Star Food Ethan Canin Analysis

In the short story, Star Food, by Ethan Canin, readers are brought to a shock when the main character lets go of everything he has. Dade, the protagonist, tells the story about how he disappointed his parents at age 18. He is caught between his parents highly different opinion on his future. In which his mom has high hopes for him to become “a man of limited fame” and his father is strict and wants Dade to work hard. He believes this is the only way one succeeds. But Dade stays on the roof of his parent’s grocery store, Star Food, to engage with the sky instead of working. Until he catches a thief in the store, a woman he finds taking a loaf of bread. Dade finally decides to catch the thief himself, but he does not choose to punish her, instead, he lets her go. Dade releases her because he believes he

In the beginning of the story, Dade does not seem to have the desire to catch his dreams, just as he will not attempt to catch the woman. Once he eventually realizes that the key to a successful life is not sitting on a rooftop, something suddenly triggers Dade to gather up the courage to catch the thief. Of course, he lets her go, but in doing so, he proves to the readers that he eventually has to ditch his dreams, as the thief strongly represents Dade’s dreams. It is about time for Dade to act sensiblly and not just stare at the sky at 18 years old. Though he realizes it, he is in no rush to get on with his life, just like the woman getting out of the store. “We were looking into each other’s eyes when she walked out the front door. Through the blue-and-white LOOK UP TO STAR FOOD sign on the window I watched her cross the street,” (line 215). She is not like most thieves, sprinting away with the most expensive item in the store, trying not to get caught. She takes the moldy, stale bread and is on her merry way. This correlates to how Dade wants to proceed with his hopeless dreams, by a slow process.