Re: JCO: "In the Region of Ice"
In a message dated 11/30/05 7:56:46 AM, Cyranomish@aol.com writes:
You might try to initiate a discussion by offering some of your
own insights into this excellent story -- which was made into a short film that
I have yet to see.
I do have some opinions about this story, which seems in a rough draft form to me, but then that is my complaint about much of Oates's fiction--that she seems in a rush to finish, and the finer points that could be developed don't get developed. We get sketches instead of development--more so in her stories than novels, to be sure, but that follows.
In "The Region of Ice," we get a pretty good sense of Allan Weinstein through his explosive conversations, which he may as well be having with himself for all the contributions Sister Irene makes. What we know about Sr. Irene is told to us rather than shown, which would have been more effective.
I would have liked more detail of the convent life, too, to understand the specifics of her practice. She appears to be in a teaching order, but Oates calls her prayerful times "meditations," which is the wrong word, so this confuses rather than expands our understanding of her practice.
It would have been helpful to know why (precisely) she joined the Order. Did she really feel she had a true vocation, or was she just wanting the easy way out of her parents' emotional dependencies? How her practice shaped her could add much to the story, in my view.
There is very little conversation between Sr. Irene and anyone. Should she not have brought her concerns to the Mother Superior, for example? or her confessor? The story would be the richer for more dialogue and more convent details. Somehow I don't think these omissions were by design; I think they reflect Oates's paucity of background.
What happens instead is that Sr. Irene is a flat character for whom we can feel no sympathy, only pity.
IMHO, it's a badly written wonderful story. I itch to revise it :)
Anne D'Arcy, Ph.D.
Solano College
posted by Admin at
9:03 AM
