DEATH BY SCRABBLE INTERPRETATION

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE STORY The story begins with the narrator’s statement (the husband), by saying, ”It’s a hot day, and I hate my wife.” He has none to talk to except his wife since Thursday morning. On a hot Sunday afternoon, actually he could do something fun outside, but unfortunately, all he can think of to do with his life is playing scrabble. It is not merely about playing scrabble, but deeper than that, it is about the husband’s flirtation with another woman. When the wife finally knew the husband’s affair, he becomes hate her. That is why on Sunday afternoon, the conflict finally comes to surface. The husband is shown in the beginning of the story, he plays the word “BEGIN”. This is interpreted as his action of moaning and complaining for being bored and trapped in the house, without being allowed to have a conversation with other people. He imagines if only the wife is not around, he will be able to do something interesting outside with his affair. The wife then responses by saying bad words to her husband for she is also annoyed because of her husband’s bad behavior, this is shown in the word “JINXED”, which means bad luck.

The husband gets offended by the wife’s curse. He then decides to plan of murdering his wife. So he starts to chew on his U. He starts to think about finding a way to kill his wife. The husband’s feeling is illustrated by the word “WARMER”, he begins to arrange some execution plans for his wife. The situation is no longer calm; this is described in the sentence, “…as the heat of the sun is pushing at him through the window”. The wife seems get emotional and keeps accusing his husband for having affair, she only wants his commit his mistake. That is why she chooses the word “SWEATIER”, to show that her word influences her husband and makes him nervous. The husband then plays “HUMID” represents his struggle to cover his nervousness by denying the wife’s accusation but in hesitation way.

Furthermore, the wife plays the word “FAN”. She decides to solve the problem by offering a divorce. But according to her husband, the solution she made creates the situation even worse. The husband definitely does not want to accept this decision; he still wants to continue the marriage and forgets all the things happened. This is shown in the word “ZAPS”, the husband’s response is unexpected for his wife and makes her shocked. This is illustrated in the sentence, “…and she gets a static shock off the air conditioning unit.”

Finally the wife wants to accept her husband’s decision to keep maintaining their marriage but without forgetting his flirtation. She plays “READY”. The husband then tries another tactic to calm his wife. He plays “CHEATING”. He denies his woman affair, and pretends that he does not know about her at all. This part is described in the paragraph 21, “I steal a blank tile from the letter bag when she’s not looking, and throw back a V from my rack. She gives me a suspicious look.” And yet, his wife suspects him although he has tried many things to hide the woman but she knows the truth and she wants her husband to admit it. “She asks me if I cheated.”

The wife then plays “IGNORE”, shows her response to her husband lies. She feels frustrated, annoyed and fed up but she does not want to continue the fight. Therefore, she chooses to keep quiet. On the other side, the husband intends to finish his wife off, but still he does not find a good chance. That is why he finally decides to play “SLEEP”. The best thing he can do is to ask his wife to get some sleep or rest, so probably his wife will be able to forgive him after having some “sleep”.

The next statement, “And then she bitched at me for being moody the next day from lack of sleep” is an ambiguous sentence. It could be the wife who is being moody because lack of sleep and it could also be the husband who is being moody from lack of sleep. The first ambiguity occurs when the wife becomes annoying because she feels unsatisfied after “sleep” or in other words, the husband could not play satisfyingly. The second ambiguity appears when the wife becomes annoying seeing her husband is moody because lack of sleep, probably he is busy thinking to find a chance to kill his wife.

However, either the wife or the husband becomes moody, this makes the fight continue and even worse. Finally the husband plays “EXPLODES” shows his feeling of being emotion, he reveals everything. He admits all the things he has done. Hoping the wife will give up and stop forcing him to admit.

But the wife does not seem interesting by her husband’s admission; she even plays “SIGN” to remind her husband calmly to keep his mouth and take a good care. He is now in a completely extreme emotion. The husband then realizes about his gun. He feels afraid and anxiety of using this weapon to kill his wife, but he has to do it quickly. “…I start frantically chewing on the B.”

Trying to calm his anxiety, the husband tries to persuade his wife by giving such false promises in order to maintain their marriage. He plays “FLY” merely to release himself from being nervous for a while, so that he can focuses holding his gun toward his wife. He won’t get missed the target. “I sit back in my chair and close my eyes, waiting for the sensation of rising up from my chair. Waiting to fly.”

Once again, the wife does not seem care with the husband’s persuasion. On the contrary, she even threats him that he will be sorry for betraying her. She plays “CAUTION”. The situation becomes hotter as the husband thinks that he already has a gun in his hand and he immediately holds it toward his wife. He plays “QUAKE”. Feeling he finally finds a perfect chance to kill his wife. He is manipulating destiny. The wife, who deserves to continue her living, but now she has to die in his hands. This is the point, which shows the couple’s fight.

Somehow, at last the wife is able to play the word "DEATH" and grabs the weapon from her husband and shoots him right on his neck, “Bang!” the husband suddenly gasps with surprise, his throat swells. He draws blood clawing at his neck.He falls to the floor, dead. And his wife just sits there, watching.