Lonliness

4 Pages 1094 Words

Loneliness Leaves Clues
This story strangely portrays a relationship between a brother and sister who are going through depressing times: “Loneliness left clues, and I would pick up his while he picked up mine, neither of us ever mentioning them”(82). The short story that I chose is from the February, 2002 edition of Harper’s Magazine. Antonya Nelson is the author of the story titled “Ball Peen”, which refers to a hammer that the narrator describes as a ball peen hammer. This title is significant because it is referred to and used figuratively throughout the story. The author doesn’t let the hammer slip your mind, relating back to it whenever there is a chance. The ball peen hammer symbolizes the narrator’s strength. Much of her strength is derived from her brother, who gives her confidence and consoles her.
A young woman, placing you in her thoughts and perceptions, narrates the story. Her name is not mentioned in the story so I will acknowledge her as the narrator. She begins her story by glimpsing back on one Christmas when she is fifteen. This is the Christmas that her brother, Sonny, gives her a hammer as a gift. At first this gift meant that he had forgotten to get her a present, but later she realizes that he picked it out just for her. She comes to appreciate it and finds that it was actually very useful. She explains that she even grew fond of it: “For comfort, I often slip my hand in my purse, as if in a pocket, to cup that smooth ball peen”(77).
After introducing the hammer the narrator then starts telling her story at hand. She lives in a town called Telluride where she was born and raised. She is the only one out of her family left there, babysitting her parent’s old house for them. Her brother moved away as a teenager to Colorado Springs following his girlfriend who moved there. Her parents moved there soon after when Telluride becomes famous for it’s skiing. The narrator reveals that she is ha...