Analysis Of Dave Eggers 'Accident'

Dave Eggers’ Accident chronicles a character through a second person narration undergoing a hellish accident that nearly strips the lives of a few teenagers. This short story reveals the tragedy and heart-hammering disaster as a battle between oneself during the aftermath; the nameless character’s first and foremost concern is how the teenagers will treat them for their moment of dull-wittedness of drinking while driving. Accident illustrates how a mishap that could possibly give ruin to one’s constitution delivers a hard lesson of contact, thankfulness, and love. Upon inspecting the damage of a crash, Accident shows the inner-monologue of the tragedy and shows that the first worry is whether or not the other driver is injured. When the teenager emerges from the wreck, the main character is relieved, but also feels terrible and apologizes with “so, so sorry,” hoping that he won’t comment on his or her mental wellbeing and state of inebriation. This realistically shows the looming fear of social interaction after a huge disaster such as a car crash; that indeed communication itself is nastier than the …show more content…
The reader experiences the same emotions as the character, and empathizes easily with the scenario. Readers for this story might feel the same amount of thankfulness the character does, as he or she is “thankful that none of [the] teenagers…punched” them, or “[remarks] about [them] being drunk…or being stupid,” which is a humane expression to have after living through a car crash. The overwhelming self-doubt and deprecation in the story is so easy to empathize with, that readers can comprehend just how and why there is a stark contrast between the first half of the story and the second half: because of thankfulness. The character is overwhelmed with such emotion for not being responsible for second degree murder, that they crave physical contact after their reeling adrenaline