The Israel of Mary-Beth Hughes – Glorifying the common event Mary-Beth Hughes' short story “Israel” is a rich literary work . Every detail of the story has some sort of meaning and is there for a reason. When analyzed, this story has a lot to say, however, when summarized, the plot is rather simple. The story contains five characters, the mother, the father, their daughter, and the mother's friends, Dr. Derek Duncalf and Dr. Dan Ovita. The time period is unknown, except that it was a time when Israelis were fighting to keep their homeland. The narration of the story is a first person character narrated by the girl throughout. The setting is a house in London in which the mother lives with her daughter. The father lives in a bachelor pad just down the street. The story is about a dysfunctional family in which the mother lives with her daughter and the father has resorted to a separate house down the street. Dr. Duncalf is motivated to maintain a relationship with his mother, while Duncalf's friend Dr. Ovita is a pleasant man who is able to solve his daughter's problems by letting her come to Israel with him. The daughter communicates with her parents by mail and, in each response, her father signs by saying "our love." The short story summarized above illustrates that life is not perfect and people have to make difficult decisions in order to make their lives happy, satisfying and acceptable to them. The characters in this short story all demonstrate verisimilitude, which makes them major characters. Everyone has their own personality, making them rounded characters and not minor characters. This story, like most works of literature, contains more than just details. Within the basic story are oppositions, paradoxes, symbols, conflicts, complexities, ambiguities, tensions as well as ironies; and each contributes what the reader can understand and associate with the story. The title of the story, "Israel", refers to where the girl moved. The country of Israel is also where Dr. Ovita is from and where he treats soldiers. Israel in itself represents a country that is currently struggling. They are fighting for themselves and their freedom. This is tied into the story in such a way that each character does whatever they need to do to be happy..