New Yorker Short Story

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/01/whoever-is-there-come-on-through

The short story Whoever Is There, Come On Through by Colin Barrett is a very vague and intriguing story that is able to force the mind to wonder what kind of tensions and strains exist within the characters as well as what are the strengths and hardships caused by friendships. The story mainly focuses on two specific characters: Eileen and Murt. Both of them are young adults and both of them live in the same small town together (as they have for seemingly their whole lives). They have also been good friends for a while now, ever since secondary school. Right out of the gate, however, it is definitely clear that Eileen and Murt have sort of this mutual awkwardness going on between them since they are both apparently picky about what they are asking and they both select subjects to talk about for specific reasons and are not completely open to one another on everything they want to ask. This already foreshadows that, despite being good friends, some time has passed that has caused Murt and Eileen to become a bit more distant from each other. This is further revealed when the book states that after Eileen takes Murt to his uncle's from the bus stop he doesn't even invite her in even though, once she gets the courage to go in herself, Murt's family wouldn't mind her company at all. This series of interactions reveals to the reader that the largest hardship of friendships is keeping in touch and catching-up with each other on a regular basis. Distance does no make the heart grow fonder, and regularly scheduled communication will ensure a last comfortableness in the friendship between the two people involved. The story right after showing the reader this, however, reveals that friendships and fondness never truly go away, since once Eileen invites herself in, Murt actually begins to come out of his seemingly depressive state a bit more and shows progress back towards that comfortable, friendly relationship with Eileen. A little later, another weakness of friendship is revealed. when Murt enters Eileen's house, he seems to almost immediately go to the bathroom only to climb out the back window to see if he could. the weakness shown is that, for a friendship to last, both parties need to want it to last. Murt's sudden disappearance from the scene for relatively no reason at all shows that his depressive state means that he can't just become best friends with Eileen again right away and will either be required to get out of this state or never rectify what the two had previously. Further into the story, however, the text is able to show another major hardship of friendship: being able to be there for each other. When Murt's brother, Jamie, is going to be a dad he throws a little gathering at the local bar to celebrate. Murt wonders if Eileen will join them, and she does. She then proceeds to get unfortunately wasted. During this time it's revealed to her that Murt is only staying with his uncle for a little while and is actually going with his mother after the party. This broods in Eileen's mind as a bad idea, since that would mean there friendship might never reach it's prime again when she feels Murt could use it most now after just getting out of the hospital. While this does end up ruining the two character's build-up, it just goes to show that friendships are fantastic to have, but do require a certain amount of maintenance to continue to function.