When the wife plays, she puts down “JINXED” which is a significant word paired with the hateful dialogue of the husband. It hints to the reader that bad luck is either going to her or her husband. Then the husband retaliates by thinking of the word “MURDER” so that would give him permission to kill her. This man has a sickening mind, and him chewing on the word “U” shows his selfishness towards his wife and how conceited he is, by fraying the letters. He continually deliberates gruesome words that he wishes he had like “KILL” and “STAB” so he could “finish her off.” (10) His repetitive thinking process of violent words and miscommunication with his wife is slowly driving him into a deeper rage, and his psychotic thinking is going to get to him from the lack of communication.
The narrator tells a short situation about his cousin swallowing a bee when he was nine and how his throat swelled up and he died, which adds suspense at why he sidetracked game. Its different because all throughout the story he’s not thinking about anything other than how he’s wanting to kill his wife. Its a weird story and definitely a sign that a situation could arise from that story. His rack of words then spells out “MIHZPAH” which is ironic because the words “MIZPAH” mean “an emotional bond between two people that are separated,” and they definitely have the opposite kind of relationship than the definition. (dictionary.com)
When the wife plays the words “SWEATIER” the room instantly gets hotter and Charlie’s rage is building up to extremes. He then plays “HUMID and he mentions that he “hopes she has lousy letters” and that “he hates her more” (14,15) this signifies that she’s almost talking back to him by using similar words to show him up. That sets him off, and he plays the word “CHEATING” as a method of telling her he cheated, and then the air conditioning unit then explodes. She asks “if he cheated” and he doesn’t even reply back to her. They both have said few words during this whole time, which is un-regular and clearly means there’s a major problem with the relationship. The use of “CHEATING” is the breaking point in the story, since then he notices that the “words are coming true” and they are “JINXED” (30) because then he can choose the right words to cause harm to his wife, like he’s always wanted. The lack of communication during the game and the game dialogue played is an aspect that makes the words very symbolic in this story. There is minimal communication outside of the game, so the majority of the conversation and conflict are through the use of the words being played in the Scrabble game. What letters they get and how they play them drive the plot to the disastrous ending. Nothing they do outside of the game is a clear conflict; it is just silence and complete devotion to the game.
Continuing with his psychotic thoughts, he wants to “play something and see if it happens” and then uses the word “FLY” waiting to be able to actually fly, then realizes that there’s an insect fly buzzing around instead. He’s pissed, and he wants a word that will end his wife. She plays “CAUTION” which is foreshadowing, he then is annoyed because he has no letters to make a word he wants, plus the letter B that he’s chewing on frustrated by his useless letters then it “hits him” and he plays “QUAKE” expecting a huge earthquake to come and kill his wife. (40) He thinks that he has the power of her fate in his own hands, but then she plays “DEATH” and then simultaneously the room starts to shake. He then “gasps with surprise” as the B that he was chewing on gets lodged in his throat and he falls to the floor gasping for air. (44) His wife does nothing, at all. This indicates that she too felt the same way in the relationship, and that she wanted him dead just like he wanted her. This whole short story represents how the lack of communication in relationships quickly causes friction that leads to not being able to stand the other person. And for this couple, for the present time the only way they really wanted to truly talk to each other was by playing Scrabble.
Works Cited
Fish, Charlie. “Death by Scrabble.” East of the Web. Sept. 2006. Web. Feb. 22,2012.
by
norwoodhw (student)
