My thoughts on "I Could Tell You Stories"

I enjoyed reading this short story, and I don't think that it was just becuase it was an easy read, especially after "The Crack Up," I thought the story was interesting. I thought it was funny that this girl was so interested in watching this middle-aged woman and her young husband. And that them kissing sparked her thinking about how she has never been kissed like that and she has never been loved like that.

In my opinion, when the middle-aged woman says "I could tell you stories" she means that a lot of things have happened to her and the young man that are interesting. I don't think that she would actually have told them, but she is implying that they have had a very interesting time together. For example, the fact that everyone thinks that they are mother and son probably has made for some interesting experiences. People aren't used to seeing a mother and a son kissing passionately in public. I really don't think that the woman was being narcissitic or lying. The situation is unusual enough that it would make for interesting storires.

I really love the quote that we talked about in class, "A story, we sense, is the only possible habitation for the burden of our witnessing." When I first read this I didn't understand it, but after we talked about it in class, it makes perfect sense and I think it's very true. Listening to stories really is not the same as being there, but it is definitely the closest we can get. A lot of important things in our society are based on stories including religion. I really like one of the last things that we talked about, that stories are our responsibility to relay these important moments. It's true, we depend on stories in a lot of important things like in court cases, or in historical things.