Scarce and Dear

In the story "Dearth," by Aimee Bender, the meaning and symbolism of the potatoes is very ambiguous. In trying to understand the story, there were many different things that the potatoes seem to represent. The potatoes might represent the family and children that "our woman" never had. They might also represent past memories that "our woman" is not able to forget. Just as the potatoes keep coming back no matter what the woman does them, memories from her past continue to haunt her no matter how much time has passed. The potatoes might also represent misconceptions. The woman did not like to eat potatoes, in fact she hated them. However, once the woman gave these potatoes a chance, she learned to love them and treated them as if they were her own children. In this sense, the potatoes represent how although we may have an initial opinion or judgment about something/someone, in time we may find that our original judgment was inaccurate.

In trying to decipher the meaning behind the potatoes, I looked to the title of the story. According to dictionary.com, dearth means scarcity and dearness of food; famine. After learning the meaning of this term, my understanding of the symbolism of the potatoes became much clearer. The potatoes represent those things in life that are scarce and dear to all of us i.e. family and love. "Our woman" lived a very lonely life; all of her family has died, she no longer has a lover and she doesn't appear to have any friends. The potatoes bring a sense of love and family to the woman's life. For example, after finally accepting the potatoes into her life as her own children, the woman remembers her mother. She does not mention anything specific about her mother until this point in the story. The potatoes reminded "our woman" of what is really important in life; the things that are scarce and dear.
cailee j-8