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The Art of Stealing and Manipulation in Mona Simpson’s Lawns
It is hard to differentiate who is the victim and who is the victimizer in this short story
about a young college girl, Jenny, who is trying to escape the bonds of a life lived in torment.
Jenny takes pleasure in stealing mail from the campus mail boxes where she works. As Jenny
states “at first it’s a rush,” she unashamedly justifies her actions as “getting even” for what she
“didn’t get before” (445). As Jenney recites her story we are told of a weighty secret that is the
basis for her current behavior issues. In her short story “Lawns,” by Mona Simpson, Simpson
demonstrates how the characters use manipulation and stealing from each other to achieve
temporary mental, material, and physical satisfaction.
Jenny works in the campus post office at Berkley where she steals mail, mostly cards and
coffee cans with cookies, “no evidence. They’re edible” (446). She knows this is a federal
