Runaway by Alice Munro

 

Runaway was instructive to me in for two reasons. Munro uses two major devices that accelerate the reader's understanding of what's happening, one is point of view and the other is natural setting. I tend to tell my stories through one viewpoint and that tends to create one dimensioned experience. So in order to consider what the multiple viewpoints and offer I chose to examine this in Runaway. Her use of setting, however, jumped out at me so strongly that I couldn't ignore how it also informs my writing.

The story is about a woman named Carla who ran away from home to marry Clark, and then attempts to run away from him and their troubled marriage. Clark and Carla own a horse farm. The story begins with the return of the neighbor, Sylvia who has been in Greece recovering from the death of her husband. Carla helped Sylvia keep house while Leon died and worked with her to clear out the remains of his things once he was gone.

Munro uses two points of view: Carla's and Sylvia's. Both are third person close making each one narrator as well as primary characters. Where she chooses to switch point of view heightens the tension in the storyline. The story is split, the first third told by Carla, second third by Sylvia, then Carla/Sylvia/Carla in equal parts through the last third of the story. Clark who is the cause of tension in the story is only observable through these women's eyes.

The passage that best illustrates Munro's ability to shift point of view and enrich the story is just before Sylvia is visited by Clark. She has put Carla on a bus to Toronto to escape him. "She kept seeing Carla, Carla stepping onto the bus. Her thanks had been sincere but already almost casual, her wave jaunty. She had got used to her salvation." She is back at her house just falling asleep on the couch in the living room.

"The next thing she knew she was on a bus somewhere-in Greece?-with a lot of people she did not know, and the engine of the bus was making an alarming knocking sound. She woke to find the knocking was at her front door.

Carla?"

Carla had kept her head down until the bus was clear of town."

Now Munro takes us through Carla on the bus, reflecting on her first running away, realizing that Clark is essential to her, panicking, getting off the bus and calling him to come get her. This section closes with,

"'Come and get me. Please come and get me.

I will.'

Sylvia had forgotten to lock her door. She realized that she should be locking it now, not opening it, but it was too late. She had it open."

Clark has come to visit her and return the clothes that Carla borrowed to run away. The reader's knowledge that Carla has gone back makes the suspense of Clark's visit even more powerful. What is he going to do? Munro uses that quick point of view shift masterfully. While I have tended towards putting my reader into one character's head believing it makes a stronger story, Munro shows me that multiple points of view actually deepen a readers understanding of the character and motive.

The second device that Munro uses to move the story is natural setting. The most prominent example of this is the passage below. When I first read this passage I thought it was a benign and lovely description of the farm scene mirroring the upward trajectory of Carla and Clark's marriage after "runaway day". They are reconciled and happier, the wood is coming into summer, and things are improving.

"Birds were everywhere. Red-winged blackbirds, robins, a pair of doves sang at daybreak. Lots of crows, and gulls on reconnoitering missions from the lake, and big turkey buzzards that sat in the branches of a dead okay about half a mile away, at the edge of the woods. At first they just sat there, drying out their voluminous wings, lifting themselves occasionally for a trial flight, flapping around a bit, then composing themselves to let the sun and the warm air do their work. In a day or so they were restored, flying high, circling and dropping to earth, disappearing over the woods, coming back to rest in the familiar bare tree."

Then Carla gets the letter from Sylvia describing the reappearance of Flora the runaway goat that she witnessed with Clark. Clark had left her yard with Flora; Sylvia believes the goat to be back home. She is not. And a few pages later, Munro puts the buzzards to use. And what was a beautiful description of nature becomes a harbinger of malice.

"She had only to raise her eyes, she had only to look in one direction, to know where she might go. An evening walk, once her chores for the day were finished. To the edge of the woods, and the bare tree where the buzzards had held their party."

Buzzards, of course is a signal to the reader, but placed carefully alongside songbirds, then crows and gulls, the progression to buzzards doesn't seem ominous. Once I read "buzzards party" in the section that came later, I had to go back and reread the prior passage with my new understanding. I believe strongly that place helps the reader envision what's occurring (or at least it helps me as the writer) but need to think about how to use my settings to further plot. Munro gives me a lot to think about in this story.

 

 

 

 

Quality of Life by Christine Sneed

What is sinister about this story is that it isn't. Mr. Fulger provides Lyndsey a comfortable life and satisfying intimacy and asks for nothing. And yet the lack of any detail about him, his life, creates the tension that something is sinister. The reader can participate in Lyndsey's paradigm that she has no choice and she is being coerced, or one can side with Mr. Fulger and say that she chooses her situation and has it all good. So this seems like a story that depends heavily on the perspective of the reader.

