Narrative Conventions of "The Reencounter"

"The Reencounter" was written by Isaac Bashevis Singer. One main thing that the author uses is characterization. More specifically his use of antithesis. His use of antithesis seems to give the story two sides of a situation.

The story revolves around the death of two people that were once in a relationship, but split up and go their separate ways. They meet again at a funeral home where the man in the story, Max, thinks he is going to the viewing of the woman he was in a relationship with, Liza. He is there by himself at first, but then a woman comes in and he thinks its the Liza's sister. He introduces himself and then is informed by the women who comes to the viewing that she is Liza and that he, himself, is also dead.

This is the point where the major display of antithesis begins. Liza has already come to see herself and she tells Max that his body is in one of the other rooms in the building. She asks him if he wants to go see his body. He replies by saying, "No, I'm not curious." They later go to the chapel where a service is being held for Liza. They both sit in on the service and she notes that the chapel is half empty. She asks Max if he wants to stay and see how many people come to his service but again he replies by stating that he doesn't want to find out. She decides to continue on their "walk" rather than sit there and continue to here what else they are going to say about her. They make their way outside to where the limos and the hearse are parked. She sees her coffin being carried out and sees a large and thought to be expensive wreath on it. She thinks its nice and wants to continue on their "walk". He decides to go because he doesn't want to see his coffin or the people who came to pay their respects to him. He takes up Liza's hand and they float off into the sky. He notes that he can see everything except for other people.

These two characters seem to be opposite in their views of their current situation. Liza seems to portray the positive side of death. She goes about this transitional phase with positive energy and attitude. She seems willing to accept her position and move on. On the other hand, Max portrays the negative side of death. He thinks that they are both in this transitional phase, but he almost seems like he regrets dying or isn't ready to accept the fact of death. He doesn't ever want to see the people who came to see him and doesn't even want to see his own body. This may seem a bit out there, but I think maybe that Max committed suicide maybe due to depression. He seems to want to be isolated from other people and trying to isolate himself by not wanting to see his body or the people who came to see him. What really makes me feel like he wanted to isolate himself is when it mentions on how he can see everything except for people. Maybe he killed himself to get away from people. If this is not true, antithesis still plays a major roll as characterization in the story.