Dancing After Hours by Andre Dubus
"Dancing After Hours" by Andre Dubus delves into the life of Emily, a 40-year-old woman grappling with self-esteem and emotional isolation. Once a high school teacher, Emily's dissatisfaction with her job leads her to become a bartender, where she encounters a diverse clientele. The narrative focuses on her interactions with Drew, a charismatic man in a wheelchair, and his assistant, Alvin, which challenge her preconceived notions about relationships and vulnerability.
As she observes Drew's adventurous spirit and his candid discussions about life post-accident, Emily confronts her own fears of intimacy and the emotional pain that often accompanies love. The story explores themes of hope, courage, and the transformative power of human connection, especially as Emily reflects on her past and her longing for a fuller life. The dynamic between the characters unfolds against a backdrop of music and late-night camaraderie, culminating in Emily's decision to embrace potential new relationships. Ultimately, the narrative invites readers to consider the complexities of love, loss, and the possibility of renewal through genuine connections.
Dancing After Hours by Andre Dubus
First published: 1996
Type of plot: Domestic realism
Time of work: The 1990's
Locale: A beachfront bar in Massachusetts
Principal Characters:
Emily , a bartenderJeff , the bar managerDrew , a quadriplegicAlvin , Drew's personal attendantRita , another bartenderKay , a waitress
The Story
Forty-year-old Emily has never thought she was pretty, which has affected her relationships with people, especially men. She had been a high school teacher, but the students' apathy made her feel so isolated and useless that she quit teaching to work nights as a bartender. One day, two men, one of whom is in a wheelchair, come into the bar where she works. At first Emily is apprehensive, worrying that the disabled man will be hard to talk to and she will have to entertain him through her long shift. Her discomfort embarrasses her because she prides herself on making her customers feel comfortable and at home. As soon as Drew and his assistant Alvin enter, Rita, who has just finished her shift, joins them, and Kay takes their orders. Emily believes that Kay is falling in love with Rita and is distressed, not because they are both women, but because she feels that love affairs are doomed to cause pain and she does not want to deal with that every night at work.
Emily, who has never lived with a man and has not had an intimate relationship in two years, leads a solitary, structured life. She reads late into the night, escaping temporarily from the sadness caused by her fear that she will never have children. Jeff, the bar manager, is recently divorced, and Emily knows he is interested in her. She truly likes Jeff, who is kind, intelligent, and attractive, but is afraid of becoming involved with him. Eventually he asks her to lunch, but she agrees so stiffly that he knows she does not really want to go.
Watching Drew and Alvin, Jeff tells Emily that he had a good friend who was crippled by a land mine in Vietnam. Jeff used to take him fishing, lifting him and his chair on to the boat. Hearing Jeff talk and watching the gregarious Drew, Emily feels that her soul has atrophied without her having noticed it. She realizes she does not fear pain as much as she is tired of it, and wonders if this means she has lost hope. She thinks that if she has no hope she cannot love with her whole heart, so she will never find someone who can love her with his whole heart.
A recording of saxophonist Roland Kirk is playing in the bar, and Emily remembers seeing him play in a small nightclub when she was young. Kirk, who was blind, had the percussionist lead him through the audience, swaying, playing his sax, and hugging people near him, including Emily. She remembers how alive she felt, and how when Kirk slowed the music down to a soft, loving melody, she felt that everything good was possible. Her memory causes her to cry; Jeff sees her and admits that he denies such feelings, then ends up crying in funny films.
Emily thinks about what Alvin must have to do to take care of a quadriplegic and wonders how Drew handles living without privacy. The two men stay on with Jeff, Emily, Rita, and Kay after the bar closes. Drew tells them that he recently went skydiving, strapped to another diver, although he was warned that the wind that day made it more dangerous for him. Both of his already paralyzed legs were broken when he landed, but he did not regret the experience. He still craves adventure, despite having been paralyzed when he was twenty-one years old by diving into a wave.
Jeff asks Emily to dance, and Rita dances with Alvin. Emily is concerned when she sees Kay holding Drew's hands and swaying to the music as though dancing with him, but later Drew says he and his wife used to dance like that. Emily is astonished that he got married after he was paralyzed; however, the marriage ended after Drew learned that his wife was pregnant with a friend's child. Soon, Kay and Rita are dancing and singing along to Frank Sinatra. As dawn nears, Kay invites everyone to her house to continue dancing, but Drew and Alvin are tired and leave for their motel, promising to return on Monday and go fishing with Jeff.
Rita follows Kay home, and Emily tells Jeff she wants to go fishing with him and their new friends on Monday. When he agrees, she suggests that they get together for lunch that day, after they have both gotten some sleep, and Jeff says he will call her at one o'clock and give her directions to his house.
Sources for Further Study
America. CLXXIV, June 8, 1996, p. 25.
The Antioch Review. LIV, Summer, 1996, p. 380.
Booklist. XCII, January 1, 1996, p. 786.
Boston Magazine. LXXXVIII, April, 1996, p. 140.
Chicago Tribune. March 10, 1996, XIV, p. 3.
The Christian Century. CXIII, May 22, 1996, p. 591.
Commonweal. CXXIII, May 17, 1996, p. 24.
Library Journal. CXXI, February 15, 1996, p. 177.
Los Angeles Times Book Review. February 18, 1996, p. 2.
National Catholic Reporter. XXXII, May 24, 1996, p. 26.
The New York Times Book Review. CI, February 25, 1996, p. 13.
Publishers Weekly. CCXLIII, January 1, 1996, p. 58.
Time. CXLVII, March 4, 1996, p. 66.
The Washington Post Book World. March 3, 1996, p. 8.