The short story “Jakob Wywialowski and the Angels” by Audrey Niffenegger is about a man named Jakob and his attic full of angels, of whom he wants to get rid of. The setting of the story takes place in Jakob’s house in a residential area of unknown origin. The main characters of the story are: Jakob, the three exterminators, and the angels. some other characters are the neighbors, firemen, and the paramedics.
The story has a sort of humorous mood, appealing to the amusing side of things at the beginning. Having stuck-up angels infest an attic is not the most common sight in today’s world. When Jakob tries to find an exterminator to get rid of the angels, they all say no because they don’t exterminate angels. He tells the next exterminator that he has a squirrel problem, so as to ensure that they do in fact come. This adds personality to Jakob, giving him a slightly more abstract way of thinking. The exterminators are big burly men with stogies in their mouths and lots of tools and weapons in their big black truck. This gives the exterminators a sort of mean and tough kind of feel, creating a feeling that the process of extermination will be a fairly loud and messy one.
When the exterminators begin their work, Niffenegger tells us that angel extermination is not easy by writing that smoke and fire billowed from the attic windows, and loud revving and clanging can be heard. The event is so profound that the neighborhood rushes to watch it unfold, firetrucks and paramedics arrive in the case things get out of hand. This scene is a fast and violent one, adding to the feel of the story, especially when one of the exterminators is flung out a window. The scene ends with the angels covered in soot leaving through the broken window, and the exterminators leaving in their truck, minus the one in the ambulance.
Towards the end however, the mood takes a more deep and