Atlanta

Atlanta begins as a possibility Russell refused and becomes the destination William Henry Devereaux, Jr. urges him to pursue when his circumstances change. The city is introduced through employment and distance: a company based there once offered Russell a well-paid job, but the offer collided with his and Julie Devereaux’s house-building plans. Later, with Russell out of work and the couple’s home rented, Atlanta represents a chance to leave a stalled situation, even before anyone can promise what he will find there.

A Job Once Declined

Russell tells William that the previous summer a man in Atlanta offered him a job with excellent pay. Russell had said no because he and Julie were building their house. The account gives the missed opportunity a concrete cause: it was not that Russell had no prospect, but that the work and the house demanded incompatible decisions at the time. By the conversation with William, Russell has been unemployed since the previous fall, and the earlier offer has become part of a larger story of plans that did not protect him from financial uncertainty.

Russell has called the employer again. The specific job he wanted is gone, though the man thinks he may be able to find something else. Atlanta therefore enters the story not as a guaranteed solution but as a place where a possibility remains. Russell stresses that the company is based there; if it were in Railton, he says, the whole story would be different. That contrast makes location consequential: the work is not simply available nearby, and pursuing it means accepting physical separation from the life the couple had tried to establish in Railton.

The Decision to Go

William first hears Russell describe the prospect cautiously, while Russell admits that he needs to do something, even if it proves to be the wrong thing. William’s practical response turns the uncertain job lead into an immediate plan. He tells Russell to shower, dress, and pack for a week in Atlanta, perhaps longer. The instruction does not promise that the old position can be recovered; it commits Russell to going despite the uncertainty that it may take time to find work.

They reach the airport quickly, and Russell offers no real resistance to the plan. His visible resentment appears instead in a small refusal: he will not let his father-in-law carry either bag. William books a commuter flight to Pittsburgh, where Russell is to connect with a direct flight to Atlanta, and leaves the return date open. He gives Russell a check for expenses and advises him to stay somewhere cheap and call Julie once he arrives. He also tells Russell to say the trip was his own idea, advice that acknowledges Julie’s feelings without making the journey itself less William’s intervention.

Julie Joins Him

Atlanta’s significance changes in the closing account of the family’s circumstances. After Julie and Russell’s house is rented, Julie stays temporarily with her parents; Russell visits twice during that interval. She then joins him in Atlanta. The move is presented as a continuation of the departure William arranged, but the later account shifts emphasis from the uncertain first trip to the couple’s shared life there.

By the time William reports on them, Julie has found work and Russell has already been promoted. They are thinking about buying a house. The improvement is real but not portrayed as uncomplicated: William still wonders what money they will use to buy, a practical reservation that recalls the financial pressures surrounding their earlier house. Atlanta offers a new beginning in work and residence, not proof that those pressures have vanished. Lily and Julie speak almost every day, keeping the family connection active across the distance.

Narrative Function

The city is largely encountered through plans, reports, and travel arrangements rather than through a described urban setting. Its identity in the story is built from what happens in relation to it: the earlier offer Russell declined, the replacement opportunity that may or may not materialize, a one-way-leaning departure with an open return, and Julie’s eventual move to join him. The itinerary through Pittsburgh makes the journey specific, while the unnamed airport and the absence of a description of Atlanta keep attention on the decision and its consequences rather than on scenery.

Atlanta also provides a counterpoint to Railton. Russell’s remark that the story would be different if the company were in Railton ties the couple’s prospects to geography; the job that could alter their situation requires leaving the place where they built their house. Later, the report that both have work and are considering another home gives that departure a cautiously hopeful outcome. The city thus marks a shift from a shared plan that left Russell unemployed to a new arrangement in which Julie and Russell reunite and begin rebuilding their prospects together.