Published in The New Yorker in 2014, Robert Coover’s “The Waitress” is a modern take on a classic fairy tale and the continuation of series of the short stories. The tale is well known – a young girl tired with the world, a fairy godmother, and three wishes. Still, the story places these particular peculiarities in the context of postmodern literature.
Again the story by Coover relies significantly on generalization. The main character is nameless, as well as the other characters, a location is also indefinite. Descriptions are few, still there are enough details (which involves associations and make the canvas wider) to get a full image, so that a part of the story is taking place rather in our minds.
There is nothing said about girl’s contacts and communication and private life (we get this knowledge in course of the action). The story starts with a ‘compliment’ from the cab driver and then the adventures begin. The only friend of the waitress on the pages of the story is a blind panhandler, with whom she spends her time gaily. Also the key characters – the godmother and the beggar – are homeless. This fact may be regarded both as the tribute to the tale canon (when fairy or positive characters are often in disguise) and as a trying to draw our attention to this stratum of people so that not to regard them being the life outsiders.
The key and in fact the only relations in the story are those among the waitress and the godmother and the beggar. The godmother is a person making the wishes come true. Still she is elusive and intricate and the waitress thinks the godmother is just playing with her. A kind of friend relations is with the beggar. The waitress needed somebody in her life, and she got him. And one more kind of relations is the opposition – between the waitress and her surroundings (still this opposition is not sharp).
As to the events – they are mainly centered on wishes. The meeting of the beggar and robbery as a way to getting wealthy are the postmodern features in the tale: these give a massive background speaking about the global way of life, problems and things we may treat differently. The theme of wishes is also notable: the story teaches us to think well on our needs and wishes and words, and also not to be wasteful.
The last paragraph is also worth of attention. The waitress is looking for the happiness, and obviously the beggar is looking for it too. With a kind of pleasure, she waits for the night of relaxation; thus, the author encourages us to look for our own happiness and to have time for ourselves.
