Pool by Corey Campbell
There are different perceptions on what the good life is. In the short story there is two different perspectives of what the good life is. Just like the real word, are their different perspectives on what the good life are. We have the main character Darla, who doesn’t want to live the normally good life, she doesn’t think a man, a kid and a nice house can make her happy. She is in a relationship with a guy called Jon, but she doesn’t appreciate their relationship. On the other hand we have the couple Mandy and Trevor who are living the good life. They have each other, a baby girl and a nice house. But everything is not what it’s on the outside.

Darla is a very shy person she does not feel like showing off her body at the pool party. “A little later she said, knowing that she wouldn’t, that she hated others seeing her in her swimsuit.” (P.2 L.60-62) She is a very indecisive person she does not quite know what she wants in life. She says she doesn’t want to have kids, but she has still thought about having kids. “I’d be horrible at it. I’d probably start drinking. I know I would.” (P.3 L.80) When she says this she appears as an insecure person, because she doesn’t know she can handle having a child. Darla has another vision of the good life and we see that when Darla and Trevor are trying to find the swimsuit for Darla. Darla asks Trevor about being married and then she says “Especially so young. I don’t know how anyone does it.” (P.5 L.177) That shows she don’t think she could handle being married so young.

Jon and Darla’s relationship is complicated. Jon gives 100% of him for making the relationship work, but Darla doesn’t seem to want it. “What is liked best about him, Darla had realize earlier in the car, was that it wasn’t going to last, so she didn’t have to care that much really.” (P.1 L.11-13) She also shows she doesn’t want to have children with Jon. After she discovered the broken condom, she really wants to have a morning-after pill. Jon seems like he just wants her to be happy, even though he has other thoughts about the good life. Jon takes Darla to an expensive restaurant, so Darla could swallow the pill peacefully. Darla doesn’t appreciate that Jon takes her to this expensive restaurant, even though he doesn’t have the money. “When she came back, they both pretended everything was normal.” (P.1 L.21) When Darla shows she doesn’t appreciate the things Jon do, it gets clear that she doesn’t want a relationship with him.

The short stories main theme is about the good life. The typical good life involves having a lovely husband or wife, a wonderful kid or kids, a nice car and a big house. The story tells us about Darla who doesn’t have the good life. She doesn’t have a lot of money, she doesn’t have kids and she has a boyfriend, but she doesn’t see herself with him in the future. The story also tells us about the couple Mandy and Trevor and they live the typical good life. They have a sweet little girl, they have been married for four years, their finance is good and they have a nice house. So this text reflects opposites between the two couples, which show two different perspectives on the good life.

Mandy and Trevor have a nice house, they have neighbors who are also married in a young age. In their house they have a lot of pictures of their girl and that symbolizes that they want to show the world how much she means to them and how perfect their life is, but that’s not how it’s. Trevor works, as a cop and seems to be very happy about it. “The guys with the best job” (P.1 L.25) Mandy is not working, but she used to be the hostess for a chain of restaurants. So that concludes they have enough money to support themselves. Darla and Jon don’t have that much money. “For lunch Jon had taken Darla to a Belgian restaurant on Ventura, much too expensive for him.” (P.1 L.19)

In the end of the text Darla and Trevor try to find a swimsuit to Darla, while they talk about married. Darla leaves an impression that she doesn’t want to get married. “I think it would be too hard. She said” (P.5 L.175) She considers how it must be, and then she concludes it most being hard. It’s like she is afraid of letting go of her youth and her vision of a good life. She has opportunities to get the good life, most people want, but she doesn’t want it. When she is standing with Trevor, Trevor touches Darla on her waist. “For a moment it felt good to be touched by someone else. She wanted to closed her eyes and follow it.” (P.5 L.173-174) That shows us that the good life might sound perfect, but that’s not always how it is. When Darla takes her clothes off in front of Trevor, is she showing that it is okay not to live, the normally good life, because the good life can be full of lies.

The conclusion in this text is the difference views of the good life. The story tells about two difference views of what the perfect life is. On the one hand we have a perfect couple, which are living, the perfect good life, but doesn’t seems to be very happy about it. On the other hand we have a couple that aren’t very happy in the relationship, and don’t have the perfect life. This couple isn’t very happy, but they don’t want to show the world that there are happy, when they know they aren’t. In the end the text shows that the good life isn’t always how the society tells us how it needs to be. So the author would like to show that it is okay not to live the perfect life. That it's okay to have you own dreams and ideas. You do not always have to do what the rest of the society do.

Rapport
Jeg har først og fremmest retten en del dumme stavefejl. Jeg har også rettet en masse kongruensfejl, som f.eks. ”She is a very indecisive person she does not quite know what she want in life” her skal et “s” ind på ”want”. Jeg har også omformuleret nogle sætninger, hvor sproget enten skulle være mere akademisk eller jeg har skrevet om selve historien i stedet for på et generelt niveau. Jeg har også prøvet at forklare, hvis jeg f.eks. har sat et citat ind eller har prøvet at fortælle noget. Jeg har derfor prøvet at få læserne til at forstå hvorfor jeg har sat den ind. Jeg har også en del fejl hvor jeg har skrevet i datid, hvor resten af sætningen eller teksten er i nutid.