I Just Kept On Smiling Summary

In the story "I Just Kept on Smiling" by Simon Burt the narrator describes a story revolving around a theft he did secretly and his attitude afterward. When the narrator admits his theft to the teacher and the teacher does not believe him, his friend, Nikki Carven, takes the blame, as a result, he is being shamed by the teacher in front of the class. The story ends with the narrator staring and smiling continuously at Nikki Carven while waiting for a reaction from his friend. It is obvious that smiling and staring continuously happens throughout the story and it is interesting to know why the narrator ends his story in this way. In this essay I am explaining why the narrator "just kept on smiling" and staring at the end of the story. I, believe that the narrator had two major reasons why he continued staring and smiling at Nikki Carven because that was their way of acknowledging the secret which was known only to the two of them. …show more content…
Throughout the story, smiling and staring at each other is a way of communicating, specific to the two of them. The story starts with the narrator admitting that he has "a good smile" which "makes people think twice." After stealing and hiding the three books, smiling is initially the narrator's way to test people's reactions in order to find out if they are aware that he is the thief. That's why when he first smiles at Nikki Carver (right after coming from the chapel where he hid the stolen books) there is no response from Nikki because at that point Nikki is not suspecting him of theft yet. However, later in the book, after Nikki realizes that he is the thief (right after he is being forced to confess by the bully classmates), when the narrator smiles again to test Nikki's reaction his classmate "did not go