Re: JCO: New story: Spider Boy and BY THE NORTH GATE
"A Legacy" is certainly relevant, as is "An Encounter With the Blind"- the
original (at least as far as publication goes) politician picking up
hitchhikers in a predatory way.
I'm struck that what makes Phillip spill the beans to the police is his
impulsive anger at his mother.
It's quite chilling how well JCO gets into the head of the child, his
preoccupations and concerns- it's very unnerving. It reminds me of a lot of
things about my own childhood that I try hard to forget- nothing of the
predations, which thankfully I did not experience, but definitely of the way
my folks often seemed more concerned about appearances than about my
concerns and my experience.
I'm not sure it's the tragedy that's so invasive and painful as the way JCO
seems to know what it was like for us, that we never managed to tell
anybody, our own private nightmares of living. We all have our painful
secrets, and they might not be the stuff of headlines, but they are our own
festering and forgotten secrets, until we are reminded... and JCO has a
really uncanny knack of reminding us.
Ted
on 9/15/04 6:36 AM, Cyranomish@aol.com at Cyranomish@aol.com wrote:
> Hi, Laurie> That's a good interpretation. Teenagers, as you know, are not
> the only age group that doesn't like tragic stories. Some famous writer (H.L.
> Mencken???) once said that tragedy doesn't play well in the US because
> Americans don't like losers.
> The person in my class who objected so strongly to JCO's story "The Girl With
> the Blackened Eye," was well into her thirties. (Though you couldn't call
> that story a tragedy, exactly, because the heroine does survive her ordeal and
> starts a new life. There must be some word for that kind of story -- the
> protagonist is damaged but survives, like Ismael in MOBY DICK.)
> For those of you who are going through the stories in BY THE NORTH GATE,
> you may find some similarities in the next story "A Legacy" about a girl who
> goes to visit her young brother on death row. Here is another family tragedy
> with some family members trying to acknowledge and wittess and others standing
> back -- like the mother in "Spider Boy."
> Cyrano
>
> In a message dated 9/14/2004 8:45:44 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> laurie@betteredit.net writes:
>
> << Hi friends!
> I can understand teenagers not liking tragic
> stories. When I was younger, I couldn't accept stories
> that didn't have a happy ending or at least some kind
> of justice.
> Spider Boy was good. The opening line about people
> disappearing could apply to the boy, his mother,
> and/or his father (the sister is shadowy). I don't
> blame the mother too much. The father involved the boy
> in his sins, and something had to give somewhere. I
> thought the boy would become a monster too (whether he
> does later is not known)--but he decides to bring the
> shame out into the light. The mother had decided from
> the beginning not to do so. She was trying to protect
> her family. It worked for her, up to a point; it
> didn't work for the boy.
> The mother tried to revert to the past, which
> didn't work (the boy--or JCO?--thinks the whole town
> must know the truth on some level). The boy's past was
> not in Nyack, and he doesn't feel safe or welcome
> there, so he couldn't do the same.
> The boy has grown out of the situation, in two
> senses: outgrown and grown as a result of. Which is as
> it should be for someone his age. And maybe the mother
> was acting as she should have too. She was concerned
> about her son, and perhaps glad that the truth had
> come to light. At the same time, she naturally feels
> angry and violated, and she wishes the boy had acted
> differently.
> An interesting variation on We are all guilty. And
> how illusory and fragile families are?
> Laurie
>>>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Tone Clusters: The Joyce Carol Oates discussion group
>
> To send a message to the group, email jco@usfca.edu
> To subscribe, email majordomo@usfca.edu: subscribe jco
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original (at least as far as publication goes) politician picking up
hitchhikers in a predatory way.
I'm struck that what makes Phillip spill the beans to the police is his
impulsive anger at his mother.
It's quite chilling how well JCO gets into the head of the child, his
preoccupations and concerns- it's very unnerving. It reminds me of a lot of
things about my own childhood that I try hard to forget- nothing of the
predations, which thankfully I did not experience, but definitely of the way
my folks often seemed more concerned about appearances than about my
concerns and my experience.
I'm not sure it's the tragedy that's so invasive and painful as the way JCO
seems to know what it was like for us, that we never managed to tell
anybody, our own private nightmares of living. We all have our painful
secrets, and they might not be the stuff of headlines, but they are our own
festering and forgotten secrets, until we are reminded... and JCO has a
really uncanny knack of reminding us.
Ted
on 9/15/04 6:36 AM, Cyranomish@aol.com at Cyranomish@aol.com wrote:
> Hi, Laurie> That's a good interpretation. Teenagers, as you know, are not
> the only age group that doesn't like tragic stories. Some famous writer (H.L.
> Mencken???) once said that tragedy doesn't play well in the US because
> Americans don't like losers.
> The person in my class who objected so strongly to JCO's story "The Girl With
> the Blackened Eye," was well into her thirties. (Though you couldn't call
> that story a tragedy, exactly, because the heroine does survive her ordeal and
> starts a new life. There must be some word for that kind of story -- the
> protagonist is damaged but survives, like Ismael in MOBY DICK.)
> For those of you who are going through the stories in BY THE NORTH GATE,
> you may find some similarities in the next story "A Legacy" about a girl who
> goes to visit her young brother on death row. Here is another family tragedy
> with some family members trying to acknowledge and wittess and others standing
> back -- like the mother in "Spider Boy."
> Cyrano
>
> In a message dated 9/14/2004 8:45:44 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> laurie@betteredit.net writes:
>
> << Hi friends!
> I can understand teenagers not liking tragic
> stories. When I was younger, I couldn't accept stories
> that didn't have a happy ending or at least some kind
> of justice.
> Spider Boy was good. The opening line about people
> disappearing could apply to the boy, his mother,
> and/or his father (the sister is shadowy). I don't
> blame the mother too much. The father involved the boy
> in his sins, and something had to give somewhere. I
> thought the boy would become a monster too (whether he
> does later is not known)--but he decides to bring the
> shame out into the light. The mother had decided from
> the beginning not to do so. She was trying to protect
> her family. It worked for her, up to a point; it
> didn't work for the boy.
> The mother tried to revert to the past, which
> didn't work (the boy--or JCO?--thinks the whole town
> must know the truth on some level). The boy's past was
> not in Nyack, and he doesn't feel safe or welcome
> there, so he couldn't do the same.
> The boy has grown out of the situation, in two
> senses: outgrown and grown as a result of. Which is as
> it should be for someone his age. And maybe the mother
> was acting as she should have too. She was concerned
> about her son, and perhaps glad that the truth had
> come to light. At the same time, she naturally feels
> angry and violated, and she wishes the boy had acted
> differently.
> An interesting variation on We are all guilty. And
> how illusory and fragile families are?
> Laurie
>>>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Tone Clusters: The Joyce Carol Oates discussion group
>
> To send a message to the group, email jco@usfca.edu
> To subscribe, email majordomo@usfca.edu: subscribe jco
> To unsubscribe, email majordomo@usfca.edu: unsubscribe jco
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Tone Clusters: The Joyce Carol Oates discussion group
To send a message to the group, email jco@usfca.edu
To subscribe, email majordomo@usfca.edu: subscribe jco
To unsubscribe, email majordomo@usfca.edu: unsubscribe jco
posted by Admin at
9:26 AM
