An Essay on Alison Moore’s Short Story "eastmouth"

An Essay on Alison Moore’s short story "Eastmouth"
by Helen Kjær Larsen 2.a

When you are young, you have ideas and hopes for how the future will be. You have dreams and wishes for your life and picture your life in a certain direction. Some dreams are coming true for some, and others don’t. This is what the story “Eastmouth” by Alison Moore from 2014 is about. It’s about a young woman Sonia, who dreams of going to Las Vegas, but feels trapped in Eastmouth.

There are more characters in the story Eastmouth. The protagonist Sonia, her boyfriend Peter and Peters parents.  
There is not much in the story about the protagonist Sonia’s outer characterization. She is from the Midlands and the city; she is young and seems to have just finished her graduation. Her jacket is bright and colorful “Sonia, in a thin, brightly colored jacket, has dressed for warmer weather.” (line 11-12).

Sonia’s inner characterization shows that she is not conventional, like her colorful jacket also indicates.
Sonia and Peter have different dreams. Sonia dreams of travelling and adventure, of getting a work and get money for going to Las Vegas, shown in “If I get the job, I'll save up for a while and then I want to go to Las Vegas." (line 37-38), while Peter want to stay in his home city and get a job there, “…begins to talk to Sonia about the possibility of a management position at the pavilion” (line 144-145).  The stickers on their suitcases illustrates this, Sonia has a sticker “I love Las Vegas” and Peter one with his parents address.

Sonia and Peter doesn’t seem to match as they have different views on almost all aspects. Sonia likes changes, and is distressed that Peter is very traditional. Eastmouth is a place, where nothing has changed in years and contrary to Peter, Sonia does not appreciate it, she finds it “disappointing” (line 122). The restaurant has the same wallpaper and the menu seems to be unchanged since Peter’s childhood, as Peter does not have to look at the menu before ordering. The same show is running at the pavilion as when Peter was a child.

Sonia wants to escape the faith of staying in Eastmouth. There are many symbols of this in the story. The helicopter she is waving at for rescue, but Peters’ parents comes and there is no rescue.

Sonia feels trapped in Eastmouth, and cannot see a way out. Especially when she has found out, that she is pregnant. Her dream of going to Las Vegas seems dead. This is nicely illustrated in the story:  “She is an air-sea rescue unit arriving on the scene to lift the insect to safety. Carefully, she places the insect on a serviette to recover … “I think that one’s had it,” says Peter, and Sonia looks at it an thinks he might be right” (line 151 -155). The insect in the candle is a symbol of Sonia feeling trapped in her relationship and in Eastmouth. She tries to find a way out, but there is no rescue, Sonia is not likely to make it away from Eastmouth. Her future seems to be in Eastmouth, and that shows whenever she tries to look at the view from Eastmouth, it is dim and not possible. Only Eastmouth is clear: “The visibility is poor. She can’t see land beyond Eastmouth.” (line 6). Sonia search for a train out of Eastmouth, but it turns out, that there is no trains going on Sundays. When she realize, that she has to stay, the service is over and she feels like the whole town is coming towards her.