In the beginning of the story we are introduced to a narrator who is giving details of people she’s slept with. This was confusing and honestly quite boring because it didn’t really seem like there was any plot. Later on in the story we see how there is an outbreak of some sort of disease, that we as the reader don’t get too much detail about. When I think of an outbreak I think supplies, food, water, etc. So this being the case my original assumption was that the whole story would be based on the need to survive in a setting where there might not be as many resources left. Based on this one might need to keep an inventory on the little resources they have. In spite of this though, with the flow of how the story was being written this being almost every paragraph starting with “One man” or “One woman” it is almost as if the narrator is listing the people she slept with along with details about them. I noticed the hesitation of the narrator to get closer to these people. Even those who wanted to pursue a more personal relationship with her. It dehumanizes these people and gives the sense that sex is not a very personal intimate thing to her, as it might be to some people. Even in the initial isolation she puts herself in being on an island in a small cabin. This might show her state of mind. Despite being visited by so many people she chooses to live a lonely life. So I think while some might interpret the title “Inventory” to be about a woman keeping track of the supplies she has in a time of crisis, by the way she acts with these people I think instead of the inventory being objects the people she is with are the “objects.” Maybe she sees these people as just bodies to sleep with.
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