Growing Memories

The story of "Dearth" was different and odd upon first read. The main character appears to be sad and lonely throughout most of the story, which seems to be a reoccurring theme in several of Aimee Bender's short stories. The main character's apparent lover has left her and she is left alone to take care of herself, or so she thinks. She soon discovers that there are seven potatoes in the pot on her stove, which cannot be disposed of so easily. This could possibly be a metaphor for her memories. She so desperately wants to get rid of them only to find that they keep on returning each and every day. The only way she was able to dispose of some of them was by eating one and burying the other two. She was essentially trying to bury the way in which she had felt and by eating one of the potatoes, it was as if she was swallowing her pride. She may not like it, but it is the only way to achieve peace within herself. The remaining four potatoes grow and eventually resemble small children with legs, arms, and a head. This was like her memories were growing into living examples of those memories. They were created in order to comfort her and keep her company so that she is not truly alone. It's like the main character craves their presence only to be disgusted by them like she can't come to terms with her past memories. It isn't until the end of the story that the main character fully embodies the potatoe children to remind her of her grandmother, which by assumption could have had a big impact upon her life at one time.

An interesting scene in the story was when the bartender talks about his wife and how she had refused to say the word love in fear there were only a certain amount of times that love could be said. The bartender's wife even refused to say love on her death bed and instead chose "I like you" to represent her feelings toward her husband. This was quite similar to how the main character in the whole story of "Dearth" was isolated from love. Her lover had left her and gave her a note which was signed with sincerely instead of love. She was alone to take care of herself where love was absent from her life. This could be the reason why she eventually accepted the potatoes as her "children" to sort of demonstrate the love that was missing from her life. Once she accepted the idea of love, she let it grow into real representations of that love. She became emotionally attached to the potatoes only to discover that they reminded her of her grandmother, which was most likely the source from where the most love and attention was recieved.
(David Roberts, Post 13)