Mercedes's Special Talent

Hello everyone! For September's blog, I am writing about "Mercedes's Special Talent," written by Tere Dávila, which I read in my English class. In the short story, the narrator who is later revealed to be Mercedes's son, sets the stage with him sitting in between his parents, with his mother in bed asking for a lighter on one side, and on the other side his father's dead body. The narrator continues the story of how his father and mother "fell in love" and their relationship as a family. One aspect of the short story I found interesting was that the narrator referred to his mother by her first name because of her wishes. This detail gives the impression that they have a distant relationship, and is almost a way of portraying how the storyteller is separate from the story. Additionally, I noticed that Dávila writes in a pattern of giving one detail in a couple of sentences and then going into detail in paragraphs right after. At the end of the story, Dávila goes full circle and ends where the plot began. After reading "Mercede's Special Talent," I think anyone can tell that it is incredibly well written even if they didn't "like" it. I hope you enjoy reading!