Death by Scrabble

Death by Scrabble: Theme, Symbolism and Imagery

            The author has used themes, imagery and symbolism to capture the story of his life. Using words from the scrabble game, the author employs expressions and other figures towards reveals the happenings that took place in a single day. In the short story, the reader is able to analyze the author’s life in different dimensions. The author seems to be dissatisfied with his present lifestyle. He also indicates an immense hatred towards the same. On the other hand, a few occurrences give another twist to the narrative. In this story, it is evident that the author is his own problem and not the wife.

The theme of life and death has been extensively developed within the publication. The author describes an illusionary killing experience regarding his wife. He offers a description as though he was destroying an insignificant piece of art dumped in the garage. He confides to the reader “if they (the letters) spell out KILL, or STAB, or her name…I’ll do it right now. I’ll finish her off” (Fish 2). Additionally, he gambles his wife’s life with words on the scrabble board. The author seems to have a psychological problem since normally people not just gamble other’s lives as if there were no consequences. In the beginning of the essay, the author clearly states that he hates his wife and therefore continues to blame all his problems on her. He even blames his unsocial state since the mentioned Thursday on his wife. This infers a state of non-humanness as if the author stopped leaving for himself and started living for others like a robot. Although he seems dead, his wife has nothing to do with the situation since he can simply walk to a neighbor or the park and socialize with other individuals. The publication therefore evidences a clear depiction of a psychological blame shifting instance.

In the story, both characters seem to wish death on each other. This is evident when the wife sees her husband chocking on the piece “B” and does nothing about it. This scenario also reveals that the wife has a problem with her spouse. While the author tries to fit in the words in order to find an excuse to kill his wife, he seems to be predicting his own death. When the scrabble board finally spells the word, “DEATH” (Fish 5) as initially anticipated, death befalls the author evidencing a pre-determined death.

Many things in the room where the scrabble game is played are symbolic. The scrabble board is symbolic of the future. The words that appear on the board seem to predict what will happen next. For example, when he plays BEGIN and she plays JINXED (Fish 1-2), they begin having a series of disastrous coincidental incidences. When he plays WARMER, the author feels the increase of the sun’s heat on them. When she plays SWEATIER (Fish 2), he admits, “If it wasn’t too hot to move I would strangle her” (Fish 2). When he finally plays QUAKE and she plays DEATH (Fish 5-6), he chokes to death on a piece of B due to the quaking room. All these occurrences indicate that playing scrabble is actually symbolic towards events within the given day. Had the author been able to follow his wishes, he would probably have not died.

The heat in the atmosphere symbolizes incidents taking place much later within the publication. The author states that his wife “turns on the kettle” (Fish 2), which makes it even hotter. In most cases, when people are experiencing anxiety, they tend to sweat even in the most inappropriate weather. The heat symbolizes this anxiety and as fate would have it, he dies at the end. On the other hand, the wife is not bothered at all by the heat. She actually makes coffee with the kind of heat described. Although there is a fan in the room, the author seems to be the only character with the heat problem since the wife seems to be very comfortable and relaxed.

The wife symbolizes what the author wishes to be. A relaxed, carefree person who follows her own will. The author tells an incident where the wife soundly slept through an argument their neighbors created a lot of noise through breaking several items. “My wife sleeps all the time” (Fish 3), he admits while on the other hand, the author does not have as much sleep. He allows the argument and the noise get to him and he cannot control his own body as well as his emotions. This leads to his wife accusing him of being “moody” (Fish 3) the following day.            The writer uses many descriptive words in order to give explain his weaknesses. He uses the words “I hate my wife” (Fish 1) to describe his emotions towards his wife. He constantly uses the word “hate” in many other contexts concerning his wife. In actuality, he hates himself for not being strong-willed and for not possessing a healthy character as his wife and therefore blaming all his problems towards her. If he hated his wife as he claims, he would have left her alone and not spent the Sunday afternoon with her like the way he did. He describes the Sunday afternoon as “a blistering hot Sunday afternoon” (Fish 1) although it seems to have been hot to him only. If it were actually hot, the wife would not have taken hot coffee as she did. Unconsciously, the anxiety caused by the forthcoming events may have caused him to feel as though it was hotter than it actually was.

The author greatly describes the next-door neighbor’s argument by saying that it “resulted in a broken door, a smashed TV and a Teletubby Lala doll with all the staffing coming out” (Fish 3). This was provided as an excuse for his lacked sleep the previous night. However, the author does not say that the argument lasted through the night. However, this is due to his emotional unstableness. The story reflects an awareness of how I tend to blame my problems on others while I am actually the cause of my problems. The author thought that his wife was the cause of his problems, while his wife felt that he was the cause of her problems. He was willing to get rid of his wife as much as his wife was willing to get rid of him. By wishing others evil things, it tends to replicate within one’s life as evidenced by the author.

Works Cited

Fish, Charlie. Death By Scrabble. London: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print.Related: how to respond to a cancelled job interview, restaurants with live music orange county, dee dee davis height, exhaustive list of cushing’s syndrome symptoms, nj transit bus 68 schedule, living on $60k a year in retirement, oswego 308 school board election results, best afl players of the 21st century, explain the inheritance pattern of the earlobe attachment trait, nar policy criminal misconduct, ceart laidir abu, crime statistics in milton keynes, john christner trucking terminals, smartass things to say to your teacher, oops looks like you’re not connected with mirror,Related: hartpury college term dates, are travon walker and quay walker related, what happened to martin ortega, houses for rent in edinburg, tx with pool, role of literature in pre colonial period, montgomery bill for inmates 2022, matthew jacobson iconiq, www annuarium va diocesi e istituti, recent obituaries in henderson, nevada, peter mccullough net worth, mirrocraft decals, grayson county medical examiner public access, did yvonne gibb remarry, german prime minister 2022, mcgovern medical school requirements,Related: how to connect antenna to bose radio, serramonte mall food court, residential group home menus, burger lounge impossible burger calories, is it illegal to cut pampas grass, tony shalhoub family tree, sterling silver cremation ring, comcast blocking plex, how to remove expanding foam from pipes, tom hill obituary near detroit, mi, what is career sequencing, due date march 4 2021 when did i conceive, lyons folk festival 2022, candlelight cabinets vs kraftmaid, prezzo citrus cooler mocktail,Related: buffalo, mo police reports, cream cheese strain allbud, ebay used atv parts, liquid food plot fertilizer, jefferson county al accident reports, woodstock, il wedding venues, dwe7491rs fence upgrade, best penetrating 22 pellet, shampoo ph levels chart, outdoor portable sink, butcherbox pork sirloin, mizuhiki cord weaving, geeni camera mac address, united airlines alcohol covid, safeway insurance grace period,