The Unusual Car Pool Summary

Almost everyone has experienced the dread and joy of having romantic feelings for another person; the butterflies that swirl around their stomach, their heightened heartbeat, and the all too familiar fight or flight instinct; even for those who feel platonic attraction to others still feel this way. However, these nerves shake off once one of the two people take the leap of faith towards the other, whether it be saying ‘hello’ or confessing how they really feel. Unfortunately for most people, they never risk talking to the person, and miss their opportunity of having a loving relationship. This idea is the main subject of Katherine Bell’s short story “The Casual Car Pool.” Through the relationships of the symbolic characters, the author argues

that when people don’t take risks, they cannot achieve loving relationships.
‘The Causal Car Pool,’ starts off with a man who is stuck on the Oakland Bay Bridge in San Francisco after attempting to parachute off the top. This scene disrupts the traffic below, including the car containing the main characters: Ian, the ordinary driver, Julia, the teenage rebel, and Hannah, the meticulous lesbian. As the car drivers closer to the accident, Julia gets out of the car and attempts to walk across the bridge. Hannah leaves the car to chase after the girl, but then returns to the car empty-handed. The two talk about children and possible sperm donors for Hannah and her spouse until a police officer knocks on the door with Julia in hand. Hannah and Ian lie to the officer, saying that she is their child, and Julia gets back in the car. The last scene of the short story returns to the man hanging from the bridge as he is finally rescued.
Because the symbolic character Julia only wants the superficiality of relationships and doesn’t take risks, she ends up with only casual, meaningless relationships.

At the beginning of the story, the reader finds out that Julia has rejected her parents in fear of having to take risks. Julia favors going into the city and begging for money instead of being dependent on her parents because “their money came weighed down with rules and obligations that Julia… did not want or need” (296). This quotation shows how Julia is symbolic of modern relationships that are totally materialistic, and because of her need for money without the responsibilities, she ruins the chance of having a loving relationship with her parents. After her best friend, Serena, replaced Julia, she was hesitant to take the risk of being replaced again in order to be in a loving relationship. Because Julia had lost her best friend, her mother “threatened to send her away to camp. [But] Julia hated camp. She hated even the idea of camp” (296) which shows that Julia didn’t want to chance being hurt again like she did by Serena, so she doesn’t risk going to camp to meet new people. She ends up “so lonely [that] she wanted to die” (296) and with no loving, meaningful relationships. Another example of how Julia has no successful relationships because she doesn’t take risks is shown with her friendship with the homeless boy, Isaac. Although one may perceive her relationship with Isaac to be a good one, she cannot truly be in a deep relationship with him because she doesn’t risk learning anything about him; “[Julia] did not know exactly what happened to Isaac at night…but she knew it was bad.” The fact that Julia doesn’t want to ask what happened to Isaac at night shows how she doesn’t want to risk losing him like she did with Sabrina. Although she acknowledges Isaac’s hardship, she does not take the risk of actually inquiring about his situation, and thus their relationship is only surface-level deep.

Because of Julia’s superficiality and inability to take risks, she is unable to have successful loving relationships.
Through the story, the reader learns that the symbolic character Hannah is a very controlling person in nature and this character trait prevents her from having a loving relationship. In the beginning of the story, the author writes that Hannah became mad at her girlfriend because, “[Kate hit] the snooze button one more time than Hannah could tolerate” showing that Hannah is very particular in how she likes things to be done, and it can be assumed that they likely fight like this often, harming their loving relationship. Because of this fight, Hannah goes on to open up the folder containing the possible sperm donors, even though it “wasn’t going to be her child, not only hers, but hers and Kate’s. Which meant that this preview… felt like a small betrayal” and this shows the claim that Hannah’s relationship is not loving because she is controlling of her relationship. Later on in the story, Hannah again shows her controlling nature by obsessing over possible sperm donors for her future child with Kate. Hannah said that even though “she knew the particulars of their appearance, their eye color and so on… she couldn’t tell if they were handsome or ugly or strange” (297). This quotation shows that she symbolizes superficial relationships that are too picky in what they are looking for and how they can never be successful. She wants to build upon her loving relationship with her spouse, but she is too hung up over the shallowness of trying to find someone who fits her parameters of a perfect donor. Hannah spends so much time, in fact, that she will likely never find the perfect donor, and the fact that she doesn’t take a risk in choosing a “perfect” donor for her child prevents her from having a loving relationship with her spouse.
The symbolic character Ian characterization as being cautious prevents him from having a loving relationship. In the beginning of the story, the character of Ian is characterized as a cautious person and this eventually leads to the prevention of a meaningful relationship with his wife: “[he tried] to determine if the car behind him remained at a reasonable distance, or if it had crept closer, the way he’d eased off his own break… he knew it was pointless, this edging forward, but he could not help feeling anxious (294).” This quotation reveals how Ian is a symbolic character of modern day relationships that have no real emotional connection, but are safe and calculated. Ian sticks to the perfect distance away from risk and, essentially, his wife because of his inability to stray from the ordinary. The fact that Ian doesn’t take risks even in the small things leads to assumption that he also cautious in life changing decisions. Later on in the story when he was talking about his adopted daughter, he didn’t want to risk having a more connected relationship with his wife by having a child together and he “was willing to live without the thrill of combing his genetic code with [his wife’s]” (306). Although Ian claims that some of the things that he does can be described as a “calculated risk,” the basic definition of risk is that there is a chance of danger or loss that cannot be preconceived. The characterization of Ian as unwilling to take risks prevents him from having a loving relationship.
These character’s relationships in this story are a perfect example of what happens to people when they don’t take risks; they are all left with no successful relationships. Although the way that love is felt varies with each person, the only way for two people to have a true loving relationship to take risks.