Second is the “subtext” of the story. For me, upon finishing it, the main feeling I get is that while I felt like Mr. Klein was something of a dick, I now see how someone who I thought was not a dick comes to that point in his or her life. In the beginning of the story Mr. Klein is outed as a wifebeater right away, and so my feeling towards him is instantly that he’s a jerk. I make this assumption–no, decision–because I am told he is a wifebeater. I never actually see it.

Jeff is a character who is good in my eyes. Up until the end at least. He starts out as an abandoned child who is rather appreciative of the kindness afforded him by the Kleins. I enjoy him until his return at which point I actually see him hit Mrs. Klein. I see him hit Mrs. Klein and realize he’s hitting her because of the anger that has been simmering for years and must be let out. I assume this anger has been simmering for years because of how Mrs. Klein sees him as being “overgrown and ugly” as well as the narrator’s choice to explain that Jeff earned things himself. As if to say he didn’t need the help of anyone else, as if to say he would refuse the help of anyone else because of a lack of faith in others, no small part of which is due to his disappontment in the Kleins.

This ending, in a fucked up way, exonnerates (sp) Mr. Klein. Now I see that Jeff had the intention of coming over and hitting Mr. Klein in order to punish him for hitting Mrs. Klein. So Jeff had justice in his mind, but the anger with which to exact justice is too violent a thing and cannot be controlled. I liked Jeff, and felt I understood him, before he hit a woman. So maybe I would have felt the same way about Mr. Klein but was just too quick to judge him.

Then again, it could be said that Jeff returned to beat up Mr. Klein because Mr. Klein had ruined Jeff’s chances of having a family at all. That it wasn’t how Mrs. Klein was treated that bothered Jeff, but how that effected his life. I think there are some details in the story which support my initial decision, such as Jeff ceasing to laugh at Mr. Klein’s jokes and when he confides in Mrs. Klein about knowing “what’s going on.”

The subtext for me was how life is morally complex and this is done through how you disseminate information throughout the narrative. Obviously, if you stated that Jeff would hit Mrs. Klein at the beginning of the story I would have different feelings about him. And I don’t think chronology is the only reason the story’s details are told in the order they are.

So I liked it. Well done.