The above excerpt reveals what about laurie’s mother?

samara’s meeting with her neighbor mrs. yang

can be considered the complicating incident in the text. by definition, a

complicating incident is that particular point in the story that gets the

conflict going. mrs. yang’s mentioning ‘if i had room’, puts everything into

perspective for samara. she could now connect what she had seen- children

playing in a small area, mr. peters reading the newspaper in a busy part of the

city and mrs. yang not having enough space for the garden she would like to

have. the fact that the residents did not have a common place to meet and relax

bothers her. it becomes a turning point in the story.

the meeting leads to a moment of realization.

this in turn, focuses her thoughts on the problem that the residents of pine

grove were facing. though she has decided to do something about it, she is

completely clueless about how to get started. she finds it a ‘little intimidating’.

nevertheless, she seeks and interacts with wanda and the other librarians,

who guide her. with their , she chalks out a plan of action, with ‘manageable

steps’. the suspense in the story also builds up because of samara’s interaction

with the board members. after getting approval from the town zoning board,

samara calls a meeting and gets interacts with the residents to get ideas about

how to plan the park. people’s support leaves her feeling both surprised and

happy. thus, it can be safely said that the complicating incident is a simple

(and not a complicated) meeting with a neighbor, but it triggers samara’s

thoughts and ideas and eventually gives shape to the story.