Saints at the River by Ron Rash

“There is always something more that lies outside the camera’s framed, mechanical truth.”

                As Maggie is in the dark room, creating the picture that really will say a thousand words, it is sometimes forgettable what lies outside just the frame of the picture. Personally, when looking at pictures, I always wonder what is going on around and outside taking the picture. For Mr. Kowalsky, all that is going on outside of the picture of him next to the river is the continuation of his life without his daughter. 

“There may have been other men in her life – probably were.”

                While Allen explained his relationship with his wife to Maggie, he explains that she may have other men. He continues to say that although he said he worked late hours he truly was working late hours and not cheating on his wife with other women. For most married couples, if one spouse was cheating the other would confront the situation. However, Allen did not. He allowed his wife to cheat on him with another man to fill the void of him not being there. But why didn’t he just fill the void himself? Why does his job have to take precedence over his own wife and daughter, two people who should be the utmost important to him?

“We assume that tomorrow or the birthday is going to come.”

                A common phrase among people today is “O, I’ll get to it tomorrow.” However, when tomorrow comes, the phrase is repeated. Is this laziness, procrastination, or just unwillingness to complete a task? When Maggie says this at the meeting to build a damn in the river, it occurred to me that a lot of the world shares this same thought. But what if tomorrow or a birthday does not come? What then? We must take advantage of the moment, now, in the present, not in the future and act on it at all times. If not, everything will slowly pass by in front of our eyes.

facile: easily done, performed, used, etc. (Saints at the River, 137)

stilted: stiffly dignified or formal, as speech or literary style; pompous. (Saints at the River, 13)

piton: stiffly dignified or formal, as speech or literary style; pompous.  (Saints at the River, 170)