There is no evident reason why Lyndsey can't stop seeing Mr. Fulger. There is the implication that he has power, that he is ruthless, but there is no evidence. Lyndsey seems to be struggling with herself, with her inability to exert her own will. In their first meeting he comments, "We often rely on others to make our most important decisions. There's no reason to be ashamed of this." (p.272) And like Nisha in Admiral, the reader is left wondering if the protagonist finds the situation (of luxury; of money) untenable why doesn't she exert her will and exit?

I found this story to provide more to think about than Admiral. While Nisha clearly had a solid reason for taking the job with the Strikers, Lyndsey has no reason to continue to engage with Mr. Fulger. Sneed doesn't provide any dimension to Mr. Fulger on purpose. Which makes him a backdrop to Lyndsey's (somewhat adolescent) frustrations and inactions. So that makes this story really about Lyndsey, and self imprisonment. If Sneed explained Mr. Fulger we would spend less time creating reasonable and then unreasonable stories about who he really is and if he is evil or not.

We know the Strikers are cold, manipulative and exacting. They are used to getting what they want and they do. Boyle does not let us guess about them. This heightens the frustration with Nisha's inaction, because everyone knows she is being bought. We aren't sure if the same is true of Lyndsey. And that makes this story chilling.

Admiral by T.C. Boyle

This story is primarily about class, and assumptions about class. Boyle creates fairly stereotypical rich people in the Strikers. The only sign of emotion on their part is around the dog. "She'd had the acceptance letter in her hand to show her, thinking how proud of her Mrs. Striker would be, how she'd take her in her arms, for a hug and congratulate her, but the first thing she'd said was What about Admiral?" (p.5)

Nisha is bought, just like Admiral is bought. She struggles with this, but not successfully. Although you understand why she is there, that she needs money, there is little depth to what she is experiencing in this story. The reader isn't sure what Nisha desires as an alternative which makes it hard to feel badly for her. It's unclear whether Boyle is doing this on purpose, or it is an accident of the storytelling.

She tells herself the job is temporary but when she contemplates starting to look for a "real" job "the face of her mother, sick from vomiting and with her scalp as smooth and slick as an eggplant, would rise up to shame her."(p.11). This feels like a misstep on the part of Boyle. Nisha has been indoctrinated by her mother that there are jobs that black people shouldn't take. Being a maid, for instance. "A woman of color does not clean house, that was what her mother always told her, and it had become a kind of mantra when she was growing up, a way of reinforcing core values, of promoting education and the life of the mind, but she couldn't help wondering how much higher a dog-sitter was on the socioeconomic scale than a maid." (p.2) One isn't convinced of the authenticity of Nisha being shamed by her sick mother, as her mother wouldn't endorse this job at all.

Boyle only provides one quick conversation about the animal cruelty, and not in a way that engaged my desire for revenge on the Strikers. It seems to me that the emphasis on the sandwiches, the drinking, the playing with Admiral are elongated and the crux, the tension between she and Erhard is underplayed even ignored. Wouldn't she struggle earlier with the pending event, whether he was interested in her, if that emotion would alter his actions? She understands her situation, "Of course, Nisha was no fool." She knew there was quid pro quo here, knew that Erhard has his agenda, but she was in n no hurry, she'd committed to nothing..." (p17)

Nisha expresses that she is humiliated by Mrs. Striker's return home and subsequent foiling of their plan. But it is unclear what is driving that. Is it that she, Nisha, couldn't pull off the rebellion? Is it her continued participation in the creation of a false dog? Is it that she's had her place reinforced once again? Boyle suggests the latter by closing with "And every slowly, as the days beat on, she began to understand what her role was, her true role." p(21) That role is truly make Admiral, Admiral. Perhaps by letting him run into traffic and die the first dog.

In a few short sentences, Boyle moves from this thought to the day of reckoning. Mrs. Striker calls their bluff and the story is over. Nisha makes a few attempts at rationalizing her life without success for herself or us. But I'm not sure I care enough for her. Does that make me Mrs. Striker?

Will She? Won't She? The Years of My Birth by Louise Erdrich

The construct of this story is clear. The externally flawed is saved by love and generosity. The physically beautiful is internally flawed. The guilt of a mother who gives up a child because it’s imperfect is turned on the remaining child and poisons the relationship.

Erdrich does not sacrifice Tuffy with subtlety, she puts her out there abandoned and physically flawed. She creates good and evil characters, the Wishkobs versus the Lashers. She creates drama through the very practical event of a needed kidney to bring them together and they all act out their true natures (none of whom changes) in the moment of climax. The story is short and satisfying even if we don’t know the outcome. The satisfaction coming in the revenge that neither of the Lashers is happy and the child that was thrown away comes back with the ability to save them, even if she doesn’t.

