Structure
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Overall structure
The structure of "She's the Bomb" is unique because of the way the story switches between its regular narrative and the text messages exchanged between Hailey and her unnamed correspondent. This means that we are told the same story from two different perspectives - we get a third-person narrative in the regular text, and first person comments from the texts. However, it should be noted that the third person narrator also offers …
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Beginning
The short story begins in medias res, or in the middle of events. The story opens with a series of text messages exchanged between Hailey Phegler and an unknown person. The conversation foreshadows Hailey’s desperate actions, as she feels very sad and states that she wants to kill herself (l. 4).
The exposition is marked by the n…
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Middle
The rising action is set in motion by Hailey’s conversation with Stephanie Joiner. Both she and Hailey attended the same course. However, Hailey seems envious of the fact that Stephanie is graduating, even if she belittles her. The fact that Stephanie states that it has been “ice ages” (l. 21) since they have seen each other and that she did not know Hailey was still studying (l. 22) foreshadows the fact that Hailey has dropped out of college.
Hailey seems to be unsettled by her conversation with Stephanie and sends some desperate text messages to the unknown person she contacted before. She expresses her wish to die multiple times (l. 37, l. 41, l. 43) and seems afraid to talk to her mother. The lines “Ur dressed the part ur walking whos going to know? My mom didnt see my name on the list” (ll. 38-3…
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Ending
The falling action depicts Hailey working as a sales clerk in a different town after being bailed out of jail and released on probation. The store she works at is busy during the holiday season, and Hailey encounters Stephanie as a customer. After Stephanie avoids her, Hailey seems unsettled by the event.
In the resolution, Hailey once again texts an unknown person stating that “Like really i might as well have a letter A stitched on my sweater” (l. 164). She is referencing Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, in which the main character commits adu…
