The titular static that emits from Anthony’s walkie-talkie near the end of the story represents the rift in understanding between him and his family members, as well as between himself and what he truly wants. Throughout the family Christmas party that takes place during “Static,” it becomes clear that Anthony has a strained relationship with his family. Though his mother and his wife, Marie, are highly controlling and critical of Anthony, they express their contempt through passive-aggressive comments or subtly hostile glances rather than overt insults. Anthony and his father, meanwhile, silently tolerate the women’s behavior rather than openly expressing their opinions or trying to solve conflicts. In this way, Anthony’s family dynamic is clouded by inauthenticity, unspoken resentment, and repressed emotions. And, as a result, Anthony feels stifled and misunderstood by his family, and out of touch with what he actually wants out of his relationships.
Toward the end of the party, Anthony’s communication with Tom, his young nephew, is more literally clouded: when the two of them go outside to play with the new walkie-talkie set Tom got for Christmas, the connection between them is obscured by a deafening “snow of static.” But when Anthony looks in at Marie through the kitchen window, the static abruptly clears: “something dislodges in him with a delicate gush of pressure, something shifts to let bright sound in.” Then, Anthony suddenly realizes that he doesn’t want to have a baby with Marie, even though they’ve been trying to conceive for some time.
In this moment, the static clears both literally and figuratively: the carefree fun that Anthony is having with Tom seems to awaken his repressed longing for a genuinely loving family, a fulfilling marriage, and fatherhood that feels natural rather than forced. In this way, static symbolizes Anthony’s inability to openly communicate with his family or even to honestly confront his own true emotions and desires. The fact that the static dissipates at the exact moment Anthony has an epiphany about his marriage suggests that he’s now able to hear the “bright sound” of his own inner voice, unencumbered by “static”—that is, his family’s disapproval, and the pressure they put on him that figuratively deafens him to his own desires. The static does return after this brief moment, however, which creates ambiguity as to whether Anthony’s epiphany will be a lasting change, or if the obligation he feels to please his family will overtake him once more.
Static Quotes in Static
He watches as Marie takes the sifter and starts dusting the pies with icing sugar and something dislodges in him with a delicate gush of pressure, something shifts to let bright sound in.
He watches her wrists flex, the air going out of him, certain, all of a sudden, that nothing of him will ever take root inside that thin, tightly wound body, nothing. Tom’s voice comes through the handset again. Clear as a bell now, the clearest thing he's ever heard.
But he finds, in the luxury of those seconds, that he can’t take his eyes off the cacti in their pots. They don't seem to have grown an inch since they were planted there at the advice of the landscaper six long months ago. Totally unchanged. Zero care.
Anthony puts the handset down onto the stones and gazes at the plants, so steely and barbed and implacable, something that even neglect and drought put together can't seem to kill. He reaches out with a fascinated finger to press a curved spike, hard, against the cushion of skin. He just wants to see a dot of hot, red blood well reliably up, as if he needs proof that such things are real.
Static Symbol Timeline in Static
