). Bargaining during adulthood, “I could still be someone I could live with, I found myself thinking on the third night. All it would take was change” (Shepard 15). The fourth stage, depression in childhood, “But every night we peeped at one another across the dark floor between our beds, vacant and alone” (Shepard 2). Depression during adulthood; Boris had a strange relationship with his brothers, one in which Boris never revealed his true feelings to Mikhail nor Petya. “The investigator is weeping! My brother said triumphantly, again” (Shepard 6). Mikhail and Petya expressed their distaste for Boris’ coldness as a child and adult in various types of communication. Boris asked his brother, “Was I ever the brother you hoped I would be…he seemed more repelled by himself than by me, and nodded” (Shepard 15). The final state, acceptance, Boris reaches acceptance of his sins as a child and adult and they are far too much for him sanely cope