Mercedes Kane

The short story "Mercedes Kane" is about a girl, Ellen, who wants nothing more than to be a prodigy. She doesn't care what she is amazing at; music, math, writing...as long as its something. She is inspired by Mercedes Kane, during Ellen's childhood Kane was a child prodigy who was a published author and spoke six languages by the time she was eight. The story flashes forward in time and Ellen is now a single mother of an unmoitvated, unenthusiastic teenage daughter, Ruthie. Ironically, one day Ellen spots Kane walking in the street and it utterly rejoyced to have the opportunity to meet the renowned genious she dreamed of being like. Kane shacks up in thier home where Ellen smothers her with compliments, which Kane refuses to accept. Kane leaves in the middle of the night after staying in their house for a week. Ellen is upset when they awake and realize she has left.

I like how this was a well told story, but underneath the dialouge and description there was a message. Each woman in the story was some how dealing with issues of self image and perception. For example, while talking to Ruthie, Kane reveals that she has never felt pretty. She was always under a microscope which illuminated her insecurities. Now, later in life, she refuses to recognize her genius abilities because they remind her of her past struggles. I thought this was a coming of age story. One has to learn to reconcile with who they are and what they want to be. Can we more than one thing? Is there only one definition of successful? How can personal success be measured? Ellen wanted to be smart, Kane wanted to be pretty. Should we try to change ourselves or accept what we fated to? McCraken has the abilities to make people reflect and think about themselves with this story, because it is a relateable topic of human desire.