The Recital by Eimear Ryan

As a nursery rhyme goes, “Row, row, row your boat. Gently down the stream. Merrily merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream. Imagine life just being a dream and waking up from it when you die. But is that really the case? “Follow your dreams”, something almost everybody has heard once or multiple times in their life. It’s a cliché because you can't just follow your dreams. In life, there will always be setbacks and tests along the way. Some might says setbacks and tests are there to try one's eligibility of the dreams on is trying to archive. In life, each and every individual have dreams and ambition. Not everybody is able to achieve their dreams, but we do try to gain them. It's like, those who make it and become successful are those who really wanted it and fought for it. They actually followed their dreams and weren’t insecure about themselves. That’s what Eimear Ryan touches on in his short story “The Recital”. Ryan touches on the theme of dreams and ambition. This paper is going to analyze and interpret Eimear Ryan’s short story “The Recital” by analyzing how the characters are characterized in the story and in addition look at Ryan’s use of contrasts.

“The Recital” features the story of a girl named Grace. She works at a bar as a maid, although she wanted to be the pianist. She has a sister named Jen who also plays the piano and became much more successful. Working at the bare, Grace meets a guy, a politician named Liam, who she ends up sleeping with. Grace’s sister then tells her about Liam and what he has done in the past, which shocks Grace. She and Liam then begin to take distance from each other. But one day Liam comes to the bar with a friend, who is a conductor, and she finally sees her chances of becoming a professional pianist.

First, the story is told from the point of view of Grace. That way the writer I certain that all the characterizations in the story are clean and precise. “I felt my cheeks darken, tighten. I hated the bitterness I felt about Jen’s success, and he’d picked up on it instantly. His restless fingers caught the back of my wrist, tapping gently. No ring, I noticed.” The writer has made sure all her statements are detailed, and through just Grace point of view, we get to know everything about her and every other character in the story.

Second, the short story is built upon contrasts between the characters. We, for example, have Grace and her sister and Liam and his father. Where we see a conflict