The story "Embroidery" by Ray Bradbury is very short in length. The plot of the story takes place within a period of ten minutes. For these ten minutes the main characters, three women are preparing embroidered patterns.
The author describes one of their works which includes: a flower, man, road, sun and a house; every detail is depicted carefully. It is a beautiful scene with one flaw in it: the man standing on the road had something wrong with his face.
The lady who created this pattern cried, she wanted to create an ideal picture. The author wrote that she "began to pick away at the thread with her little deft scissors flashing. The pattern came out thread by thread. She pulled and yanked, almost viciously. The man's face was gone. She continued to seize at the threads... The man was gone from the road. She had taken him out entirely."
The plot also describes the thoughts of the ladies who are thinking about everyday household chores. They recall these chores with nostalgic feelings because it is in the past and they know that it will never happen again.
Ray Bradbury writes about the end of the world for these people and he makes comparisons with the final actions of the characters of the story. Some readers have associated the story with the Matrix where each world is part of another world. The attitude of the people towards their destiny is the next subject which is described in the story.
The author leaves open questions about the main idea of the story. This is a topic for discussion after reader has read the story.
Here is the link to the text of the story (page 136 in the pdf-file):
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