Katia's "Love" Essay

                                                                Forever Beloved

In William Maxwell’s short story “Love”, the author uses foreshadowing to warn the reader about the teacher’s upcoming death. To begin with, Maxwell gives a hint of the death of Ms. Brown when the teacher writes her name on the board. “The name [ Miss Vera Brown] might as well have been graven in stone” (Maxwell 8). Here the writer compares how Vera Brown writes her name on the blackboard with a grave stone which shows the teacher will die soon. As the reader can see, in the cemetery there are tombstones with the names of all the people who died. How the author uses the name of the young woman describes how a teacher’s name is written on the board and it warns the audience that Vera Brown will be in the cemetery soon and her name will be printed on a headstone. Next, William Maxwell shows that Miss Vera Brown will pass away when the teacher opens the gift from the students. “Her [Miss Brown’s] delicate fingers seemed to take forever to remove the ribbon” (Maxwell 8). Ms. Brown was a young woman, she was 23 years old, and at this age normally she must be healthy and stronger or at least have a little energy. She was removing a ribbon from one gift, this is easy to take off, but she took a lot of time to remove it. this shows that the simple things are getting harder for her and something is wrong. Mr. Maxwell clues the reader how weak she is becoming; she is really fragile now and is dying. Lastly, the author demonstrates the fatality of the teacher when the two boys went out to the house where Vera Brown was. “The angel who watches over little boys” (Maxwell 10). Here the writer uses the word angel which for many cultures is related with heaven and the afterlife, this gives a hint that Vera Brown sadly pass away. The teacher was an amazing and good person, all the children loved her, and she loved all her students. This demonstrates that when she dies, she does not will leave alone all her precious and beloved boys and girls, she will take care of all, and will watch them but not more from this world but from the eternal rest. After seeing all this, the reader can see how Mr. Maxwell in his short story “Love” uses hints to foretell the audience about Miss Vera brown unexpected death.