Weekly Reflection on Rash's "Saints at the River"

"A darkroom is a place where your failures come to light: a wrong combination of f-stop and shutter speed, a misjudgement of depth of field or right exposure." (Page 131)

In the context of this quote, Maggie is right about failures coming to light in the darkness. However, when I think of  a dark room I do not consider that my failures come to light in them, but then again I am not a photographer and most likely will never be put in a situation like that. Although, Maggie is referring to her photography in this quote, I also think you can relate it to her life and surroundings. When in the dark, you do not have any distractions that alter your thoughts and while she is bringing her photographs to "light" she can think about her failures and by bringing them to "light" she can accept those failures and push forward to making them better.

• safelight: a darkroom light  with a filter that transmits only those rays of the spectrum to which films, printing paper, etc., are not sensitive.

"As I regained my balance, my eyes still on his face, I wondered if Herb Kowalsky had looked much the same as he watched his daughter sweep down the river." (Page 135)

Maggie was exactly right in this quotation, in a way. The feeling that Allen felt when she stepped into the road almost getting hit by a truck, brought back a lot of emotion similar to the way Herb probably felt. When you watch something happen, in any situation whether you know the person or not, you feel guilty for letting it happen and trouble yourself with thoughts on how to go back in time and change it. I believe that everything happens for a reason and although we wish we could change some things in our lives, most of them are going to happen whether we want them to or not. 

• exasperated: 1. to irritate or provoke to a high degree; annoy extremely: He was exasperated by the senseless delays. 2. Archaic . to increase the intensity or violence of (disease, pain, feelings, etc.).

"'You can't feel bad about things you didn't know,' I said. My words sounded so facile I didn't say anything else. For a few moments neither of us spoke." (Page 137)

 Maggie is so right and although she said her words sounded so facile, they should have been. It is completely normal for Allen to feel guilty about being upset when Claire did not get him at the airport and he called and left an extremely rude message. But, he cannot blame himself of what happened to Claire and "can't feel bad about things he didn't know" because if we all lived our lives that way there would most likely be a lot more of guilt and depression in this world. I think that if Allen is finally going to open up to Maggie about the tragedy, Maggie should open up too and tell Allen how she feels just like she did in this situation.

• facile: 1. moving, acting, working, proceeding, etc., with ease, sometimes with superficiality: facile fingers; a facile mind. 2. easily done, performed, used, etc.: a facile victory; a facile method. 3. easy or unconstrained, as manners or persons. 4. affable, agreeable, or complaisant; easily influenced: a facile temperament; facile people.

"'So you were faithful to Claire,' I said. It was the first time I'd spoken her name, and it unsettled me to hear it come from my mouth, almost as if I were afraid the word might invoke her spirit to join us in the room." (Page 141)

This quote immediately jumped out at me because it is a subject all new "couples" or "daters" should ask one another, if they've been faithful in their previous relationships. I do not think that Maggie should feel bad about asking Allen if he was faithful to Claire, although the circumstances, because it is a legitimate question that everyone should ask. Most likely, if your significant other has been faithful in all of his/her past relationships, he/she will be faithful in this one; but if they haven't been faithful and have gotten away with it, in a sense, then they may try to test their limits and do it again and again.

"I did understand, because I was with Momma when she died." (Page 143)

All throughout this part of the story, Allen and Maggie are both opening up to each other and able to speak more about the deaths and the outcomes. When Maggie tries to relate to Allen when he doesn't think she understands the meaning of death, she finally talks about her mothers death and how she handled it. Death is such a hard subject because as we meet new people and find out more about them, we do not know their past and what we've been through. Although Maggie knows what Allen has been through she doesn't know the way he feels or handled it at that moment in time.