Life isn’t always amazing. There will be times of struggle and a times of trial along the way but whatever life may throw at you, never give up, be strong and believe that you are going to make it. One of the common theme that can be seen often in life is the theme of struggle. For example, one could be constantly struggling against the opinion of others, or pressures of society or, maybe in time. On the other hand, one could be experiencing physical struggle with a person, or a group, or an illness, etc. "River of Names" is a part of a collection of short stories in the book “The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories” edited by Tobias Wolff. The “River of Names” is written by Dorothy Allison, who was born on April 11, 1949 in Greenville, South Carolina. Allison is an accomplished writer and speaker who tackles class, gender, sexual orientation, and violence. Describing herself as a feminist and a working class who writes to change the world. Allison grew up in a poor family and she was molested by her step-father at a young age and it lasted for seven years. Allison had a sad life. She managed to escape the fate that destroyed so many generations of her family through her own stubborn determination for survival and by writing as a way to fight back. In the story, "River of Names," the narrator is a young lesbian from a small southern town. It is about a young woman who is talking about the events and things that went on in her life during her childhood years to her female partner, Jesse. The narrator and Jesse have been lovers for a year. Jesse and the narrator talks about their childhood days, how Jesse talks about how her grandmother smelled like a dill of bread and vanilla, how her mother made dresses for her and how her father goes off each day to the University. Jesse would then ask how the narrator’s family is like, she would lie and say something out of a story book, telling that her grandmother smells like a lavender but in fact in reality she doesn’t even know what a lavender smells like. The narrator grew up not having a good memo