Introduction
“The Stone” is a captivating short story about the power of objects and the emotional attachment people can form with them. The main character feels a strong connection to the stone the day she finds it on an island during her vacation. As the story unfolds, she forms a strong relationship with the object, as if it were a real person and her faithful friend.
Story Analysis
To begin with, Louise Erdrich employs various literary devices in this short story to shape the unfolding relationship between the main character and the stone. Right from the beginning, we can see that Erdrich describes the stone as if it were alive: it “was staring at her” or it “had an owlish look” (Erdrich, para. 3). This use of personification is aimed at readers relating to the stone not as a soulless and lifeless object but as something important to how the story proceeds. In fact, it feels that the main character thinks of the stone as one’s pet, sleeping with it in her bed, returning home from vacation, and constantly carrying it around. It implies the protagonist’s growing connection to the object from the first pages.
With time, the stone became a token of the protagonist’s peace and calmness. To elaborate, she felt inner serenity when she knew it was safe and no one could touch it. For instance, when the boy in her class was flirting with her, resulting in an unfortunate exit for which she was shamed, she found relief when she came home to stone.
Erdrich describes the stone as an essential part of the girl’s life, as if it were a real person she can talk to, making her feel comfortable and allowing her to forget about her problems. It can be assumed that the girl considered the stone her friend: “whenever something happened to upset her, the girl would go to the stone” (Erdrich para 6). One time, when the girl came home after her gate and felt uneasy about it, Erdrich personified the stone to make it appear real and to be able to sense the teenager’s feelings. The object “rustled” as if it understood the girl’s need for comfort (Erdrich para 12). Since that encounter, she felt even closer to it and slept with the stone every night.
Further in the story, Erdrich describes the stone as real, giving it human characteristics. When it was stolen, it fell on the face of the girl who had taken it away from its friend, as a punishment for her actions. After the girl and the stone fought and she threw it to the floor, Erdrich describes her feelings as they fell out of love (para. 19). The author continues to describe their relationship as if between two real people, not the grown woman and the stone with strange symmetry.
Conclusion
To sum up, Erdrich portrays the stone as a living entity and a true friend to the girl throughout her life. Even when the remaining pieces of their friendship seemed broken, they still found their way to each other. Most shockingly, when the woman was dying, the only thing she was thinking about was her stone, her dear friend that stayed with her from her childhood till the end of her life.
Work Cited
Erdrich, L. (2019). “The Stone.” The New Yorker.