Re: JCO: New story: Spider Boy and BY THE NORTH GATE

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
>>
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