Hateship, Friendship

 A narrative voice does not have to seem clinical, detached. A narrator can be a character, even if we learn few facts about that narrator. Alice Munro understood this.

A woman with a high, freckled forehead came into the railway station...and inquired about shipping furniture.

The station agent often tried a little teasing with women, especially the plain ones who seemed to appreciate it.

"Furniture?" he said, as if nobody had ever had such an idea before. "Well. Now. What kind of furniture are we talking about?"

A dining-room table and six chairs. A bedroom suite, a sofa, coffee table, end tables, floor lamp. Also, a china cabinet and a buffet.

"Whoa there. You mean a houseful."

"It shouldn't count as that much," she said. "There's no kitchen things and only enough for one bedroom."

Her teeth were crowded to the front of her mouth as if they were ready for an argument....

Here, so much is happening in a tight space. The narrator presents the station agent's misogyny--but without judgment. The voice even seems to feel some compassion for this guy. (Do "the plain ones" really appreciate teasing? A smarter station agent might ask himself this question.)

The woman with freckles opts against "reciprocal flirting"--but her lack of response *becomes* a kind of response. We can sense her irritation in her blunt list of nouns. "A sofa, coffee table, end tables, floor lamp..." The tension builds until its climax: a dispute over the word "houseful."

Then, the zinger: "Her teeth were crowded to the front of her mouth, as if ready for an argument." This tells us that the station agent still sees the guest as a kind of pageant-contestant: Her physical presentation matters more to him (perhaps) than the question of furniture. Also, the agent can't handle his discomfort, can't handle the confrontation. He projects his anger onto a set of teeth, "crowded together, ready for an argument." This is like Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, seeing his own emotional landscape in a razor blade: "I know, I know...you've been locked out of sight all these years....my friend...."

Hats off to Alice Munro.