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Grace Paley

 In "Wants," Grace Paley makes several odd choices. She decides to return some overdue books but then parks herself on the steps leading to the library's entrance--she seems to be a daydreamer. When she spots her ex, she refers to him as "my life." (Could this be deliberately antagonistic?) The ex says that the marriage died because "you never invited the Bertrams to dinner"--and instead of calling the accusation absurd, Grace shrugs and says, "That's possible."


We can imagine that Grace may be simmering with rage; her way of managing life is to detach. The story never *tells* us to reach that conclusion.

One of the smartest touches is to show Grace observing the librarian. This minor character reveals that Grace has been a "person of interest" for eighteen years. The librarian has "more to tell"--but the ex ploughs ahead with a disruption.

In this moment, Grace seems to identify with the librarian--she knows how it feels to be interrupted. She knows how exasperating her ex can be.

The moment passes quickly. In the story, life happens--while something mysterious seems to be churning just underneath the surface. That matches my own experience (and I think, probably, most people's experience) of the real world. 

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