Crash

The story begins in the past-present and then seems to go back through the memories of the narrator. It begins when the narrator is told that someone named Karen has died in a car crash and then skips back to when the narrator is sixteen and moves on from there. He tells of how his life came to be up to the present (the start of the story, when the reader learns that Karen has died) He wanted to go to college, but instead ended up staying to work on the farm his parents own. This was partially because his parents needed his help but his mind was made when he met Karen, and she became pregnant. They got marred and the narrator started to work for his father. From there, the story continues to when their daughter, Hannah, is born. It is written in a way that captures the memory though each "memory just lasts a few sentences. For example, when describing his new job the narrator states "Karen liked it. I didn't, but preatended to for her sake. Later on I told dad, 'even though I'm sticking around, I don't have to like it.' 'Might try to,' he said." (213) The reader absorbs the character's life without the author having to go into too much detail. This quick writing style helps keep the pace of the story.
The change in time keeps the story original. It starts in the past but then goes back even further, telling of when he first met Karen. It continues from there and then jumps to jsut a few days before the narrator wrote this starting with "The other day Ma was writing some christmas cards" (214) The story then proceeds telling how Hannah wants to write a christmas card to her mother. At this point, Hannah is about three years old. The narrator describes his mothers face of pity and says  "for the past two years I got it everywhere I went." (215) telling us that Karen died tow years ago. Though the story thirteen pages long, it manages to cover years by using this technique.