Themes and message

Family relationships

One of the major themes of the short story “The Third Dumpster” by Gish Jen is family relationships. The story portrays the relationship between the two brothers and between the sons and their parents.

The two brothers, Goodwin and Morehouse, seem to be a team. They live in the same town (ll. 4-5), they have the same job (ll. 7-8), they buy a house for their parents together (l. 1), and they decide to renovate it together (l. 6). However, it soon becomes apparent that the two have contrasting attitudes and traits. They divide their tasks between them, as they have different skills: “Morehouse was good with a sledgehammer and could get the demo started. Goodwin was dangerous with a sledgehammer, especially to himself” (ll. 48-50).

On one hand, Goodwin seems to look up to his brother and obeys his wishes even though he does not agree with his views. For example, Goodwin finds a dumpster and disposes of the asbestos even if he is against the idea of illicit trash disposal (ll. 36-37). On the other hand, Morehouse does not take into consideration his brother’s opinion before he makes a decision: “He knew too that Morehouse knew Goodwin to be against the use of illegals, and that Morehouse knew Goodwin knew Morehouse knew that” (ll. 67-68).

The relationship between the sons and their parents is a strained one. Both sons seem to be concerned with the opinion of their parents. Goodwin wonders what his mother would h...