Conrad Aiken remains firmly established in his exalted position as one of America's most neglected contemporary writers. (p. 375)

Artistically, [Aiken's short story] "Impulse" is finely-constructed, so carefully molded that its structure and imagery adhere tenaciously to its theme, lending this theme an appropriate form and serving as more than adequate vehicles of expression. Aiken constantly welds images and overall design to reinforce his point of view: that "civilization is only skin-deep"; once shaved of that paper-thin skin of civility, mankind shows itself to be "criminal, ex-post facto." The imagery, consequently, relates to shaving and the breaking of bonds, and the form the story takes—that of the "'V' turned upside down" mentioned in its first paragraph—assumes significance for this tale of a man defeated by exposing his inherently criminal nature….

Giving form to this story is Aiken's idea that civilized nature is only a thin veneer beneath which every human feels similar impulses, and which, when punctured, releases man's anti-social tendencies. Once aware of the theme, we immediately begin to see juxtaposed the "civilized" and "uncivilized" actions in the story. The idea that civilization is only skin-deep provides the chief thrust for the story's main action. In addition, Aiken heaps level upon level of irony since we realize that except for civilization, the men would not be contemplating impulse in such a cerebral manner…. (p. 376)

Aiken's structure consists of an upward movement towards a peak situation, followed by an immediate reversal of the previous action. Michael begins at a low point made comfortable by illusions, rises in his comfort due to an increase of illusions, then performs his impulsive, catalytic act which triggers a series of confrontations that bring him back to a most painful reality. The second half of the structure thus complements the first through its reversed movement (we see the coming down of what went up), and reversed perceptions (reality follows illusions; what was flatly literal assumes a deeper figurative cast).

As we might expect, Aiken's imagery follows and accentuates the structure of the story while reinforcing the "civilization is only skin-deep" theme. One of the primary sets of images centers around the "civilized" ritual of shaving. Aiken emphasizes this action subtly and first depicts Michael shaving—literally: "Michael Lowes hummed as he shaved, amused by the face he saw."… Structurally, we can place Aiken's first reference to shaving at the foot of one side of the inverted-V shape of the story. The next reference to shaving occurs in the scene at the apex of the inverted-V where Michael acts to bring about his downfall. Here Michael receives his fatal impulse to steal the very instrument used in the act of shaving: "a de-luxe safety-razor set, of heavy gold,"…—in other words, a shaver. Aiken includes no final direct reference to shaving, but does infer, indirectly, to the state of a "shaved" man in the last scene. We see Michael Lowes sitting on the edge of his bed in his cell, thinking of his past life—his childhood, his college years, his days as a husband and a father. By the final line of the story, Michael realizes: "It [that whole life] had all come foolishly to an end."… He is now figuratively a shaved man. His theft has erased his entire previous life and leads him back down, in the structure of the story, to the second low point of the inverted-V. Just as Michael's movement from the peak of illusion to harsh reality places him in a more painful situation than his first low illusory state, this shaving is more drastic than Michael's first ritual action, because it exposes that lower side of his human nature which lies beneath civilization's thin skin. Finally perceiving his degradation mirrored in [his wife] Dora's last glance, Michael guesses she is probably "wondering what sort of people criminals might be. Human? Sub-human?"… And through that one short reference to sub-humanness, we can sense Aiken wondering how far mankind has indeed developed since its cave man days.

The less obvious imagery of the card game is also noteworthy. The four men are playing bridge, and, more specifically, contract bridge. Aside from their use as card game titles, both "bridge" and "contract" suggest attempts to overcome some type of abyss separating human beings, and Aiken plays with these definitions through his tale. The noun and verb forms of "bridge" denote times, places, means of, or attempts at connection or transition. In the first half of the story, Michael feels that he has achieved reasonable connections in many of his relationships; but this first half, we remember, shows Michael's growing illusions about himself, and we can see that he is just as deluded in his belief that he has established any true relationships with others. (pp. 378-79)

The second half of the story exposes Michael's "insubstantial bridgework" for all its flimsiness, and follows the V-structure of the story, just as the shaving imagery did. Both images are pictured as literal actions in the first half of the story; the second half, however, reveals them in a reversed, figurative, and more disastrous light. Thus Michael begins with the act of shaving, but ends figuratively shaved; he also begins playing a game of bridge, but by playing the wrong cards in life, ends up destroying all his bridges to the present point. (pp. 379-80)

Aiken leaves us with no doubts about Michael's downfall in this story. The author's imagery shows his character shaved and isolated, and his structure brings the man to a lower point than ever before. Once Michael had seen the inverted-V in the mirror, he should have known that the hand his human nature had been dealt contained sufficient points only for defeat—not victory. (p. 380)