Response to Bausch's "1-900"

This piece consists entirely of dialogue, which is fairly unusual in a short story. However, there are no quotation marks. Since the conversation is only between two people, Bausch denotes who is talking by creating a new paragraph every time it switches speakers.

Because there isn't narration where a character describes their actions non-verbally, there is very little to set the scene. John describes himself on pg. 54 as "five feet eleven inches tall and I weigh a hundred and sixty pounds". John also provides us with his own best guess about the scene where Sharon is as she talks to him, admitting, "I'm picturing you sitting at one of those consoles with all the plugs and the lines, and ear phones on, like an operator" (60). While she insists she's naked in bed, the reader is not sure whether they can believe her and are left without a clear scene.

The reader is given a better sense of where John when he shares that his recent separation from his wife has left him "living alone in an apartment with most of the furniture gone and a lot of disarray I don't need" (62). His description of his physical appearance are also very clear. Since the reader is given no reason to doubt the truth of John's words, it is assumed that he is as he describes himself. However, since John distrusts Sharon's description of her location and since it is feasible to think that her job might require that she describe herself as such, it is difficult to distrust her description of her location.

There is an interesting role reversal at the end of the piece where John is now ready for phone sex, but Sharon has completely lost her ability to act along. This may change the reader's perception of the characters. In the beginning, it is fairly easy to sympathize with John, whose marriage fell apart. He describes being separated from his children and wondering if they are afraid of him, or if they know how much he loves them. As more is revealed about Sharon, the reader develops a deeper emotional connection to her. At the conclusion of the piece, when John is ready for the reason he called, the reader may feel that he is a little calloused. Sharon has obviously been upset by their conversation, as he brought up very personal hardships in her life. John has been saying "I love you" so many times, but she is reminded that his words mean nothing and they are not from the man she wants to hear them from. So not only is their relationship to each other reversed at the end, but the character whom the reader sympathizes with the most also switches from John to Sharon.