Upon contemplating the subject of reality, Emilia Morin comprehends that whether it's due to insufficient wealth, adventure, or love, people always feel that reality is something stopping them from reaching their goals. Yet, in actuality, reality is the ticket to their desires, if only they understand it. In Coffee, Snacks, Worms, by Karleen Bradford, Kate does not spend time in reality, but instead, in a dream world. The cause and effects of this are that Kate does not appreciate and detaches herself from reality; Kate is forced to confront reality; understanding reality has changed Kate. After reading "Coffee, Snacks, Worms", the reader is compelled to believe that in order to understand reality, they need to live in it.
In the premise of the story, Kate detaches from and does not appreciate, reality. She is constantly daydreaming and writing adventure stories more exciting than her actual life. "Stephanie took a step backwards, then stopped. She looked behind her and gasped in terror. The cliff edge crumbled beneath her feet, and far below her the sea crashed against the jagged, pointed rocks in an insane fury." (Bradford 87:1). This is evidence of Kate daydreaming and writing unrealistic stories to entertain herself. The consequence of Kate's daydreaming is that she isn't focusing on school and work. In class, Kate is called out by her teacher, Mrs. Richards, for daydreaming. Kate's reaction to this is: "Daydreaming! She hadn't been daydreaming. She'd been plotting out a fabulous story." (88:1). This illustrates how Kate is in denial of her detachment from reality and that she feels that writing stories more interesting than her life is a valid reason for not focusing on her classwork. Kate's avid daydreaming and lack of awareness for reality, limits her understanding of the world around her.
After a sequence of distressing events, Kate is forced to confront reality. She is threatened with a knife and is obliged to give a thief all the money in her family's cash register. "A knife? He had a knife? It suddenly occurred to her that Stephanie had never been threatened with a knife. The time might come when she would be, and Kate didn't know anything about knives. 'What kind of knife?'" (89-90). This incident demonstrates how Kate is not fully comprehending reality and yet is beginning to confront it as she questions the boy and the threat he possesses. As Kate becomes more aware of her own reality and that of the people around her, she is able to focus her energies to aid the would-be thief into a better life . A situation where this occurs is when Kate is feeding the boy and she exclaims "Making you a sandwich, turkey. You said you were starving, didn't you?" (90). A second incident is when Kate is thinking about how she would have to pay for the food she prepared for the boy: "Times were even harder than usual lately, and Kate knew that mother had every bit of food countered and measured. She'd answer for this." (90). These are instances where Kate is helping the boy by giving him food and then paying for it out of her own money. She is understanding that though her life may not be the most appealing, it's far from miserable. Kate's encounters with the thief result in her understanding reality more accurately and more appreciatively, and as a result, she begins to change.
By the end of Kate's journey in Coffee, Snacks, Worms, understanding reality has changed her outlook on life. She becomes more realistic, happier, and her little "dreamworld" becomes synchronized with reality. Instead of being tied to a train track and being pushed off a cliff, Stephanie is now working at the same place that Kate's family owns and the antagonist in the story is the same boy that threatened Kate. "Stephanie looked up, startled, as the snack bar door burst open. There, in front of her, stood a dishevelled, disreputable, totally terrifying figure. He swayed slightly, as if weak from disease or hunger, as he walked menacingly towards her, but she only had eyes for the gleaming, evil-looking, long-bladed knife that he carried in his right hand. It was pointing straight at her heart..." (92) This is a much more realistic story than Kate's other ideas. As she got to understand reality, Kate's writing improved because she was able to relate to her stories. In the story, after the boy had left and thrown the knife in the trash, Kate says one of the most important lines in the entire tale: "He had had a knife! For a moment she felt sick at the thought of what could have happened" (92). This is prime proof of Kate changing through her understanding of reality. The reality is, he had a knife, yet Kate, not yet comprehending reality, thought that she was safe. If Kate had not acted the way that she did, they would not have had the opportunity to change each other's lives for the better. Therefore, understanding her life resulted in a greater appreciation for it.
Karleen Bradford fathoms that if people want to fully grasp reality, they need to focus on and appreciate it. By interpreting reality more accurately, Kate becomes more involved in and understanding of events in her life so that she is more in control of her choices and patient when things do not go as planned. Confirming this, Xavier Morin believes that if someone can grasp reality, they can take advantage of it and reach their goals, exactly like Kate. She became a better author which was her goal, and she did that by taking advantage of her reality when she took her experiences and turned them into a story. Now, if the reader believes their reality is sub-par to their peers, or wish there was more excitement in life, they can treasure the fact that people have the capacity to make other's lives exceptional. Perhaps in return, others will do the same for them.
