FRED STENSON’S
TEETH
SEMINAR
By:
Jia Hui Sun
For:
Michael P. J. Kennedy, Ph.D.
English 114.3(01)
Submitted: 24 June 2004
Teeth, by Fred Stenson, is an interesting short story, with a plot spread between two hockey games and the childhood memories of the main character. The story is written in first person, through the eyes of a hockey player – the main character - and the setting is in western Canada, mainly around Canadian hockey rinks and the main character’s hometown. The story presents a player, who plays hockey for money rather than for pleasure. The author of this story tries to provoke the readers, by writing through the eyes of this player, who does not love the game he plays. The idea that a hockey player – a professional Canadian hockey player – would dislike the game of hockey and still play, is what shocks, confuses and keeps the reader interested in the story. This unusual characterization of a hockey player is also important to the development of plot. Finally, this story gives people advice about how to live and enjoy life more effectively.
The story begins during one of Burns’s – the main character - hockey games, on a Tuesday night, not long after Christmas. The players in his team are quite fatigued and near the end of a game. They are supposed to change lines onto the ice, but Burns is lost in a daydream about his youth and the line change goes too slowly. For some seconds there is no one on the ice except the goalie and the six members of other team. The other team scores a goal before the line change is completed and Burn’s team goes on to lose the game 5-3 (93). The reader must conclude that the loss of the game is partly the fault of the main character. This conclusion comes from the fact that he is daydreaming about his childhood, and memories of being made to play hockey by his parents. It is at this point in the story that the reader learns of Burn’s dislike for the game of hockey, and through these daydreams that the reader discovers the main character’s motivation to play the game is the money he is being paid. After the game, in the dressing room, the manager is angry and threatens to send some of the players down to the minor leagues. When the main character hears this, his reaction is not what the reader would expect of a hockey player who loves to play the game. Instead, Burns continues to daydream and shows a lack of respect for his teammates and the manager. The manager mainly blames Burns for the team’s loss, because he did not put out, and his lack of enthusiasm infects the morale of the whole team (94-95). When the team later plays with Montreal Canadiens, the goalie has a mental breakdown and has to leave the game, and two players engage in a fight because Steve Burke boards a Canadiens’ player into the crowd. The game does not go well. The turning point in the story is when Burns, again daydreaming, but on the rink and in the middle of the game, gets hit in the mouth with a hockey helmet and loses one of his perfect teeth. It is at this point in the story that Burns realizes that “Money, unlike teeth, can be replenished. A missing tooth is a hole in your head for life.” (96-97). There is conflict in the main character’s mind. He cannot pay attention to playing hockey and admits to himself, “But, lately, something has gone wrong…” (Burns 93). This conflict has resulted from the character’s parents having made him play hockey as a kid. “My parents gave me no choice in the matter...” (Burns 93). There is also conflict between the main character and his social environment. He is a famous hockey player who should have many women lining up to be with him, but he is alone in his home, and wonders where the women who are interested in him are, “According to the popular myth…” (Burns 95).
