Spilled Salt

Spilled Salt By: Barbara Neely

Something I liked about this story was that it had a realistic plot. It's completely possible for a mother to have her son go to jail and come back unexpected. This actually happened to someone I knew, they were in jail for raping a girl, when they really didn't and his mom had a hard time dealing with him being back from jail when really she just wanted him to leave her life completely. Something I didn't like about the story was the character of the mom, she seemed too paranoid and not too happy her son was home. It kind of upset me that she treated him like a criminal after he paid his debt to society for going to jail. All he wanted was to start over and have a fresh start with the help of his mom who only pushed him away. Something that I might use in my writing that I saw in the story was the ending. It was kind of a surprise but at the same time you knew it was going to happen. While reading the story you know that she is going to leave but at the same time you just hope she doesn't. I'm not sure what kind of writing that is but I really liked it and I hope that I can use it in my stories or writing in the future. I think the mother, Myrna should have trusted her son more because it seemed like she only believed the worst, that he had raped Crystal and he was a bad person. She never really asked him why he did it or even refused to believe it. She just saw the worst in him and I don't think that was right. This is proven in this quote,

"Well, Ma, how've you-

"I'll fix you something to eat," Myrna interrupted.

She doesn't even want to talk to him she just wants to get away, as far as possible from him. It was wrong for her to leave like that too, he was her son and she should have treated him better and been a better mother but she