Response to Self Portrait by Kathleen Deady

Self Portrait by Kathleen Deady

This story is about a man who really has no happiness in his life. He loses his job, never finishes a painting, and lives a lonely life. He watches the trees outside and realizes the similarities between himself and the pieces of nature and decides to paint himself as a tree in a self proclaimed “self portrait.”

I liked this story. I thought the comparison of Brian with the tree was really original, I never would have thought about that in a million years, and it worked. I really thought some of the dialogue and descriptions gave a reader a good sense of Brian’s life: the tv dinner reference and the part about him waking up to a phone call saying he had lost his job. The way he acts in that part I can just visualize in my mind and it’s very believable. I was confused when you talked about the dog chewing on the couch when “they” had just bought it. I don’t know who “they” is since the only person really mentioned in this story is Brian.