mps Gesse by Zz Packer

ZZ PACKER - Geese

Packer’s short story “Geese” is the first in this collection to intrigue me. It is the only one of her stories that caused a desire in me to anticipate the next page. And so you can imagine the disappointment that came over me as I read the last sentence. I turned the page after digesting its last few words. There was nothing there. I needed more and knew that I must have missed something. So I reread the last paragraph and it put all the pieces together.

In the second reading I noticed that the ending of this story is unique. Not to all stories but to those within this particular collection. This is the only time in the collection that Packer uses the reflection of a character to conclude her story. This is probably why I didn’t recognize it as what it was.

In it she briefly describes the work of Japanese kamikaze pilots. “How they pledge their lives to the emperor and take flight on suicide missions with only enough fuel for the one way trip.” (Pg. 209) And the narrator also mentions that when Dina had first read about these pilots, in the “all knowing arrogance of youth she concluded that there had to be another way. She in the same circumstance would have done things differently.”

The point that Packer is making here is to liken the Kamikaze suicide missions to the path that Dina is currently on. As she does this we come to find that Dina had been wrong to assume she would have done things differently. If we consider a few instances that occur in Dina’s story before she prostitutes herself, we can see the parallels.
For instance in the beginning Dina makes a sort of pact like the one made to the emperor, with her family and friends that she is going to Japan to make a large sum of money before moving on. Than when she uses the last of the money she has on futile things like buying ice cream for Ari. Like the kamikazes do, she leaves herself in a terrible circumstance, by not preparing for a possible change in plans. Dina in this situation did everything just as the Kamikaze did. She led herself down a deadly path and makes no previsions for escape.

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