These two stories are different from any of the others we have read so far this term. I'd like you to spend some time writing about these differences.
What connections can you make between the two stories? The narration? The similarities/differences between the narrators? How is irony used in the two stories? How are the other characters used in relation to the narrators?
Welcome to the blog for Prof. John Talbird's English 220 class. The purpose of this site is two-fold: 1) to continue the conversations we start in class (or to start conversations before we get to class) and 2) to practice our writing/reading on a weekly basis in an informal forum.
The cold point was very different compared to the other stories because the entire story sort of takes place in the narrators mind and throughout the progression of the story there really no clarity of if he found a solution to his problem with his son he just goes with the flow. When he realizes whats going and solidifies his thoughts after the molato coming to him even then he dosent really approach his son for his wrongs he protects him and fires the help and continues life and just moves away so unlike the other stories the main conflict really wasn't addressed. As far as You are not I the story is narrated by the main character but not much dialog was said by her it was more her thoughts and as we read throughout the book we hear everyone else dialog but hers which was different because in every book the narrator is usually the main character with the most dialog in the cold point the other characters were used around as if everything was happening and at the end of it
ReplyDeletewas reaching him as if it was an access point and You are not I everything was happening around her and then reaching her as if she was the orbit. The only similarities I saw between the two characters where they were both in there head and whatever they believed they stuck to it throughout the entire story the differences were the father in cold point cared for his son and the girl in you are not I didn't care for anyone but herself.
These two stories are pretty atypical of Bowles. His work is so effective generally b/c there is a cool, removed quality to his fiction, his voice is clinical no matter how violent or disturbing the subject matter is. In these two stories, there is a performative nature about the voices; they seem aware that they're performing to an audience. Also, a lot of the story is surrounding the fact that the narrators don't seem to be aware of the story that they're telling. The Dad in "Pages..." can't even put it into words that his son is homosexual, so, in a sense the story is as much about his own repression as it is about Racky's homosexuality. Likewise, Ethel doesn't know she's crazy. She doesn't know that her perception that the house has been reversed is deluded or that she can control reality by concentrating hard enough or sticking a stone in her sister's mouth is absurd.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure these are the strongest stories in the collection, but they do open up what can be done when you shift pov.
Both of these stories deal with their own sort of existential crises. In "Pages From Cold Point" the father is so stunned. His lack of parenting skills is deafened by his son's behavior. It is kind of scary how is son is blind to his actions. The father is focused more on peoples' perceptions as oppose to his son's reasons for acting the way he does. "You Are Not I" makes me feel like the narrator has been through some emotional turmoil because she just keeps referring to how nobody will let her do what she wants to do. There just seems to be a lack of empathy between both narrators. The other characters are used to encourage more self-involvement for the narrators.
ReplyDeleteEach story was different. In You Are Not I the story was interesting because Ethel was the one who was believed to be the sick one. After all at the end when the two men came from the home to take her the guys ended up taking her sister. It seems the narration is told in 3rd person. The narrators seem to be in relation to the other characters perhaps by knowing them.
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