Popular Mechanics

Well this is a very interesting and thought provoking story despite its length. First off the title is very appropriate for the story. The title "Popular Mechanics" (popular meaning of the people and mechanics meaning how something works) is very applicable because not only are the people in the story arguing in a very human way and the author seems to be insinuating that this is what all people do, but the baby's mechanics are also put to the test in a much more literal way when he is caught in the middle of the couples argument. I also think that the fact that there are no quotes make the peoples words much stronger, possibly representing that they are yelling without thinking since there is "no time" to put the quotation marks. The end of the story though, namely the last line, "In this manner, the issue was decided." is very ambiguous. Although most people think that they tore the baby I still feel like that is assuming too much. Once again though this is probably a story where whether they actually ripped him in half doesn't really matter because regardless of the babies physical condition the first part of his life probably isn't going to be very pleasant.