All the Years of Her Life

“The little gray-haired man, Sam Carr, who owned the drugstore, was bending down behind the cash register, and when Alfred Higgins passed him, he looked up and said softly, ‘Just a moment, Alfred. One moment before you go.’”

The line comes from near the opening of Callaghan’s story and describes Alfred Higgins’s boss as “little” and “gray-haired,” implying that he does not strike a very imposing figure. It explains why Alfred might have considered Mr. Sam Carr a potentially easy target for his shoplifting; however, as readers will soon learn, there are important contrasts between Alfred’s perception of Mr. Carr and his actual character. Mr. Carr turns out not to be the preoccupied, weak older man that Alfred might have assumed him to be. He speaks “softly” but is no “fool.”

“His face got red and he knew he looked fierce with indignation.”

This line describes Alfred’s reaction to Mr. Carr confronting him about his shoplifting. Though the young man feels fear, he behaves as though he is insulted by this charge. This contrast supports the story’s theme of The True Meaning of Maturity: Alfred recognizes that his “indignation” is a performance, highlighting his willful (if momentary) refusal to take responsibility for his shoplifting and be held accountable by his boss.

“Ever since Alfred had left school he had been getting into trouble wherever he worked.”

With this line, Callaghan’s narrator provides some brief exposition on the main character. This quote appears early but not immediately in the story: As “All the Years of Her Life” opens