beyond just a VISCERAL response .

"The Gift of Sweat" was an odd story. .but not odd in a negative way, odd as in different. I did enjoy reading it though, it kept me on my toes the whole time.

Rebecca Brown even started the story in a unusual way. She starts off saying "I went to Rick's house every Tuesday and Thursday morning." That right there caught my attention. It felt to me that the story wasnt starting from it's original beginning; i even brought it to Peter's attention. I also noticed that Brown in very repetative. It sounds like she added bullets to her story. For example: "I touched his back. It was sweaty and hot. I got onto the futon. I slid very carefully so I wouldn't jolt him. I lay on my side behind him. I could feel him shaking. I put my left arm around his middle." She does this numerous of times. It gave the story some sort of rythym.

As far as punctuations go. . .I hardly came across any commas. & it might sound weird but i love commas and semicolons. This story didnt seem to have any fancy litterary stuff it was cut and dry. But still very effective.

In the beginning of the story i immeditaley knew Rick was homosexual, BUT i thought that the nararator was his partner. Some of the passages that stuck out to me making me believe the narartor and Rick were partners was "I used to like being there alone sometimes. I could do surprises for him, like leave him notes under his pillow or rearrange his wind-up toys so they were kissing or other silly things. Rick loved surprises." and "I was about to get in the shower. I wanted to be all clean before you came over". That stuck out to me like a sore thumb.


I believe in every story theres some kind of moral or metaphorical meaning behind them, whether its hidden or obvious. In "The Gift of Sweat", i had to go back to the title to make a good conclusion. The word GIFT obviously means something, and Brown chose that word for a reason. I think it is the gift of sweat because once Rick left to the hospital and passed away all the nararotor had left was his sweat. She rubbed his wet back, combed her fingers through his wet hair, even had his sweat on her cheek. She thought he would be returning as usual, but he didnt. Therefore, the last thing they shared together was his sweat. Kind of gross, but kind of sweet too i guess.