Comment on  ‘A telephone call’, short story by Dorothy Parker

Although the ironic mood in which the short story is presented, there are several elements which could transform or deform it into a drama.the plot is simple, a girl waiting for a telephone call. What we know about this character is barely anything, but yet, Dorothy Parker,maybe without wanting it, introduces every element that will show us why this story is a drama. there is an emotional flow throuhg out the whole text. There is anxiety, sadness, joy, expectetion, obssesion, pride, hidden intentions, idealization, hate, a desire for surprises- even if those surprises are unhappy ones-and not forgetting contradiction, among others. All this provoked by a telephone that does not ring, but more than that, a person who does not call. This absent character does not appear but in form of thoughts, of manners, this character becomes a standard type of person.

The entire list of emotions and reactions we find could be considered sub themes, but in this case; in my opinion, all of these separate themes, creates just two: Love and Absence. There is a second pseudo-character which is G’d. This omnipresent being, for the protagonist, is absent in all its forms. G’d does not answer either. The protagonist, meanwhile, is crying out for attention, she pleas, demands something to happen. It is also by no chance that both these absent characters have male connotations, both of them leaving her alone. If a read the short story again, I will read a protagonist who is neatly dressed, within four pale green walls, refusing the idea of desolation.