Hairball was a very unique and ordinary story. Having a woman's cyst being the main focus of the story is very disgusting and naming it Hairball is just a totally different story itself. I guess she named it Hairball due to the hair on it and also made of bones, flesh and nails. Another way you could look at the symbolism of the name could be from the characters name of Kat and cats having hairballs. That is just another way of looking at it. The theme of the story could be the sacrifices women make to live in a male dominant world.
             As Katherine grows older and older her name slowly cuts down as she looses her identity. From Katherine to Kathy to Kath to Kat and then to K. By the end of the story her name is nothing, she is temporarily without a name. During the story Gerald's name slowly cuts down as well. From Gerald to Gerry then to Ger. The significance of this could be as their life progresses they start to become a nobody. So she changes her name to fit in to society.
             Kat became attached to Ger because she had a sexual relationship with him in the office while he was married with children. That is another reason why Ger doesn't want to be with Kat because he has kids and a family. By the end of the story Kat puts her cyst on a chocolate tray in disguise of a chocolate truffle. She covers the cyst with chocolate and surrounds it with other chocolate truffles to make it look like a piece of chocolate. She made the tray and gave it to Ger.
             This story is a very unusual and disgusting one. I think that if you have a cyst on any part of your body it should stay where it is or should be taken off through surgery.
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