Comments on: Focalizing Voice Distance (04-Sept)

By: Great Distortion « Novel Experience & Expression

Great Distortion « Novel Experience & Expression — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:29:53 +0000

[...] (through Chapter 4) (Caroline Geist) Review Abbott Chp. 6 for Gatsby discussion. Due: Second blog entry (Wed. night; resume normal blog [...]

By: Erin Gallagher

Erin Gallagher — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 03:31:22 +0000

I also agree with the fact that “theft” as a title has little to do with the missing purse. Rather, I believe the theft to have occured in the janitress’s assertion that the purse is more rightly her niece’s because “it’s from her [she's] stealing it” with reference to her future rather than the purse. By implying that the woman is no longer worth such “pretty things” due to her age and lost chances, we see the true nature of the theft: the woman’s loss of self-deservedness, just as we saw when she insisted to pay for her fare and again when she let the matter of her payment pass with Bill.

By: Erin Gallagher

Erin Gallagher — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 03:22:53 +0000

On the note of constituent and supplementary events, Porter contrasts the mannerisms of Camilo and Rogers based on how they take care of their hats in relation to appearance vs. care of property. Camilo does not remove his hat, and she comments that he will probably sadly notice the state of its ruin come morning. Rogers, however, secures his hat inside of his coat to protect it from rain damage in the downpour. The details are meant to show the woman’s preoccupation with money and material, adding to the later confrontation between herself and the janitress over her stolen purse. Bill spent an impractical amount of money on a rug purely because of its discounted price from a famous former-owner. Materialism and monetary value are played out through out the short story to contrast with the janitress’s reason for stealing the purse for her impoverished niece.

By: Daniel Harper

Daniel Harper — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:18:24 +0000

I definitely agree. Even to add on to that, how does her ( the young woman) flashbacks even related to her finding of the purse? They almost feel like they were added to the story and yet the story can’t do without them. Perhaps the main character’s mind wondered back in time to, as we do sometimes before we take on the task at hand. Interesting how the author incorporated the characters i the story with ties to the main character.

By: Krystal Sardinas

Krystal Sardinas — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:18:43 +0000

I think you got a bit confused with the characters. We never meet Eddie in person. Camilo is the one who walks with her through the rain to the Elevated, and she mentions Eddie to compare their tastes in hats. Roger rides with her in the taxi and then she leaves him and goes to her apartment, where one of her neighbors, named Bill, asks her to stay with him for a bit to hear his bad news. So she meets three different men and mentions Eddie, but I agree with you in that we have no idea about her relationships with them. I do think that there is a little closure because she got her purse back, but we still don’t know why she felt so strongly about it. As to her reaction to the purse at the end, I think it was just a combination of conflicting emotions that the purse brought. She wanted to stand up for herself, the purse had a lot of meaning to her, and she was also fighting her own faith which she mentions. She was brought up with a sense of morals and she somewhat felt she was going against them by finally defending herself, but at the end she realizes that it was the right thing to do.

By: Paige Miller

Paige Miller — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:15:41 +0000

I definitely agree that we are left with many questions upon finishing this story. I feel like there are a lot of confusing relationships presented in this story, very similar to those in “Last Tea”. The authors allow us to witness conversations between characters, yet never informs us as to who these people actually are or what their history together is. If we were given more information about who these characters are and their associations with one another, we may be able to more clearly understand the reasoning behind the protagonist’s anger and angst.

And about Bill and Roger being the same person, they are not. Roger is the man she rides home in the taxi with and Bill is the man that lives in her building that hears her coming home and invites her in for a drink.

By: Phil Cafaro

Phil Cafaro — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:07:42 +0000

I do agree that closure is lacking at the level of questions, however I was satisfied with the climax of the story. The trigger for the main character moving to confront her perceived “landslide of remembered losses” was the purse and that section of the story combined with her closing quote certainly brought a level of emotional clarity. Granted, on a more practical level, large gaps in information exist especially in the relationships between her and then men mentioned in the story.

Her landslide of loss also stated a series of lines (quoted below) that could directly be correlated to romantic relationships thus hinting at the gaps in information that I had mentioned earlier.

“words she had waited to hear spoken to her and had not heard, and the words she had meant to answer with; bitter alternatives and intolerable substitutes worse than nothing, and yet inescapable: the long patient suffering of dying friendships and the dark inexplicable death of love”

By: Paige Miller

Paige Miller — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:01:06 +0000

2. I believe that the author provided an ending to the incident with the purpose of giving the reader with some closure. I believe the whole intent of the story was to examine the series of events before, during, and after the purse went missing. Therefore, the closure that was most important was that of the purse. And the questions of the men and the letter were less important, and so went unresolved.

By: Caroline Geist

Caroline Geist — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:00:53 +0000

You bring up an interesting point. I never thought about – as you mentioned- how Porter transforms her protagonist from the role of helpless victim to the role of someone who is at least in some way responsible. As you said, if the protagonist is in some way responsible and “culpable, then the cause of the theft reverts back to her. The crime was entirely preventable and due to a stubborn habit, occured anyway.” If this is true, then I can’t help but wonder if the protagonist ever stopped being a victim. Ultimately the story ends with the protagonist thinking, “I was right not to be afraid of any thief but myself, who will end by leaving me nothing.” If she’s culpable for the crime, then wouldn’t the protagonist still be a victim of herself?

By: Phil Cafaro

Phil Cafaro — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:55:11 +0000

On the topic of constituent and supplimentary events, I want to call attention to the beginning of the story where the main character compares Eddie and Camilo based on what they wear and how they wear it. In her mind she states, “She compared it with Eddie’s hats that always seemed to be precisely seven years old and as if they had been quite purposely left out in the rain, and yet they sat with a careless and incidental rightness on Eddie. But Camilo was far different; if he wore a shabby hat it would be merely shabby on him”.

I related this text to the confrontation with the janitress who claimed to have stolen the purse for her niece who is young and needs “pretty things”. One could possible juxtapose the main character and the niece with Eddie and Camilo. When the main character dismisses the janitress’ rationale for taking the purse but offers it to her anyways, the janitress states that her neice is pretty enough and doesn’t need such things – just as Eddie could look good even in old clothes. The main character’s explanation for wanting to keep the purse is that it was a gift from a friend that she doesn’t want to lose; however, she offers the purse to the janitress seemingly to save face (at the idea of competing with the young niece) – just as Camilo keeps his hat on while he walks away for the sake of appearance, yet tucks it under his coat once he thinks he is out of sight.

Without the main character’s relationships with Eddie and Camilo, as well as her analysis of their dress, I wonder whether or not the confrontation with the janitress would have gone the same way.