Sarah Meehan Sirk's In The Dark

Grief affects people in various ways. Sarah Meehan Sirk's explores the side effects of losing a loved one in her short story, In the Dark. In this piece, Martha is extremely anxious when her husband, Paul, leaves Toronto to spend time in Miami. As the story escalates, so does her anxiety. She becomes so frightened that she calls Paul only to discover that he is crying over the loss of their daughter. His state of mind causes her to forget why she phoned him in the first place.
Sirk is a master of emotion in this piece. She builds up the story and Martha's nervous personality without revealing the reason for her paranoia, the death of her daughter, until the conclusion. At first it seems as if Martha is just naturally uneasy and as the story unravels it is …show more content…
By using devices like colloquialisms, she is able to make Martha's inner dialogue authentic. A conceivable character is more likely to receive sympathy from readers because they become relatable.
Sirk employs both aural and visual imagery into the story to compose a written work that is intriguing to read. For example, she illustrates the creaking of the outdoor wooden steps that frighten Martha. Sirk also describes how aged they look so readers have a better understanding of why the stairs are so boisterous. This depiction also creates comprehension as to why Martha is so certain that there is an emergency. The reader can almost believe that there is a person climbing up the stairs to her front door even though it is just Martha's anxiety.
The author handles foreshadowing quite effectively. Martha talks about what she would do if she were a mom and how she would handle her children. This hints towards the ending where it is finally revealed that she did in fact have a daughter who died as a baby. This technique creates more drama for the reader, especially when they find out that Martha used to be a