Ken or Peggy?

Have you ever made a choice that you later regretted? Of course, you have, because we make wrong decisions all the time. The magnitude of the decision, was probably less then what Peggy’s was, after making her choice. In the short story “Choices” by Susan Kerslake, the protagonist, Peggy, makes the choice to go away for a weekend with her causal boyfriend Ken. The consequence that Peggy faced, was probably greater then your choice to “watch Netflix all night instead of studying for your math final.” The conflict is Person vs. Self, therefore it has to be Peggy’s fault otherwise the conflict would be incorrect. Some might argue that it was Ken’s fault for causing the accident. But in the end, it was Peggy who said that “….there had been a choice, that this was the matter of a choice….if she’d had to go, a line of duty, emergency… But this. For no reason.”(pg. 11) She knew that there was no reason for her to go except for the fact that she wanted to “Be able to close the door behind her, leaving laundry, a couple of dishes, unanswered letters…. perversely good feeling. Surrendering to the uncommunicative wilderness, a place without. Should she die tomorrow, someone else could deal with the dirty sink.” (pg. 4) This really represented her outlook on life before that car ride. She was naïve and arrogant, she assumed she was invincible. She essentially wasn’t willing to risk her life for her relationship with Ken, so why make the choice to go on a trip with him?