Use Of Grief, And Difference In Aimee Bender's Marzipan

“I want to keep mine.”: Symbolism, Grief, and Difference in Aimee Bender’s “Marzipan”

In Aimee Bender’s short story “Marzipan,” the use of symbolism, tension, and ambiguity create strikingly different expressions of grief between the two characters who have firsthand experienced loss, the mother and father. This story lends itself as a commentary on the different ways people can experience grief and the effects it can have on them. Not only does it have effects on the people experiencing it, but also on the people around them, in this case, the mother and father’s children, who are the speaker and her sister, Hannah. Throughout the story, there is a hole motif that directly relates to grief and loss. As soon as the story begins, readers

When the speaker’s grandfather passed, her father had more of what is considered a normal response at a funeral: “Did you cry? I asked. I cried, he said. I cry. [...] It was very sad” (5). Women are often portrayed as more in touch with their emotions and much more easily able to express them and nurture them. However, the father takes a more emotionally mature approach to deal with his father’s funeral than we see the mother take. He is the more emotional of the couple which is considered a more feminine quality. He is able to admit that he cries about his father’s death and that he cried publically to his child, which is something that a lot of men do not do. They often attempt to keep a manly, strong, and unemotional appearance, which the father in this story does not

Throughout the story, the children and the parents have had very transparent relationships and the kids seem to be very understanding and knowledgeable for their ages, which are ten and thirteen (1). The speaker especially seems to make sacrifices for her parents even though she is so young: “Here, Grandma, I said, Hannah didn’t want hers. I slid the whitish slab onto her plate” (12). Although this is something seemingly small, the way the grief is affecting the speaker’s mother is visible to her. She is able to understand something as complex as loss and its effect on the older adults in her life that her actions reflect. Similarly, the speaker without realizing it wants to take care of her parents and her mother in particular: “I pretended I was her while I ate it. I imagined I was doing the eating but she was getting nourished” (12). In reality, the speaker cannot do much to actually help her mother deal with the situation at hand, however, her thought processes cater to wanting to help her and take care of her. She wants her mother to eat and be nourished, and as seen at the end of the story, she does not want anyone to be alone, and they do not want her to leave: “ May I be excused? No one answered, so I stayed” (12). The speaker and her sister, Hannah, have basic knowledge of social cues that have strengthened