Kohler's writing in the short story "Baboons" reminds me that pages do not need to be filled with dialogue in order to keep a reader interested. The story is haunting mostly because you do not always know what the characters are thinking, but you still get a strong sense of where they have been and where they might go. The violence of the two characters seems out of place with the scene of an expensive Mercedes, their professional positions, and their nice clothing as they are on their way to a fancy party, but it is already established through the narrative of the rest of the story. It is shocking at the end when Kate uses the car to run over her cheating, abusive husband, but even this is not out of character given what we have been told of her. While she seems to be a very quiet, submissive, and accepting woman, the story about the hospital party which occurs only in Jan's mind as he thinks about their past life together, shows that she can be impulsively violent.
Even though most of the story is told through such interior thoughts of each of the characters, the reader never really loses interest in what's going on. The detail of each scene is beautifully laid out, touching only on those details that are really important for the reader to understand each character. The actions of the baboons mimic the actions of the humans in a way that I think only Kate truly understands. The female is kicked out of the tribe by the bigger male and her attempts to appease are met with the car horn rather than acceptance. Then, when she is hurt and is not offered any help, she lashes out and does damage of her own, releasing Kate from her shock and enabling her to act. I really like the way the story of the baboons and the story of the humans interacts and reflects without drawing any kind of direct reference to it. It helps the reader understand the emotions within the scene between the humans without having to explicitly state what those emotions are. The humans are then free to just consider the narrative history of their relationship together, providing the reason behind those emotions.
Works Cited
Kohler, Sheila. "Baboons." Anthology of Contemporary American Short Fiction. New York: Harper Collins, 2008. Print.
