Not for Long Stories

The crazy interactions between Lucero and Aurora that occur in "Aurora" made me realize that they are a perfect demonstration of an ironic relationship, and furthermore that Lucero himself is an almost entirely ironic character. Lucero mentions that he wants a 'real' relationship with Aurora, but doesn't understand that what he thinks that means couldn't be further from the truth. When he and Aurora overhear his upstairs neighbors yelling at each other, he declares that "they're yelling because they're in love". Lucero is completely unaware of the irony of his desire to go back to the 'good old days' when he had a 'better relationship' with Aurora, back when they would break into apartments for fun. Their disturbing tolerance, and even expectation, of abuse in their relationship further demonstrates how twisted they are together. He tells us, "We hurt each other too well to let it drop", which clues us in to their tw...

From all of Moore's stories so far, the one that stuck out for me was the concise yet detailed story "The Kid's Guide to Divorce". I found the tone and use of second-person perspective in this story made it feel more personal than in the others. It felt like less of a structured story and more of a series of thoughts and observations the child is narrating to themselves in real time. We're given a direct insight into how they feel and think throughout their interactions with their mother, and all in a way that is supposed to make us feel involved in their story. A random thought I had was that this story could be treated like one of those stories narrated to you while your eyes are closed so you can envision it yourself, since you can put some variation of "Now imagine that..." in front of nearly every sentence in the story. It just has that sort of vibe, like it's supposed to be seen and experienced through your own eyes and not through those of the...

The bond of brotherhood between Sonny and our unnamed narrator is a fluid theme throughout "Sonny's Blues". Their bond has been tested throughout their lives, as their vastly different life goals and ideas caused them to all but part ways, as shown by the conversation they had in their youth where we learned that Sonny aspired to be a jazz musician while the narrator was thoroughly devoted to schoolwork. Despite the roadblocks in their paths, they end up restoring that bond, and proving to each other that both lifestyles are valid ways of making meaningful contributions to their community while staying true to themselves. The narrator's viewpoint is that of maturity and responsibility. He takes the more "socially acceptable" path by staying in school, going through college, and becoming an algebra teacher. Through his rigorous efforts, he manages to escape and avoid the hardships that most of Harlem appears to face. However, instead of leaving Harlem behin...

John from Baldwin's stories "The Rockpile" and "The Outing" and Jamie from "The Manchild" share a similar theme of isolation from their other family members despite coming from vastly different backgrounds, and demonstrates a thorough connection two characters who live, quite literally, worlds apart, as well as the different results such isolation can lead to. John is an illegitimate child born out of wedlock and lives with his step-father and half-brother in addition to his mother. Gabriel doesn't bother to hid his disgust for John, and demonstrates an abusive side when he threatens to "take a strap" to John after learning of Roy's injury. John's returned hatred for Gabriel, while well-deserved, serves as another isolating factor in John's life. As a result, John's environment has turned him into a demoralized and cautious child, which is further showcased by his interactions with Roy. His fear of the rock pile and of Roy...

In "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut", the dysfunctional relationship between Eloise and Ramona and their individual lives is a sad but eye-opening topic to flesh out. Both characters suffer from a lackluster life, and develop coping mechanisms in a depressing attempt to escape from their emotions.  As we're introduced to Eloise, it becomes immediately clear that her life's been going downhill ever since she was evicted from college. Despite putting on a smiling front for gossip with her friend, her constant smoking and drinking habits are implied to be a common occurrence, not just to celebrate reuniting with a friend. Her life is just a mess; she despises her mother-in-law, feels trapped in her marriage to Lew, and sees her daughter as a nuisance. It's only when she's gossiping to Mary Jane about old friends and reminiscing about her past exploits that she seems truly happy, or at least energetic. She feels that she peaked in the past and is now past her prime...

Tim O'Brien makes a habit of interrupting the flow of the many short stories thus far to remind us that every story is false in reality, but true in emotion. These constant interjections may seem annoying and even infuriating at times, but they are that way by design not to spite the reader, but to instill a sense of uncertainty about the truth behind anything and everything Tim writes. In "How to Tell a True War Story", the very first line is simply "This is true." Despite the fact that the very title page of the novel states that everything is a work of fiction, this single line is enough to make most readers stop and question the validity of both this line and of the book's claim as a work of fiction. If it's true, then Tim has been lying since before a single short story could be read, and if it's false then O'Brien the narrator is lying and can't be trusted. Either way, someone one of the two perspectives seems like it must be false. Exc...