Steven millhauser miracle polish puerto

A fundamental issue facing any writer is the choice between narration and scene. The frequently-offered advice to “show don’t tell” can be restated as “when in doubt, go to scene.” However, in “Miracle Polish” by Steven Millhauser, the author goes mostly to narrative, burying the majority of the dialogue in narrative paragraphs and creating half scenes.

Steven millhauser miracle polish puerto

Why has Millhauser made this artistic decision? He chooses telling over showing to reflect the theme of “Miracle Polish” —a life not lived, not in scene, but a life reflected by mirrors.

“Miracle Polish” by Steven Millhauser is told in first-person as the unnamed narrator reflects on a past incident in which he loses his companion Monica and winds up in a complete state of unease.

The inciting incident: the narrator buys a bottle of miracle polish from a door-to-door salesman. After cleaning a mirror with the liquid, the main character sees his reflection in a new light, not younger or better looking but fresh and changed: “What I s