PHILOSOPHY
OF PET MILK
Firstly,
let me give a little description about pet milk. In paragraph one of the story
we could see
“ Today I’ve been drinking instant coffee and pet milk,
and watching it snow. It’s not that I enjoy the taste especially. But
I like the way pet milk swirls in the coffe.”
From
this sentence we could imagine that pet milk is an additional substance in a
drink.
“. Pet milk isn’t real milk.
The color’s off, to start with. There’s
almost something of the past about it, like old ivory. My
grandmother always drank it in her coffee. When friends dropped
over and sat around the kitchen table, my grandma
would ask, “Do you take cream and sugar?” Pet
milk was the cream.”
This sentence also shows the detail of pet milk which is almost
similar with cream.
I analize the philosophy of pet milk as a
symbol of some definitions. They are :
1.
Pet Milk which swirls neatly in the coffee. It shows
aestheticness and also shows how big the interesting of the narrator to
beautifull thing.
2. The
colour of pet milk. We can read in paragraph one :
“…..The color’s off,
to start with. There’s almost something of the
past about it, like old ivory….”.
Implicitly,
we could conclude that pet milk with its unique appearance of colour be considered as a symbol of past
time.
3. The
shape of pet milk in the coffee seems so strong, because it could held its
shape without mixed within the coffee. Considering this strength, it could be
about the personal principle that also can’t be replace by any surrounding influence.
4.
The shape of pet milk in the coffe, “swirl”. Philosophically could
be meant as the rotation of life, as we know that life wouldn’t be flat forever, it
could be changed somehow.
THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF PHILOSOPHY OF PET MILK TO THE STORY
The appearance of pet milk is not only about the
pet milk it self. As what I’ve explained before that the colour of pet milk gives
sensation of any past time. That’s suitable with the narrator’s purpose in the beginning
of the story. The narrator describes the physical appearance of pet milk
especially the colour that impresses the past time, so the narrator could bring
the readers to his memory of his grandmother and to his girlfriend. That’s the way Stuart dybek
tells his experience.
The second philosophy of pet milk I write before
where I consider it as an aesthetic term, is also has a deep relation with the
experience of the narrator. In the beginning of the story we can see :
“Today I’ve been
drinking instant coffee and Pet milk, and
watching it snow. It’s not that I enjoy the taste especially,
but I like the way Pet milk swirls in the coffee…….”
Than look at the middle of the story :
“………When she sat down again, she was flushed. I
caught the reflection of her face in the
glass-covered “The Street Musicians
of Prague” above our table. I always loved seeing
her in mirrors and windows. The reflections of her
beauty startled me. I had told her that once, and she seemed
to fend off the compliment, saying, “That’s
because you’ve
learned what to look for,” as if it were a secret I’d stumbled
upon. But, this time, seeing her reflection hovering
ghostlike upon q,n imaginary Prague was like seeing
a future from which she had vanished. l knew I’d never
meet anyone more beautiful to me…..”
There is a similarity
between these two paragraphs, directly, the narrator shows his appreciation to
any beautiful things. And that’s why it’s not a
mistake for him to choose pet milk as the tittle of the story. How the pet milk
swirls in the coffee, and how the reflection of Kate ( his girlfriend ) starled
him, they look same ( beautiful ).
The third philosophy of pet milk that I define
as personal principle, notice to the relationship between narrator and his
girlfriend.
“……Kate and I would sometimes meet after work at
the Pilsen, dressed in our proper business clothes
and still feeling both a little self-conscious and
glamorous, as if we were impostors wearing disguises. The place
had small, round oak tables, and we’d sit
in a corner under a painting called “The
Street Musicians of Prague” and trade
future plans as if’ they were escape routes. She talked
of going to grad school in Europe; I wanted to apply
to the Peace Corps. Our plans for the future made us laugh and feel close, but
those same plans somehow made anything more than temporary between us
seem impossible. It was the first time I’d ever
had the feeling of missing someone I was still with…..”
From this paragraph we
can see that the narrator and Kate have different future plan and each of them
has their own independence to decide their future due to their personal
principle. Althougt they were in a relationship.
The last philosophy is
about swirling pet milk and swirling sky. Like what I wrote in previous page,
that it could be meant as the rotation of life that won’t be
flat forever but it could be changed somehow. . Let’s back
to the first paragraph of the story:
“……………..Today I’ve been
drinking instant coffee and Pet milk, and
watching it snow. It’s not that I enjoy the taste especially,
but I like the way Pet milk swirls in the coffee……………….”
This opening sentence gives me the impression that he’s alone
or lonely. It might be that Kate already left for grad school in Europe. This
is the proof how the life rotates, if in the past the narrator and Kate were
still together but now it’s not impossible for them to separate.
CONCLUTION
After analize the philosophies of Pet milk and relate it to the
experience that narrator tells, we can clearly understand about what the pet
milk exactly stands for in this story. It’s not
only used to help the narrator in introducing his experience, but also it has
similar meanings with the experience of the narrator. So I think this is the
reason why Stuart Dybek choose Pet Milk as a part in his story.
