Mackenzie E.

Chapman
ENGL 10600-R48
Brittany Biesiada
9//17/2014
The Baby in the Icebox was a great short story that had a very odd style. This mystery
story was told as a narrative from the apprentice. The story is about a couple, Lura and Duke,
who own a cat farm in California. They tame animals and perform shows for people. Duke, the
husband, is a very vulgar; controlling man whereas Lura has a strong personality but also seems
passive when Duke is around. The family has wildcats, tigers, etc. What Duke doesnt know, is
that Lura connects with the cats very well. The apprentice notices how well they connect and
finds it odd that she never tells her husband. When the husband goes out of town, to the woods to
find more cats, another man comes to the house and shows interest in Lura. The apprentice does
not know much about the situation, but continues to work. Later on, once Lura has Dukes child,
Ron, she tells him about her love for the other man but how she decided to stay home with Duke
and not run off with him because of the child. Duke becomes very upset and tries to get their
tiger to eat her. She manages to escape the tiger, save her baby, and kill her husband. Once she is
safe, she runs off with the other man.
The story is told from the view of the apprentice, who seems very uneducated. The whole
passage has a very informal dialect and diction. It uses a lot of slang and misspelled words. The
words are spelled how the apprentice enunciates them. Also, imagery is a strong aspect of this
story. Multiple times throughout the story, Lura is said to have many of the same facial features
as the tiger. The tiger in the story hates Duke, the owner. In the end, we find out that Lura really

hated him as well. She is constantly compared to the tiger, a wild, free spirit, that is not hard to
look at. This adds another strong aspect to the story.