Newborn Thrown in the Trash

Newborn Thrown in the Trash Dies

John Edgar Wideman's short story, "newborn thrown in trash and dies" uses a very distinctive point-of-view for dramatic effect and irony. The story uses the viewpoint of an unwanted baby, thrown into a trash shoot. The baby's last moments make up the story, from the baby's own internal point-of-view. Not only is this a unique point-of-view, it is also very emotional and moving. Thus, Wideman uses this point-of-view to make the impact of his story even more dramatic, dark, and depressing.

This disturbing and graphic story opens with a first-person point-of-view that sounds rational and bitter at the same time. The first lines of the story indicate what is to come, just not to who, or why. Wideman writes, "They say you see your whole life pass in review the instant before you die. How would they know? If you die after the instant replay, you aren't around to tell anyone anything" (Wideman 1396). Thus, the reader is prepared for something unpleasant to occur, but it is not clear just how unpleasant that is going to be. In fact, the actually premise of the story does not come until much later, but already the viewpoint draws the reader in, and makes them want to know more about this intelligent and embittered character.

There are times that the narration is funny or amusing, as long as the reader does not know what is coming next. The author uses humor in his story the same way he uses the point-of-view, to jar the reader. Using humor ensures the reader will be even more affected by the reality that comes after the humor. This story in reality is not funny at all; it is tragic. By using humor, the author makes the situation even more unfortunate, and that makes it even more remarkable to the reader. For example, early in the story he writes, "The end is the end. And what you know at the end goes down the tube with you. I can speak to you know only because I haven't reached bottom yet. I'm on my way, faster than I want to be traveling and my journey won't take long" (Wideman 1396). Without the context of the rest of the story, this just seems like any other bitter and jaded individual who has reached the end of their life and is not ready for it to be over. In fact, the jaded words appear humorous and wry, somehow. That changes when the context of the story becomes clear - these are the thoughts of a dying baby on its way down a trash chute. When that is established the talk take on a new meaning, and that is exactly what the author intended. He needed to wake up professors to situations they might not even think were possible. By using this point-of-view, he certainly does just that, and it is unsettling by the end of the story.

Of course, this viewpoint is dramatic. The situation - the entire story premise - is equally dramatic, and that draws the reader into the story and makes in more meaningful. It gives it more impact, too. The way the baby "talks" to the reader is the way just about any adult would discuss events with another adult. Thus, the baby has grown-up thoughts, ideals, and ambitions, all dashed by another adult. Who has not been affected by the actions or words of another? Thus, the author's viewpoint also makes the baby even more sympathetic and lifelike to the reader, which in turn makes the situation even more tragic. The reader identifies with what the baby is thinking, and has probably thought many of the same things at times during their own life. For example, the baby thinks on the way down, "I know things I have no business knowing. Things I haven't been around long enough to learn myself. For instance, many languages. A vast palette of feelings" (Wideman 1397). This helps the reader identify with the child, and compare her short life to their own lives. Not only does the reader feel as if the baby speaks for them too, they also identify with a young life cut short, and this is the point of both the story and the viewpoint.

The story subtly changes as the baby calls out the floors she hurtles past. There is more bitterness in the story, but irony, too. It is completely ironic that a baby has as much knowledge as this one has, and that someone has simply thrown her away like yesterday's trash. She has become yesterday's trash, and that is profoundly sad. However, it is ironic that the baby can recognize her fate and have already developed bitterness and a sense of finality. The writing gives the reader pause, and makes them wonder how much babies really do know and understand. There is irony woven throughout the story, which makes it all the more sad and desperate. For example, the baby thinks, around the ninth floor, "In their rooms people sit and wait for a hit. A yearning unto death for more, more, more till the little life they've been allotted dies in a basket on the doorstep where they abandoned it" (Wideman 1397). Thus, the baby can see the tragic irony of its own situation as it hurtles to its death. It does not want to die, and yet, it has no choice. Others, who are supposed to be adults, have a choice, and yet their lives are just living deaths, with no hope for the future or desire for anything else. It is ironic that the vibrant and the alive are killed, while the walking dead live on. It is also incredibly sad and disturbing at the same time. The author uses this irony not only to show the hopelessness of the ghetto, but the very real tragedy of lives that are wasted every day. It should be a wakeup call to the reader to take a look at their own life and see where they can improve it, so they are not among the "walking dead" themselves.

Finally, the story's viewpoint makes the reader think about the story long after the reading is over. There are many unanswered questions. The reader discovers the baby is a girl, and her mother was nineteen, and gave birth in a stairway. Already it is clear the baby was doomed from the start. However, the reader never really learns why the mother throws the baby down the trash chute. Is she so poor she cannot take care of her daughter? Is she a junkie? Is she simply cold, callous, and irresponsible? This is perhaps the most ironic and disturbing part of the story. The baby is conscious of everything, even events that have never happened, but she is not cognizant of her mother's love, because she has never had it. The utter tragedy of this story is embodied in the baby's understanding of what her life probably would have been. She understands in the ghettos, her brother might have been killed, she might have been molested and beaten, and she might have even experienced some happiness. Even this violent and hard life is more attractive than dying in a garbage chute, it seems. While she can understand all this, she cannot ever experience the love between mother and child, and she does not long for that. She longs for winter, and just one Christmas, and there is irony and tragedy in that longing for something she will never see.