The question Erdrich makes you ask is: what value does Linden provide Tuffy? Tuffy reflects on her adoption, "I was grateful now for the way things had turned out. Before we were born, my twin had had the compassion to crush me, to improve me by deforming me: I was the one who was spared." (p. 68.)

If Linden dies, will his presence, his only possible "goodness", die as well? If Tuffy saves Linden, does she also save herself from being alone? If Linden dies, will Tuffy then be subject to Nancy? Tuffy seems to need Linden to live more than he does himself.

So where is the climax in this story? There are two possibilities: Nancy asks Tuffy for the kidney or Linden rejects Tuffy and she has a dilemma. The tension is built throughout back story since you know from the outset that there is a twin, that there is a birth mother. Erdrich isn't telling you this information out of pure interest, she's putting it out there for you to pay attention. So we wait through the first half of the story, until Tuffy is settled into her life for the phone call. It comes, they meet. Still more tension through dinner, but Erdrich takes you quickly to the point (the story is very short after all). Thus the climax seem to occur at the point of the question. Will she? Won't she?

More tension builds through Tuffy wrestling with possibility, consulting her sister (who threatens to have Linden's plug pulled), and then getting tested. No one she encounters, including Linden's doctor, thinks she should sacrifice herself for him. Not even Linden himself "You don't have to be a Jesus." (p.68) he tells her. Erdrich drives the story all the way to the point at which we believe Tuffy is going to abandon Linden. And then she abandons the reader. She puts Tuffy in the "white, white room"(p.68). This then could also be the climax. Will she? Won't she? The white room is the place where Linden's presence held her hand, where she was put away from those who loved her, where she screamed until child services gave her back to the Wishkobs. The white room is a place of powerlessness, so we have to think Tuffy is stuck. But really, any action that follows is plausible, will she, won't she?

I believe the narrative arc leads you to the point at which Nancy asks. While Erdrich toys with the reader for the remainder of the story, you can't believe that she won't save him. Tuffy is, after all, an inherently good character. She doesn't need to escape from Linden, he has protected her, she will rescue him. So while the tension is heightened all the way to the close of the story, the emotional pivot point is at the question. The point at which the reader says along with Tuffy, "All my life, knowing without knowing it, I had waited for this to happen." (p. 68). We all had. And we are all stuck in that white room with her but resigned that she will find "the alternative unbearable" (p.68) and will save both herself and Linden.

Eveline by James Joyce

Eveline (protagonist) wishes to escape her life and she is afraid of leaving her life. One infers some Catholic guilt or belief in being punished for happiness. This very short story uses sparity of language that takes the reader through just enough scenes in Eveline's life to give a complete picture. It is very tightly written with every paragraph working hard; every image pulling you into the story.

Paragraph 1: what it's like in the house. Pararaph 2: a history of the neighborhood and family. Paragraph 3: how she feels about her home. Paragraph 4: what she's about to do. Paragraph 5: why she's doing it. Paragraph 6: how she came to decision. Paragraph 7: what she will regret. Paragraph 8: what she feels guilty about. P9: What she fears about going. P10: what she does. P11: how she feels about what she does. P12: what she can't do. P13: how she feels about what she can't do.

Despite the brevity and the spareness, Joyce has used all the "right" paragraphs to cause the reader to feel sympathy for Eveline and wants her to be happy. She has been a "good" woman all through her life, taking care of others. While she doesn't actually express unhappiness, her description of her mother's life, her desire to not follow in her footsteps, her longing for happiness all create the sensation of unhappiness. The denial of her happiness by her own hand, is what creates such a sense of tragedy in this story. The inaction of the story while the tension is built (will she? won't she? similar to The Years of my Birth) makes you feel anxious that perhaps she won't be able to go. And then, perhaps, she doesn't. Joyce doesn't outright tell us she doesn't get on the boat, but he far from assures us that she will.

When More is More: The Bath and A Small, Good Thing by Raymond Carver

The major differences in these two versions of the same story A Bath and A Small, Good Thing include the extension of plot, point of view, and dialog. In The Bath, the outcome of the child Scotty's condition is unknown to us. This creates a tension in the story that is not released, a promise of closure unfulfilled. This is something I wrestle with in my own writing, as I sometimes feel it is too obvious to wade into the mess of the plot. This, in fact, neglects the reader. A Small, Good Thing is a much more satisfying story because we experience the tragedy of Scotty's death as well as the redemption of the baker. The extension of the plot also creates a greater sense of the tragedy because we understand that everyone in this story is a victim, the parents, the doctors, and the baker himself.

