Structure
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Beginning
The exposition introduces the setting and characters of the short story. The story begins in medias res, with a man shopping in a supermarket (l. 1). We learn that it is two weeks before Christmas, but that the man and his wife have decided not to celebrate this year because the holiday would feel more like Remembrance Day than Christmas (l. 5). This foreshadows the fact that their child has been killed in war.
Through a backstory, the man recounts how he and his wife spent Remembrance Day, underlining their conflicted feelings (l. 8).…
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Middle
The rising action begins with a backstory in which the man remembers events from the previous month. He ominously thinks “How he wished it was still then” (l. 12), foreshadowing that something bad has happened to him recently.
The man remembers that when he last walked through the supermarket, he became angry because Christmas products were being given more prominence than ones meant for Remembrance Day. The man’s attitude (l. 16) foreshadows the importance of the holiday for h…
