Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum’s "Yurt"

In Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum’s "Yurt", Ms. Hempel, the protagonist, is portrayed as an indecisive, self- conscience teacher who tends to "suggest precisely the opposite of what she wish[es] in the vague and automatic hope of pleasing someone." She’s a young woman, dissatisfied with her life and stuck in a rut. Her discontentment is more apparent when the exposition introduces a character completely opposite of her: Ms. Duffy. Ms. Duffy appears to be joyously satisfied with her life upon returning to the school where she formerly taught, and where Ms. Hempel remains teaching. In seeing Ms. Duffy’s photographs from her trip to Yemen, she notices a changed woman. Ms. Duffy returns pregnant, married to a kite-maker, and plans to live up-state in a yurt. Ms. Hempel remains in the background during the surprise visit from Ms. Duffy, and her insecure nature is apparent when she learns about Ms. Duffy’s exciting new life only through office gossip. The other characters make it clear that Ms. Hempel is out-of-the-loop as far as knowing about Ms. Duffy’s adventures, as well as the other teacher’s personal lives. Ms. Hempel has continual flashbacks of her Friday night rendezvous at Mooney’s bar with the other teachers. Bynum proves the story to be slightly unreliable, since it’s seen through Ms. Hempel’s perspective which happens to either be in a bar, or a haze of self-loathing.

The tone of this story is based on Ms. Hempel's dissatisfaction. She simply cannot make up her mind and refuses to make changes that would satisfy her. Bynum characterizes Ms. Hempel as an extremely unsympathetic character, thus very unlikeable. Her outlook throughout the entire story revolves around her ineptitude to make decisons. Bynum seems to aim for the reader to feel frustration throught the text because Ms. Hempel's solutions to her problems are quite clear, yet she won't act upon them.

The author leaves some questions unanswered, such as the reason Ms. Hempel’s marriage ended or why Mr. Palidori decided to not get involved with Ms. Hempel romantically. One drawback that Bynum provides is that she mentions numerous background characters but never follows through with them and they serve no purpose later in the story. The climax is evident when Ms. Hempel is at her desk and has a realization that her life isn’t what she wants it to be, and suddenly considers that becoming pregnant might get her out of teaching. This realization happens in the same context as when Ms. Hempel's conflict arises: in comparing herself to Ms. Duffy.

Bynum brings a lot of attention to the phrase “what if” and the words “chance” and “luck.” This illustrates the notion of taking chances and the implications that follow. However, Ms. Hempel is the character most often using these phrases and the context she does this in is always in thinking that life events happen based on “chance” and “luck” alone. She consistently thinks that she doesn’t have full control of her life and uses these phrases as excuses when she can’t follow-through with making a positive decision. The author uses a catalogue of allusions within the school setting. She describes papers written about Leda and the Swan and To Kill A Mockingbird and complains that her replacement teacher doesn’t correctly fix the mistakes. This helps delineate the school setting as well as the age of the children surrounding them.

Considering the numerous comparisons that are made between Ms. Duffy and Ms. Hempel, the author makes it clear that Ms. Duffy’s self-assurance and confidence is what lead to her to making positive choices in changing her life. Ms. Hempel, on the other hand, is so self-conscious and indecisive that it’s immediately apparent that she’ll make poor choices in attempt to change her life. She considers “accidentally” breaking her leg to take leave and fantasizes that being romantically involved with Mr. Palidori will somehow make her more similar to the other teachers, Ms. Duffy in particular. Worst of all, Ms. Hempel’s ultimate solution to her self-proclaimed unsatisfactory life is to have a baby, just to be one step closer to being like Ms. Duffy. Ms. Hempel concludes that she wishes she ‘knew what it felt like to make a decision,’ proving that her last-minute decision to get pregnant is not a positive one. In most scenarios, the character who decides to quit their job to travel, live in a yurt and have children with a kite-maker would be the insane one. Instead, the characterization of Ms. Duffy is a decisive, self-assured and confident woman which makes the reader trust that she’s in control and making choices that will fulfill her needs. On the other hand, Bynum makes Ms. Hempel an unsympathetic character. Ms. Hempel knows that she is unhappy, yet refuses to make any decisions that could give her a different outcome. Ultimately, Bynum is saying that getting out of the “norm,” or the far too ordinary life is worth a try- but doing it by taking the easy way out will not suffice. This story considers the consequences in people continuing to ‘follow the pack’ and not make decisions for themselves.

We grade Bynem's Yurt a B-. Bynem uses distinct imagery through the limited perspective of the protagonist. This keeps the focus of the story on the main character's inner conflict. Although the protagonist is an unlikeable character, Bynum introduces Ms. Duffy as an admirable character . Her character highlights the protagonist's conflict by having a contrasting view point. Bynum's strongest element in the story is descriptive imagery and characterization. The drawbacks to this story are the unanswered questions and the protagonsit's unwillingness to change. Neither of these aspects allow the story to advance or lead to a positive conclusion. Overall, this story is a fun read, provided that the reader doesn't expect any change within the protagonist.