The short story summer is a clear love story that shows childhood love whereby the characters involved are unable to clearly show love for each other but wait for each other’s actions that may signify love. The story would be less interesting if the characters acknowledged their feelings openly. This is because there would be no suspense in the story.
The probability that the characters will not fall in love keeps the story interesting. The author uses symbolism throughout the love story. In the story august is described as a “merciless succession to beautiful days”. August marks the end of the summer period. In this story summer presents child hood and adolescent days.
It is not clear whether Sandra has feelings for Homer. The only time she shows feelings for homer is when she fears that homer is lost when they were hiking. Homer attraction to Sandra is made clear in a few instances. One such instance is when homer sees sandy while playing tennis and his “impetus suddenly lost, he double faulted, stroked a routine backhand over the fence and the match was over” (Updike& parker, pg 318). Homer also realises that he has feelings for Sandra when he sees her study at night. The smooth transition between paragraph 14 and 15 in the novel summer shows melancholia in nature where two different themes are expressed in the two paragraphs.
Updike has been successful in evoking youthful feelings of summer in this story through various means. Through Homer and the Dewitt boys, we are able to see boyish excitement and enthusiasm. Further, august is described as a merciless succession of beautiful days. Autumn in the story is depicted as a dull month. The author uses autumn to symbolize the young adult days of a person. The plot of the novel is captured during summer whick is depicted as an interesting month for the characters.
