In The Evening By Susan Checker Summary

Similar to “The Story of an Hour”, the marriage in “In The Evenings” by Melissa Checker causes those involved to feel trapped; however, instead of feeling trapped in the structure of marriage, the family feels trapped by it instead; the marriage is not the direct source of the conflict in the story, but rather prevents the characters from solving or escaping the main conflict of the story, the mother’s short temper and verbal abuse. While the story begins innocently, describing a mother and her daughters going to the mall to run errands, the use of the word “heavy” represents the buildup of pressure that foreshadows the mother’s rageful outburst: “On summer nights, when it's light until after the fireflies arrive, the air is heavy and moist” (Checker #).

or where-is-a-rabbit-hole-for-me-to-fall-into? feeling that they get around this time of evening, at the mall” (Checker #). Similar to the other stories, the relationship has become repetitive and this due to the family being trapped in the mother’s recurring pattern of anger, which happen at least once a week: “In the evenings, they go to the mall. Once a week or more” (Checker #). As soon as their mother begins yelling, it triggers the younger sister to begin crying because this has happened so many times before that she knows what comes next: “Her blue eyes hiss the careful-don't-cry warning, but the younger one's cheeks only get redder” (Checker #). For the remainder of the story, the mother proceeds to swear, scold, and yell, at not only her daughters, but her husband as well, despite the fact that her anger was not any of their faults: “The father is not spared. The volcanic mother saves some up just for him. ‘Fucking lousy