Molia Dumbleton's If She Were To Lay Down

Heroes are known for the conflict they resolve, but sometimes the conflict is constantly surrounding them. That conflict can be caused by themselves. Heroes are their own villain. “If She Were to lay Down” by Molia Dumbleton is the story of a hero by the name of Jesse who tried to save a baby from a burning car years earlier and has now reached his downfall. Jesse is shirtless on his friends Sarah’s couch, passed out. Sarah cares about Jesse though and shows him love, the love he really needs. This is actually not a love story though; it is a story about hardship and depression. In this story there is a constant use motifs such as hardship, sadness and love with descriptive imagery and symbolism to catch the attention of the readers and generate the theme of everyone has their tough times. The constant use of motifs in this story helps produce other literary devices such as the theme. A common motif in this story is affection and love. Jesse is a lonely man but has the love of his friend Sarah. Sarah shows affection throughout the story to show the bond these two …show more content…
The burning car and the baby both represent something. The author uses very descriptive language when she tells how he saved the baby from the burning car, “they said he hadn't been able to unbuckle the car seat, he had nearly caught fire himself trying.” This shows he cared to help and he was a hero. Jesse symbolizes a fallen hero. A hero who cannot live with the guilt of not be able to save the baby. The baby falls silent when Jesse is taking the bay to the hospital which makes the reader infer the baby has died, “and the baby had stopped crying before they even got there.” The baby dying symbolizes death not just because it died, rather because it represents a part of Jesse that died. He has become a drunk and a loner due to the guilt he has gained because he was not able to save the baby. He used drinking as a way of