"The Paring Knife" (LBR)

“The Paring Knife"

By: Michael Oppenheimer

In his story, “The Pairing Knife,” Michael Oppenheimer portrays an argument between a man and his wife, by using symbols and diction to convey a consistent theme. The knife is a symbol which represents the hurt and pain felt by the female character and introduces a murderous theme. The refrigerator symbolizes an escape from the hurt and pain. The male character draws the reader to the "weapon" that could have been used in murdering his wife, whom he refers repeatedly to as "the woman I love." This view is reinforced by the male character's attitude during the argument with his lover. After the fight, the male character responds to the female character's kick by heading straight to the kitchen. After seeing the knife, the female character puts the knife on the table "and then went into the next room" possibly to shed and hide tears from her lover. The diction of the author, in shifting the emotions of the male character, "extremely angry" and "very hurtful" shows the seriousness of the argument; and this further reinforces the theme of murder. The author purposely hints to alcoholism, sex, and abuse to help centralize that theme.

Another device used by Oppenheimer is situational irony; for example, the story that was expected to end in making love ended in a close call with murder and after seeing the mess made on the floor they "both laughed and then went back to bed and made love." However, the male character's innocence of the potential consequence of his actions and the female character's unspoken actions, that shield, yet yield the murderous theme creates a dramatic irony, because the reader finally comes to understand that the female character had in the first place discovered the knife and hid it under the refrigerator on the night of the quarrel so that it would not be used by her enraged lover. However, the fact that she intentionally hides the knife is dismissed by her response "Oh. Where did you find it?" to the male character's discovery of the knife, but her knowledge of the knife is once again affirmed as she comes back "from the next room" to "pick up the knife from the table" and then like she had done years ago "slid the knife back under the refrigerator". All these actions carefully expressed by Oppenheimer create a stark reality of a murder of a beloved wife by a caring but intoxicated husband.