The stories in Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender are a bit unusual and contain a magical undertone. The events of these stories are not something one would usually imagine. This makes Aimee Bender's writings unique amongst modern literature. Although her writing sometimes ventures as far as to be uncomfortable, it is often symbolic.
Fruit and Words is an example of a story that has a lot of symbolism. In the beginning, the narrator and her boyfriend Steve go to Vegas to get married, but at the last minute Steve decides not to go through with it and flies back home. Driving back home, the narrator gets a craving for mango, which leads her to stop at a little shop, Fruit and Words, that sells mango. She soon discovers something strange, the shop sells words. The shopkeeper explains that the words are made from what they say, so "PEARL" is made from pearls and "LEMON" is made from lemon peels. The shopkeeper offers to show her the liquid and gas words for a fee. As they are touring through the words, the narrator begins to have doubts about whether the words are really made from what the shopkeeper says they are. When looking at the gas words, the narrator accidentally breaks "AIR" and the shopkeeper tries to make her pay for it. In her rush to leave she breaks "HOPE" as well. I believe the broken "HOPE" symbolizes how the narrator no longer feels there is any hope for her relationship. The mangoes also symbolized her hope for her relationship. Upon entering the shop she still had some hope that her relationship would last, the mangoes she bought were rich and ripe, but after breaking "HOPE" the mangoes began to rot. By the time she got home and saw that her driveway was empty, with no sign of Steve, the mango pit had rotted away completely, symbolizing the death of her relationship.
Chelsa Wlodarczyk, Post #6
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