There are other components to the writing that increase the reader's investment in the second story. First, Carver gives all the characters names, a basic attribute that brings the reader closer to the story. Secondly, Carver spends more time inside the point of view of both Ann and Howard. While we spend most of our time in Ann’s point of view, and feel her disconnection and despair in The Bath, the father is fully known. He has no name, and we hear only a bit of his thoughts regarding the situation. In A Small, Good Thing, Carver not only heightens the connection of the reader to Ann and Howard by actively naming them, but also shows how they are connected to each other. In a mirroring perhaps of Carver’s authorial relationship to Howard in The Bath, he has Ann reflect.

“For the first time, she felt they were together in this trouble. She realized with a start that, until now, it had only been happening to her and to Scotty. She hadn’t let Howard into it, though he was there and needed all along. She felt glad to be his wife.” (p.409) The reader has a real sense of them as individual people suffering, and as a united couple trying to make sense of what has befallen their son.

Ann is a far more dimension character in this story because Carver has given her feelings as well as thoughts. She feels uncomfortable in her initial meeting with the baker. She feels glad to have Howard by her side. She feels empathy and community with the Negro family waiting for their son. She feels anxiety and fear about Scotty. She feels anger at the baker, she even wants to kill him. She confronts the baker, seeking some unnamed revenge, bringing the story to its climax. She is a far more active character. That action elicits more of a response from the reader than does her flat affect in The Bath. In the Bath, we experience her as frozen by fear, but there is little beyond that one emotion.

The same is true of Howard. In The Bath, Howard has two instances where we are shown how he is experiencing this situation. On his ride home from the hospital we learn, “It had been a good life till now. There had been work, fatherhood, and family. The man had been lucky and happy. But fear made him want a bath.” (p.252) And when he returns, “He felt more fear now. He began shaking his head. He talked to himself. The child is fine. Instead of sleeping at home, he’s doing it here.” (p.253) In A Small, Good Thing, the description of his drive home is richer. We learn about his career, his whole family, that his parents are still alive. We feel all the abundance of his good safe lucky life. In the dialogue between he and Ann when she has gone home to bathe, he is supportive while expressing his own anxiety. “Jesus, I’m not hungry either. Ann, it’s hard to talk now.” (p.415) And most poignantly, after Scotty has died we see him breaking down in Ann’s lap, attempting to pick up the toys in the living room, and hugging the bicycle in the garage. The more we empathize with him, the more we have at stake in the story.

Even the doctor, Dr. Francis is given more emotional depth in A Small, Good Thing. He calls Ann, “little mother”. He is expresses a desire for things to be different from how they are when he says “Still I wish he’d wake up. He should wake up pretty soon.” (p. 407). He tells the Weiss’ repeatedly to eat, to rest to take a break from the situation. And then he says he understands if they don’t. And finally, when Scotty has died, Dr. Francis spends a great deal of time with Ann and Howard comforting them through hugs and quiet talk.

Dialog also contributes to the intimacy of the reader’s relationship with the characters. In The Bath, the dialog exchanges are short. In A Small, Good Thing there is not only more dialog but the detail of the dialog contributes more to the story line. Prime examples of this are the conversations between Ann and Howard which help build their relationship for the reader. In the Bath Ann offers, “I’ve been praying”. The response to which is “Me too,” the father said, “I’ve been praying too.”

In A Small, Good Thing, Ann the exchange goes as follows:

“I’ve been praying,” she said.

He nodded.

She said, “I almost thought I’d forgotten how, but it came back to me. All I had to do was close my eyes and say, ‘Please God, help us-help Scotty,’ and the rest was easy. The words were right there. Maybe if you prayed, too,” she said to him.

“I’ve already prayed,” he said. “I prayed this afternoon-yesterday afternoon, I mean—after you called, while I was driving to the hospital. I’ve been praying,” he said. (pp. 408-409) It is this interchange that leads her to the epiphany I cited earlier where she realizes they are both in this together. Such a realization would have been jolting in The Bath where their common purpose had not been articulated to the reader.


In The Bath, Carver’s characters have our sympathy in a global, theoretical way that I have sympathy for Hurricane Katrina survivors. I feel badly for them all, but I don’t have any knowledge of what it was really like. I don’t know any survivors but I feel horrible for them. I know people who are family members from the 9-11 planes, I know their families and I suffer with them. In A Small, Good Thing, Carver has us suffer with Ann and Howard Weiss.

Buying Lenin by Miroslav Penkov

What works in this story is that the plot action is immediate and emphasized by the correspondence between the two Immediatley you know the boy and grandpa are fighting. Penkov uses straight exposition to tell the grandpa's war story. The plot is fairly bare, but the visits in and out of back story illuminate the relationship.