No Room In Heaven

1479 Words6 Pages
In his collection of short stories, The Colours of Man, Micheal O’Conghaile portrays humankind through all of its shades and colors in an attempt to connect the reader with moments of loss, laughter, and our deepest fears. Within the collection, “No Room in Heaven” depicts God and his daughter and the line between heaven and earth. In what I believe to be a spinoff from the story of Creation, O’Conghaile writes his characters as opposites from each other—one who attempts to share their wealth with the humans below and the other who is greedy and only cares for himself and those closest to him. The almost fairly-tale-like story uses a struggle between the characters of God and his daughter to consider the question of whether it is worthwhile to experience day-to-day living at its fullest, even if it means limiting existence to a single human lifetime. In the story, the character of…show more content…
O’Conghaile’s language is straightforward and relatable, allowing readers to understand everyday, honest themes even if the other elements of the story are “fantastical.” For instance, the reader can recognize that “No Room in Heaven” resembles the Creation story told in the Bible. To many, both could be considered “fantastical” due to the content being told (a snake/guardian angel come down to talk or tempt, rather, the daughter of God). In our day to day lives, we do not often see animals speak nor watch angels come down from heaven to talk to us. It is also not likely that God’s daughter could come down to earth and shed every ounce of liquid inside of her (including but not limited to menstrual blood, sweat, and drool) in order to fertilize the land (O’Conghaile 202). Despite this fact though, O’Conghaile creates a story that is somewhat believable to the average reader. His use of natural language can be perceived as a celebration of the connection between people and the joy of everyday
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