Response to Adam Smith's Short Story

            Adam Smith’s short story follows the early life of our protagonist, Margaret.  Set in London after World War II, Margaret is adopted from her orphanage as a young girl by Lucy, her new mother.  They live together in a flat as we see Margaret grow into a young woman.  Lucy is a loving woman yet extremely controlling and distrusting of the rest of the world.  One day, Margaret meets a young milk boy who she immediately becomes infatuated with until she ultimately witnesses him committing assault on a young woman in an alley.  Defeated and disappointed, Margaret goes home to her mother.

            There were a lot of things that I really enjoyed in the story.  The story telling and the pace of the story seemed to work well.  It didn’t feel rushed and I had no misunderstandings of what was happening in the plot development.  The characters appeared real and very humanistic except for Margaret who is a little cliché in her personality and upbringing.  I didn’t mind this, however.  I thought the dialogue was great, but considering the setting, I felt that there could have been more British vernacular included in the text.  I think that this would add to a more compelling feel of setting.

            The only thing that I could see the story expanding on would be the use of dramatizing scenes.  The writer tells us a lot of great details, but if he includes the information in the dialogue, then maybe the readers could figure out these characters in more interesting ways.  Overall, the story really needs a title.  If that is the biggest mistake in the paper, then I’d say the story was very well written and well received.  I enjoyed every word and can really see the talent in the writing.  In all, this was a great story.