Re: JCO: Images

In a message dated 9/11/2004 12:40:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Cyranomish
writes:

<< Hi, Jane. In THE WHEEL OF LOVE there's a story, "Four Summers," which
uses the same technique, following its heroine from childhood to young wifehood.
It's a sadder story than "Images," in terms of how the heroine never escapes
her family's cycle of poverty and requisite motherhood. The heroine of
"Images" like JCO herself seems to have avoided her mother's fate by going off to
college where she meets a man with whom she will begin a new family, most
probably a middle-class family as opposed to a hemmed-in working class family. Then
in the collection FAITHLESS, there's a great story about the history of a
family, again told in four scenes, through its family cars -- "We Were Worried
About You." That one starts, I think, in the late 1940s or early 1950s when
Father gets a new car which begins to isolate the family from its community (In
past times, it was common practice to give hitch-hikers a lift because
hitchhikers were members of local families and it was necessary to be polite and
helpful to one's neighbors.) As the family acquires bigger, better cars, they are
more reluctant to even consider giving a stranger a lift. And the outside
world of strangers becomes more frightening to them until -- in the final scene
-- the boy of the family, now grown, hits a pedestrian on the way to Sunday
dinner and doesn't stop to see to the victim.
It's a really nifty way to tell a story -- four scenes over the course
of several years and/or decades. I don't know where else JCO has used it, but
she certainly hasn't overused it.
Cyrano

In a message dated 9/11/2004 10:52:29 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
jward199@sbcglobal.net writes:

<< Hi Cyrano,

I've been thinking about the "time technique" you mentioned. I haven't
read many of JCO short stories, and I'm not familiar with the scenes or
images being introduced by "Thirteen Years Ago," "Eleven Years Ago,"
etc. Where else does she use this techinique?

The series of images we get of the girl are interesting. From the
beginning she has thoughts that her parents never imagine and would not
have recognized.

Jane
>>
>>
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Re: JCO: Images

Hi, Jane. In THE WHEEL OF LOVE there's a story, "Four Summers," which uses
the same technique, following its heroine from childhood to young wifehood.
It's a sadder story than "Images," in terms of how the heroine never escapes her
family's cycle of poverty and requisite motherhood. The heroine of "Images"
like JCO herself seems to have avoided her mother's fate by going off to
college where she meets a man with whom she will begin a new family, most probably
a middle-class family as opposed to a hemmed-in working class family. Then in
the collection FAITHLESS, there's a great story about the history of a
family, again told in four scenes, through its family cars -- "We Were Worried About
You." That one starts, I think, in the late 1940s or early 1950s when Father
gets a new car which begins to isolate the family from its community (In past
times, it was common practice to give hitch-hikers a lift because hitchhikers
were members of local families and it was necessary to be polite and helpful
to one's neighbors.) As the family acquires bigger, better cars, they are
more reluctant to even consider giving a stranger a lift. And the outside world
of strangers becomes more frightening to them until -- in the final scene --
the boy of the family, now grown, hits a pedestrian on the way to Sunday dinner
and doesn't stop to see to the victim.
It's a really nifty way to tell a story -- four scenes over the course
of several years and/or decades. I don't know where else JCO has used it, but
she certainly hasn't overused it.
Cyrano

In a message dated 9/11/2004 10:52:29 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
jward199@sbcglobal.net writes:

<< Hi Cyrano,

I've been thinking about the "time technique" you mentioned. I haven't
read many of JCO short stories, and I'm not familiar with the scenes or
images being introduced by "Thirteen Years Ago," "Eleven Years Ago,"
etc. Where else does she use this techinique?

The series of images we get of the girl are interesting. From the
beginning she has thoughts that her parents never imagine and would not
have recognized.

Jane
>>
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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