A Summer Tragedy

Jeff and Jennie’s trip is not revealed to be a suicide pact until the very end of the story, but foreshadowing is used throughout to indicate the immense importance of the trip and suggest that there is something ominous about it. Early in the story, as Jeff prepares to take the car around to the front of the house, he finds himself unnerved by the thought of the trip: “The mention of the car brought to his mind, with new intensity, the trip he and Jennie were about to take. Fear came into his eyes; excitement took his breath” (350). Along with Jeff’s bouts of nerves regarding the trip, Jennie repeatedly asks if he is scared. His recurring fears and doubts, coupled with Jennie’s bursts of crying, contrast with the characters’ careful preparations and donning their best clothes for what might otherwise seem to be a vacation. These hints that something is amiss add to the story’s suspense.

Dialect is a key part of characterization, as it can indicate the social and/or geographic background of a character or characters. In the story, Jeff and Jennie Patton’s speech indicates their social and economic status as poor people in the Southern US, possibly with Creole roots.