“Poison”: The effects of guilt Guilt is a sort of unpleasant emotion. We feel it many times during our life and in many different situations. It engulfs our bodies and keeps us on edge to the point where paranoia kicks in, and in most cases, we have to resolve the situation before it gets out of hand.
Towards the beginning of “Poison” we find out that the narrator is quite nervous about meeting with his old friend Gene and Gene’s girlfriend. The author, Richard Russo, gives us very compelling clues to why the protagonist might be feeling this way. In an effort to trick Gene into not visiting their home; the narrator exclaims “it may be more of a struggle than it’s worth.” Implying that there is a hidden insight to which the reader does not yet know about. The narrator also avoids Gene when he arrives: “I instinctively step back from the window before he can spot me.” This quote adds so much to my curiosity level. What could possibly be so terrible as to inflict this much anxiety?
As the protagonist and his wife, Clare, sit and talk with Gene and his girlfriend, Portia, “two friends on the downside of a notoriously slippery slope,” the backside of this story begins to unfold. What the narrator has dreaded is Gene’s inability to forget their shared past. It involves a factory that both their fathers worked at. Because of toxic chemicals from a mill at the factory, all the citizens in the town were diagnosed with cancer. Due to his father’s involvement, Gene feels guilty