Structure

The short story “Trash” by Souvankham Thammavongsa is told in retrospect, meaning that the female narrator is looking back at past events. This means that the entire story is a flashback. In the story, she recalls the first time she met her new mother-in-law, Miss Emily. 

Despite being a flashback, the short story has a chronological structure. We first hear briefly of the narrator’s whirlwind romance with Miss Emily’s son and we are then taken through the first days that the narrator and Miss Emily spent together. During those days, their relationship progress from good to bad.

At first, the relationship between the narrator and Miss Emi...