JCO: New story: Spider Boy

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

=====
Better Edit!
http://www.betteredit.net
laurie@betteredit.net

"Wow, it looks a lot better than it did."
--MLIS student
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Re: JCO: New story: Spider Boy

Hi Cyrano,

Thanks for your impressions. It's always interesting to hear how a class
reacts to her novels and stories.

I too was very taken by the story Spider Boy and once again, JCO's
wonderful ability to enter a character's mind, this time and adolescent
boy's mind, was impressive. I also liked the way she conveyed the
mother's own preoccupations, her shame and shallowness; the veiled
concern for her son at the police station was so much more about her
'reputation' than Phillip's mental wellbeing. I too was worried an
Arnold Friend was on the path, dreading the end... which was very
poingant indeed.

I think I'll go read another story....

Lara

Cyranomish@aol.com wrote:

>Hi, Laurie: That's the truth. TV's come eons since FATHER KNOWS BEST, a
>show I still enjoy, with it's playful, old-fashioned moral lessons and
>instruction in middle class deportment.
> I just read "Spider Boy" in the New Yorker. For me, the story did its
>crucial pivot the first time the words "the hitchhiker" appear. From there the
>story took off! I liked the theme of the story -- which also appeared in
>JCO's young adult novel FREAKY GREEN EYES -- that when a young person elects to do
>the morally right act, that choice can make his/her life very difficult and
>unpleasant for a LONG time. (Unlike in Father Knows Best, where the correct
>moral choice may make the young hero/heroine's life a bit uncomfortable for a
>little while, but one always gets Father's quiet, wholehearted approval and warm
>support.)
> When the hero of "Spider Boy" is ordered out of the car and decides to
>walk up a hiking trail, I was frantic to see where in hell this story was
>headed. I was afraid he might encounter some Arnold Friend type up the path. What
>he does encounter on the hiking trail created a deeply poignant effect: the
>expression of his heart's secret desire -- impossible to be fulfilled now,
>thanks to what has happened in his family.
> Other JCO stories that came to mind around "Spider Boy" were those that
>deal with a young person being used as "bait" by a predator: ie "The Girl With
>the Blackened Eye," the novella FIRST LOVE, and the novel MAN CRAZY.
> There's also the theme of the young person who discovers that his/her
>parent has committed an unforgiveable crime, as in the short story "The Fruit
>Cellar" or the novel FREAKY GREEN EYES. I know there are other examples of
>this theme in other fiction, but I'm spacing now: I guess WONDERLAND comes
>close: what Jesse's father does to the kids in his family at the start of the
>novel. JCO grapples with issues that few other writers care to explore. I used
>"The Girl With the Blackened Eye," in a class a few years back, and most of
>the women were very upset with it and wondered why JCO would write such a
>disturbing tale, and make it so hard to forget. One reader was nearly in tears, as
>though someone had forced her to watch pornography.
>Cyrano
>
>
>
>In a message dated 9/13/2004 3:49:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
>laurie@betteredit.net writes:
>
><< Maybe in the old days the New Yorker was more
> exclusively urban and middle class. So was TV, back in
> the 50s!
> Laurie >>
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>
>


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