Pool

We grow up with all these expectations on how we should live our lives, how we should educate ourselves in a certain direction, and especially how our bodies should look. The female body in particularly is being held under the gun. Every day we see commercials or magazines with bone-skinny models dressed in nothing less than a bikini. These commercials stage the models to look like their life is the “perfect way of living” and of course that their bodies are the most desirable in the world. It gives a feeling that if you want to be someone or have any success in your life, then you need to become one of these models. This is undermining the self-confidence of many females who are not as skinny or “perfect” as these excessive desires. But is it at all necessary? Can it be that women really have to look like these abnormal photo shopped models, or do men actually in most cases find them attractive just the way they are?

In the short story “Pool” written by Corey Campbell in 2009, we meet a young woman named Darla. She and her boyfriend Jon are at a pool party at their friends Trevor and Mandy’s house where the story takes place. Their house is located in the Valley in “ … a neighbourhood of small square houses”., where Trevor, Mandy and their little child live. The neighbourhood is described as the home of car thieves and people in their early twenties, who cannot afford to buy their own house. Already in the beginning the setting is described in many details. “She counted more than 64 photos of a child on the walls, shelves, and piano“. The house is built in the 70s which is evident in the orange and green coloured kitchen. Through these descriptions a clear image of a house with many pictures on the walls, lots of toys on the floor, a kitchen from the 70s and a pool in the patio is created in the readers mind.
The story is told by a third person limited narrator which tells the story as if you were present in it, but from Darla’s perspective and her perception of the events that take place “Darla touched her middle, which felt like a void”. It makes it easier to know what Darla feels in certain situations, and how she interprets her surroundings.
Darla is a young woman in her twenties. She is very shy when it comes to her capabilities, and her body in particular. “”A little later,” she said, knowing that she wouldn’t, that she hated others seeing her in a swimsuit”. She is not at all comfortable with her body, and in general she seems to lack confidence. This is obvious when she talks with Mandy about having kids, and she tells her that she probably would not be able to take care of a child. She thinks very little of herself, and does not believe that she would ever be able to manage larger challenges. “I don’t know how anyone does it”.
This insecurity is also reflected in her relationship with Jon, which appears already at the beginning of the story, were it is told that Darla knows that their relationship is not going to last. The day before the pool party the condom split during intercourse, and it resolves in Darla taking an emergency contraceptive pill. She is in no way comfortable with the situation, and has many thoughts about it throughout the day. Jon does not seem to care about the situation what so ever, and is not in any way as affected as Darla. The way he deals with this is by leaving her alone instead of talking with her about it, which again is a sign of their callous relationship. She knows that they are going to break up eventually and she fells like he is not giving her the attentions that she needs, but still she will not break up with him. This could be because she does not think that she can get any better due to her low self-esteem, or that she needs the little feeling of comfort that he despite everything can still give her.
At the end of the story Darla is taken to the bedroom by Trevor to find a swimsuit so she can get in the pool. She is still not comfortable with the thought of jumping in a swimsuit, but when she is about to change in to it she makes Trevor stay whilst taking her clothes of. She stands completely naked in front of him, and takes the suit on very slow. Even though it did not fit her in any way, she did not care anymore and smiled confident while asking Trevor if they should go back to the patio.
Showing her naked body to another man and seeing his reaction to her nudity, gave her the confidence and proof that she is beautiful, and she has nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to her body, which is also the main theme. Do not let all the commercials and skinny models fool you to think that you are not good enough when you are exactly quite that, and do not attribute these thoughts that you should make extreme and unhealthy changes to yourself to look different. There is no need.

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[ 1 ]. Corey Campbell ”Pool” side 1, line 5
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