Essay Questions

This story subverts fairy tales clichés and leaves many questions unanswered. How might the reader takes these two facts to imagine the story is unfinished?

The waitress makes a couple of assumptions that are not exactly concretely made manifest. She only assumes that she was given three wishes. She may actually have been given only one and the next two events she supposes to result from wishes were just coincidences. Likewise, she may have an unlimited number of wishes or just more than three. Either way, her life of surprises and limited acceptance of happily ever after may be prematurely celebrated. The entire story raises the specter that fairy tale conventions are not edged in stone in which case her tale may be far from over.

Can “The Waitress” be read as a story about the circular nature of fate?

Several subtle clues are provided that the good fortune which has suddenly come the way of the waitress falls upon a life of bad luck. This reading cements the idea that she really has only used—or may even only get—one wish. The idea of running into the one person that can share her life just at the moment she most needs another person may not be exactly be the result of a wish conveys this idea. So does the fact that she can only benefit from the lucky happenstance of benefiting from the robbery due to her first wish. Then there are the references to her life before the wish. The odd detail about once enjoying taking off her clothes in the window at the very least subtly implies she suspected someone was looking. Combined with the fact that she is not described as “ample” and does not wish to be naked in public even though no one can actually see her lend the story the suggestion of it being a story about a once-striking beauty who enjoyed the fruits of that fate only to lose it.

What does the story have to say about the use of magic in the modern world?

As far as can be gathered, there is really only one use of magic in the story, but it is quite astonishing. And yet nobody seems to react to the fact that they cannot actually look at this woman without being physically made not to. The only reaction really insightful reaction provided comes from her boss who, as might be expected, views it transactional terms. Later, the only results of this magic that actually have an impact on others are also transactional: the homeless man finds shelter and food and the bank and the robbers lose their money. Coover seems to be suggesting that capitalism may not be an economic environment conducive to magic.