Literary Analysis of "Windows" by Susan Palwick

“Life is not fair.” A quote we all know too much about. Some people would rather call it a string of bad luck. In Susan Palwick’s short story, Windows, Evangeline Morris is introduced. She seems to be running into a string of bad luck as well. Throughout the story you realize she actually has a really tough time. But Vangie decides to live in the moment and treasure it for what it is.

“Windows” begins by describing the bus that Vangie is on. It is a ten hour bus ride she takes to visit her son for his birthday, Graham. Graham is in prison for large cocaine possession. All the while on the long bus ride, Vangie has a gut-wrenching feeling. “Something has to go wrong,” Vangie says (Palwick). Many times she has boarded this bus with intentions to see her son. In previous tries, something always goes wrong, like a lockdown, where it can takes days before Vangie hears her son’s voice again.

Vangie also has a daughter, Zel, who won a lottery to board a ship into space. Vangie doesn’t see Zel much anymore. But Zel was able to deliver a video message to Vangie for Graham’s birthday. Vangie saved this message on a USB without watching it, determined to watch it with her son. She made priors arrangements with the warden to have a laptop accessible. Unsure where her luck will take her, Vangie isn’t trusting the warden’s word on this. She believes he’ll probably discard her request or deny any confrontation about it.

At the end of her ten hour bus ride journey, Vangie lays on the bed in her hotel room. She is glad that she was able to sleep on the bus due to the ruckus surrounding her room. On one side she can hear the television blasting at maximum volume. And on the opposite side she can hear a couple having sex which is continued by a loud fight.

The next morning Vangie wakes up at five a.m. to take a shower and have breakfast at the diner across her hotel. At the prison Vangie is first in line at the prison. She tells the guard her name and reminds them the warden granted access to a laptop. Finally she sees Graham in the visitors room, accompanied by someone else to Vangie’s surprise. Graham and Vangie embrace, one of two hugs they are allowed in visitation.

Graham explains that he brought a chaplain. It turns out that there was a huge explosion in space. Vangie had no knowledge of this, she was on the bus all day yesterday and her TV in her hotel room did not work. Graham tells her they haven’t have any contact. Vangie becomes overwhelmed by the news, being assisted to take her seat. The chaplain makes her nervous but Vangie, obligingly, takes his and Graham’s hand for a brief prayer for safety. Vangie politely asks the reverend to leave so she can speak with her son privately.

In this moment, Vangie decides until she knows exactly what has happened her daughter, Zel is fine. She assures Graham of this and she asks the guard for the laptop. She and Graham watch Zel’s video message, with the guard monitoring them. Everyone, visitors, inmates and guards, hear the video and crowd around Vangie and Graham to watch. “We don’t know anything yet. Not for sure. And whatever’s happening up there, we can’t do anything about it. Today is my son, Graham’s, birthday. Help me sing to him,” (Palwick) Vangie says. And an off-key chorus sang harmoniously in dismay and tribulation to Graham.

It is clear that Evangeline Morris has a troubled life. She receives monthly checks which doesn’t amount to much money. Most of it is to contact Graham through collect calls or visitations and her daily necessities. But she wants to create a better atmosphere when it comes to troubling times. She focuses on creating valuable moments. So she decides to ask the crowd surrounding her to sing to Graham for his birthday. This wasn’t just to her benefit. She did this to lighten everyone’s mood and try to distract them of the news of the explosion in space. And because of this she was able to give her son a good birthday, a day Vangie will look back on as lovely memory.