Appointment

This study guide will help you analyze the short story “Appointment” by Olivia Parkes. You can also find a summary of the text, as well as inspiration for interpreting it and putting it into perspective.

Presentation of the text

Title: “Appointment” (2020)
Author: Olivia Parkes
Genre: Short story

Olivia Parkes (b. 1989) is a British-American artist and writer based in Berlin. In 2021, Parkes got an MFA in Creative Writing at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Parkes’ fiction has appeared in several publications, including The Masters Review and Electric Literature.

Excerpt

Below, you can read an excerpt from our study guide:

Message

The short story’s message is that a small thing – like a haircut – can sometimes make a huge difference in people’s lives. In the narrator’s case, the haircut makes her confident and enthusiastic about the future, even though she has not sketched it out yet.

Another message is that kindness can have great impact on someone. Instead of being judgmental and treating the narrator poorly because she is dressed shabbily, Moira treats her with kindness and does her best to make her wish come true.

Lastly, the story suggests that people are more ...