Joy and Drudgery
Cate Kennedy’s “Laminex and Mirrors” follows one summer in the life of an Australian teenager, the story’s unnamed narrator, who takes a cleaning job at a local hospital. As the narrator goes about her daily work, she believes that her youth, energy, and exciting future plans sharply contrast with the grim atmosphere created by the hospital’s strict routines and tired veteran staff. However, as the narrator learns more about her colleagues, as well as…
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Wealth and Class Identity
The narrator of “Laminex and Mirrors,” a young Australian woman who has just turned eighteen, has set her sights on traveling to Europe when the summer is over. She calculates that working at her new job as a hospital cleaner until that time will allow her to save up just enough money for her trip. Because the narrator considers her job temporary, she sees herself as different from and better than the working-class employees at…
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Death and Dignity
Cate Kennedy’s short story “Laminex and Mirrors” features an Australian teenager who begins a friendship with a man named Mr. Moreton, an elderly veteran dying of lung cancer, as she navigates her first few days as a hospital cleaner. The teenager, who is also the unnamed narrator of the story, describes the hospital as a site heavy with the inevitability of death. Her descriptions of Mr. Moreton in particular demonstrate the grim and often…
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