In “The Second Bakery Attack”, we pick back up with the same character from the original “Bakery Attack” story; he is now older and married. One night, both he and his wife get unbearably hungry to the point where they can’t sleep. After scrounging their kitchen for food, to no avail, the narrator tells his wife about the first bakery attack. His wife insists they are cursed because of this and explains that in order to break it, he must attack another bakery. The two set out in the middle of the night to find an open bakery, but end up at a McDonald’s instead. The narrator holds the employees at gunpoint while his wife orders them to make thirty Big Macs. They do as she says and when they’re finished, the couple pays for two Cokes and leaves. They go to an empty parking lot and eat the food, finding that the intense hunger is gone.
Symbols
Volcano
Symbolizes the "curse" that controls the narrator,
it gets increasingly intense as his hunger grows and only goes away when his hunger is satisfied
Magical realism- the curse
Wife claims the man is cursed with unbearable hunger
which causes him to have to do horrible things
Characters
2 McDonald's customers
3 McDonald's workers
Wife
Convinced husband (narrator) to rob McDonald's to
"even out" the first bakery attack
Narrator
Had previously robbed bakery, decided to tell wife about it
Ideas
Human Nature
When in desperate situation, humans will
do anything to get what they need
Themes
Gender Roles
Reverse gender roles- wife is very in control and tells husband what to do, while husband is submissive
Balance
Since he robbed one before, he must rob another
for it to even out
Desire
Overwhelming desire for food drove the husband and wife to commit a crime
Hunger
Wife claims the hunger is a "curse" that the husband has brought upon her.
