Re: JCO:An Encounter with the Blind

 

Hi Cyrano, Ted, and everyone else interested in continuing the BTNG discussion:

 

I'll pick up on the point you mentioned in your last post, Cyrano, that of "An Encounter with the Blind" being the companion piece to "Where are You Going Where Have you Been."

 

The main similarity between this story and the more familiar "Where are You Going" seems to be that of, as you say, "hapless victim" being carried away by a killer. Differences are that I was surprised to find the Senator as the victim, since he so clearly intended the blind boy to be his victim, whereas I was not surprised to find Connie in that situation. I was also surprised that the blind boy was as cunning as he was, but I was not surprised to find that Arnold Friend was treacherous and dangerous to Connie.

 

However, despite these obvious differences, there is the similarity of sharply drawn characters (Oates describes the blind boy as giving "the impression of having been drawn with minute, painsaking detail, with something like a very fine drawing pen") engaged in psychological manipulation. There is also the similarity of characters who, by the end of the story, are not confident and strong as they thought themselves to be in the beginning, but rather powerless victims in the hands of dangerous individuals.

 

I haven't read "Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon" or any of the Rosamond Smith stories, so can't comment on that connection, but, like Ted, I have a hard time imagining what happened during that time between the struggle in the car and when the blind boy was left off at the bus stop.

 

I would love to here what others think of this story.

 

Jane

----- Original Message -----

From: Cyranomish@aol.com

To: jco@usfca.edu

Sent: Friday, September 03, 2004 6:19 AM

Subject: Re: JCO:An Encounter with the Blind

Oh, I did read that a few months ago.  I remember it pretty well now.  It
struck me as the companion piece to the later short story "Where Are You Going
Where Have You Been?"  Only the hapless victim carried away by a killer at the
end of the story is an elderly male instead of a girl.  But I will reread it
anyway.
Cyrano
 

In a message dated 9/3/2004 12:23:26 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
music@thenightshades.com writes:

<< I was reading a trashy true crime book
 about Aileen Wournos, a hitchhiking serial killer and prostitute, and
 wondered if it was the inspiration for Starr Bright, but An Encounter is was
 written when Aileen was just a child. (Of course, Blind Boy is just a
 child!)
 >>
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