Marina Keegan's I Kill For Money

Marina Keegan (1989-2012) was an active and dedicated American student for many years. She attended Buckingham Browne & Nichols in Cambridge, Massachusetts before moving on to Yale University in 2008 where she majored in English and served as president of the Yale College Democrats. Keegan was diagnosed with Celiac Disease as a baby, making her unable to eat any food containing even the slightest amount of gluten. She became a poster child for Celiac, often giving advice to other people living with the disease. As an open activist for things like same-sex marriage, whales, and the decriminalization of marijuana, Keegan knew she wanted to make a difference in the world from the start and was ready to embrace every bit of life that she possibly

In the piece entitled “I Kill for Money” she writes about an exterminator who is often not treated well, which he feels is because “no one wants bugs around, so no one wants [him] around” (Keegan 186). As a result of this obvious ignorance people pay him, the man has moments of melancholy periodically that he attempts to cover up with bad jokes. His unique profession distances him from others, causing mild depression. This state of mind can also be seen in “Reading Aloud” with a different method of coping. Anna, just as the exterminator, is married but still feels a major disconnect from her husband. Having had to give up her passion of dance due to aging, Anna is left feeling purposeless and often fantasizes “about choking to death” (Keegan 58) to escape the empty feeling she lives with. A much more absolute loneliness is achieved in “Challenger Deep” when five individuals are trapped in a submarine without power deep beneath the ocean’s surface. The darkness became so unbearable that “most of [them] were beginning to crack in [their] own ways” (Keegan 132). The pitch black surroundings and the absolute lack of hope they felt left them more alone than even thought possible, even with people around