“The first thing she finds is a hand.” (Graver 95). The main character of the story finds a childlike hand under the mattress cover of her bed; the first of many parts soon to be found. On that very same day, the workers that have been examining her house for repairs find beams in the attic that are in need of being fixed. The cycle of reconstruction has begun. While the woman is uncovering new body parts to add to her collection, the workers are roaming around the old house making arbitrary repairs, allowing the house to take on its own, new life and possibly rid itself of ones that occupied its past.

The house is beginning its reconstruction, men are rebuilding the eaves in the attic, and they have just recently finished their work in the basement. At this point, the woman decides it is time to put together the pieces of the baby, taking them out of the burlap sac one by one and sewing them together. The workers are doing the same, taking out one piece and attaching it to another until the house is finally complete. But the house that has presented these child-like body parts to be found has not provided enough to reconstruct an entire human being. Since the house itself is being reconstructed, it reveals a collection of body parts from children who have lost arms or legs, for some that could no longer hear the house had taken an ear and hidden it among the walls, the basement or in the attic. These are the body parts the woman continued to find throughout the house everyday. Every child that has passed through the mourning door left a body part behind, a part that has contributed to the reconstruction of a new child, although, a problem exists. The child is not a child at all, it

Some topics in this essay:
Mourning Door, mourning door, life life, child-like body, child house, imaginary child, main character story, finding random body, body woman, mysterious body, random body, house reconstructed, human life,