Straight Pool By John O'Hara
The short story “Straight Pool“, written by John O’Hara, is one of the most interesting and mysterious stories in the anthology, Points of View. The story shows O’Hara’s masterful ability to create drama and intrigue and to involve the reader in the lives of three characters in few short pages. “Straight Pool” is a very ambiguous story in which the main point of the story is left up to the reader’s imagination. The story begins with a monologue by a loyal, yet confused husband, who is playing pool with his friend Jack Mc Morrow. The speaker is discussing his wife and her problems and his feelings about her behavior. But the monologue can be viewed in different lights. On surface, this could be a simple story about two friends playing pool while one complains about his wife. However, with the clues given throughout the text and some imagination, it might be that the narrator’s wife is having an affair with his pool partner. In the beginning of the story, the narrator discusses how long it has been since he has even picked up a cue stick. He talks about his wife, Mae and how she keeps having crying fits, and that he is afraid to leave her alone. As a result he says that he stopped playing pool to take care of
Another ambiguous feature of the story deals with the style in which it was written. Even though it is a monologue, the main character speaks of his problems at home while simultaneously discussing Jack Mc Morrow’s pool shots. Upon reading the story for the first time, the reader may glance over the italicized text and not give it much thought. When reading it a second time, the reader will notice that every time Jack misses an easy shot, it relates to the narration about Mae. “She was O.K., according to the doctor. That was a tough one to miss, Jack. ... Keeripes! What a miss! (Pg. 33)” Although these actions could be caused by a simple miscalculation of pool shots, when contemplating alternative scenarios, it could be that Jack impregnated Mae and they were afraid that the results of the doctor’s test could reveal it. It is interesting how the narrator never picks up on the clues, which are seemingly obvious from Jack’s behavior. It could be also that the narrator does not want to recognize that his wife is having an affair. Maybe he is afraid of what will happen if everything is brought out in the open. One of the biggest clues in the story is on the last page. When the narrator states, “I think I’ll go to Brooklyn and get drunk.... What’s the matter? You quitting? ... Oh! If I’d known you had a date, we could of made it twenty-five points. (Pg. 35)” When Jack realized that the narrator was going to be out of town, he seizes the opportunity to be alone with Mae. The narrator does not pick up on the fact that Jack is lying. Certainly Jack would have mentioned having a date prior to their pool game. The narrator is seems so unhappy with his
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,
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Approximate Word count = 1133
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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