Popular Mechanics

The story of "Popular Mechanics" was a very short story, but at the same time very powerful. The theme of the story is domestic fighting and the welfare of the small baby involved. In the beginning when the woman says "I'm glad you're leaving!" it sounds like an example of verbal irony. The way she repeats this and doesn't stop yelling shows that she doesn't really want him to leave. She even takes a picture of the baby so that he can't have it. Any person would know that something like that might set him off causing them to continue to fight instead of someone actually leaving. They then start to physically fight over the baby and the only one that is truly getting hurt is the infant. If they loved the child they would not let the child get between the two of them. At the ending the reader must draw a conclusion as to what is going to happen. The author leaves it open for the reader to decide which parent won the fight over the baby, if one parent gave up the baby or if they continued fighting and neither one of them left.