scape. Ominously, Welty writes, "this was indeed the road's end." (Welty 211) Confused, lost and sick he walks until he comes upon "a shotgun house, two rooms and an open passage between." (Welty 211) Inside the house live a man, Sonny, and a woman, who is never named. They are very poor. He walks a considerable distance each day to work for a Mr. Redmond. They have no electricity. Dinner is prepared over an open fire in one of the rooms. They are solemn, independent people. Welty seems to like these people and creates them as moral role models. What little they have, including their moonshine, they share with Bowman, who by now is hearing and feeling his heart behave in thoroughly abnormal ways. After dinner, he is invited to stay the night curled up like a dog on the floor in front of the hearth. Now, his revelations come with force. He realizes that this couple has everything that matters in the world. They have each other; she is pregnant and they have a home. Bowman, on the other hand is lonely, isolated and has no place to call home after years of hotel stays while traveling around selling shoes. Even in the state between sleep and wakefulness he hears himself reciting, "There will be special reduced prices on all footwear during the month of January." (Welty 219)Welty doesn't like Bowman. To her, he is a rudderless, a model of nothing. In the later hours of the night, he knows he must leave. On the way out, "On some impulse he put all the money from his billfold under the fluted glass base . . . Ashamed, shrugging a little, and then shivering, he took his bags and went out." (Welty 219) The title tells us what happens next. The two stories depict what types of priorities are important. In Gimbel’s case a faith in God is prevalent with his desire to love his family. Also in Welty’s work the same priorities are put forth in the form of the humble couple. Bowman sees this characteristic in them and realizes how lonely...
