Philosophy Analysis of short story "PET MILK" by Stuart Dybek

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.