, Foster .Claire Keegan - Essay Example

Foster by Claire Keegan Affiliation Foster by Claire Keegan The short story Foster was written by a contemporary Irish writer Claire Keegan and released by The New Yorker in 2010. I must admit that this story captured me from the first lines, and until the very last words of it my attention was fully there. The interesting thing is that it is not really about the plot, which is quite simple and uneventful, but about the actual style of writing that is so precise, deep and provoking. The story is told by the young girl, whose name the reader does not know, who was sent to the foster parents, while her mother is giving birth to one more baby in their family.

The girl’s father drives her to these people and the girl describes everything she sees and feels. It becomes obvious that there is not much affection between a father and a daughter, she does not know the love of this man. We can also make a conclusion that the family is quite poor, her clothes is unkempt, there are lice in her hair, and obviously her parents cannot afford to take care of such a large family of theirs. It is unknown what kind of relations the girl’s family has with Kinsellas, though they do know the girl, but she does not remember them.

The girl realizes that she does not know when she will return home, and her father does not even give her a hug when he leaves. From the very beginning the reader feels sorry for poor child, who is lacking parental love and affection. Gradually we see how the girl’s relationship with the foster family develops. It is obvious that they show her more affection than her parents ever did. Of course, as a little girl, she does miss her parents and siblings, but as time passes this love and affection encompasses her being.

Kinsellas are both not the people of many words, but of actions. It is through their actions that the girl feels their care: how the woman washes her up, buys her new clothes she never had before, how Kinsella makes her feel useful by asking her to run and get the mail and turning it into a game. The girl finds out from the gossipy neighbor that Kinsellas had a boy who has died. It is interesting how Keegan shows that the affection between the girl and foster family is needed to both parties – the grown-up man and woman need to give this love and affection as much as the girl needs to receive it.

It seems like these people really found each other, their relationship is full of meaning. Their hearts are wounded and they are the ones who can heal the wounds on each other’s hearts. We see the development of emotional connection of the girl with the Kinsellas. The most precious moment for me was the walk to the beach that Kinsella took with the girl. At this moment, both the girl and the man opened up more than ever before: a grown-up man opening up his heart to the little girl, the joy he feels from having a child in his home, the joy that the girl never felt in her real parents.

The last paragraphs of the story are so touching, when the reader feels the love that the girl had for her foster parents. For once in her life she felt cared for and loved for what she is – with all her childish ways and shortcomings. We can see how she changed – from being unsure of her future, of these unknown people’s attitude, from missing her mother, who will always be the girl’s mother – no matter what happens, to the point when she got so close to the new people in her life that they became part of her being.

Claire Keegan’s talent is in the way she can project the young girl’s feelings, thoughts and emotions to the older readers. Apparently, if the story would be written from the older person, it would be so much different. But what Keegan managed to do is precious – seeing the world through the eyes of the child and at the same time understanding the depth and complexity of the problems posed in the story. The language of the story is simple, but at the same time deep and convincing. The simple dialogues and thoughts of the little girl – from these bits and pieces the complete picture opens up in front of our eyes.

I can say that the story Foster left me thinking about a lot of things and provoked me to look at my own life. There are not only social problems of poverty or hardships of the rural life that are shown in the story, there is so much more. Relationship between people and staying human in any kind of situation – this is what I was thinking about after finishing reading the story.ReferencesKeegan, C. (2010). Foster. The New Yorker