How does a narrative so full of gray-area violence, bewildered sexual fumbling, and bitter disappointment even come close to evoking a fairy tale? hooks herself explains it best: "The events described are always less significant than the impressions they leave on the mind and heart." (p. xv). Indeed, the memoir's soaring, fantastical nature is achieved not in content, but in perception. Perception is key. Perception lends itself in turn to its reincarnation, construction. Construction - the form of the narrative, its structure, language, pacing - transforms perception and delivers it to the reader. So, another question I'll ask in order to answer: How has the book's construction allowed us to perceive this girlhood as a fairy tale? I'll begin broad, with structure, and worm my way into the granular, crucial element of names.
I immediately noticed the structure of the book's chapters. Each chapter is two to two-and-a-half pages long, succinct and easy to digest, as well as capable of standing alone. In addition, each chapter - each interaction or experience - yields a girlhood lesson - some hopeful, some heartbreaking, all resonant. In this way, the vignettes take on a parable-like quality, recalling anthologized fairy tales of clever, lonely children finding out (the hard way) how to outwit fantastical figures, mazes, and trials.
Perhaps even more mythic is the treatment of names in Bone Black. I've compiled a list of all the names mentioned in the book - see if you can spot the patterns before reaching the bottom.
- mama
- also known as "[her] mother"
- daddy
- name used twice at most in the first forty pages, mostly known as "the father"
- Saru
- narrator's grandmother
- Big Mama
- narrator's great-grandmother
- Papa
- narrator's great-grandfather
- Ken, Joe, Sam, Charlie
- Barbie's suitors
- Baby
- narrator's doll
- Miss Ruth Tandy
- narrator's piano teacher
- Rena
- narrator's third-grade friend
- Sister Ray
- narrator's paternal grandmother
- Miss Erma
- woman from church
- jesus
- the Messiah
- Aunt Charley
- narrator's aunt with ivory soap
- Daddy Gus
- narrator's grandfather
- Miss White Lady
- woman who witnesses Daddy Gus catch fire
- Miss Rhobert
- woman who narrator babysits
- Miss Willie Gray
- narrator's 90-year-old friend
- Zinn
- girl who drowned during Sunday school picnic
- Valeria
- narrator's sister, who accompanied her to Miss Willie Gray's funeral
- Slobber Boy
- neighborhood boy
- Miss Beulah
- neighborhood woman whose teeth grew into fangs
- Hook-Arm Man
- rumored to stick his hook into children and roast them over an open fire
- Mr. Harold
- art teacher
The characters listed are only a fraction of the total characters active and/or mentioned in the book. Names are rare in this text, and the narrator seems to grant them to only the mythic figures - the wise, the charismatic, or the infamous. As with that in fairy tales, the nomenclature of Bone Black tends to suggest what, rather than who, each character is (think prince, stepsister, hag, etc.). Droves of nameless, vivid characters walk across this narrative, but this does not seem to suggest a dissocation from reality on the narrator's part. If anything, this construction of language delivers us that child's perception. A child thinks of a character in their world-life as a what rather than who as well: the doctor, the other kid, the babysitter, the mom.
Well you did some great work for us Gwen. Putting all the names there for the taking. Thank you. The reference to the mythological nature of the book, the emphasis on the structure and size of chapters, all point to an intentionality, although the book feels organic. Thanks for being first. e
ReplyDeleteGwen,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting comparison between the memoir and fairy tails. I hadn't thought about it like that, but since you mentioned it it makes some sense. But more of the brothers grimm versions and not the ones we see today. The list of names written out as you so kindly did for us makes me think of the myth building that happens in this memoir mainly in chapters that involve snakes and religion and the unknown. Looking forward to talk more about this in class.
Best,
CF
HA! Great job Gwen. I hadn't thought about the fact that names were rare in the text. I did see the pattern of nicknames, but I will say I didn't make that connection. It's always exciting to see other views of the text, because someone always grabs something new/different from ones own perspective. I thought the construction of the memoir was overall well done. The short vignettes worked well, because most of the time she took little fractions of one piece that carried over from one chapter to the next. This created a wholeness that I don't think I would have experienced otherwise. I will admit, sometimes though, some parts of the story felt singular. (Like a story on it's own having nothing to do with what followed it). However, the character was still moving forward in time. Ie: The scene where the narrator is naked and ashamed of her body, which was a reflection of growth. (The character discovering that those parts of her's were private, and for her eyes only. Something we all discover in adolescence when our bodies are maturing). Although I think the author does mention her "teen" age before this occurs, if she hadn't...we would have still clearly been able to read in-between the lines by the subtext. She's not a child anymore.
ReplyDeleteB Hill
Well, Great job! I'm especially interested in the themes fairytale and "autobiography of truth and myth" as they relate to writing memoir. For example if memoir is based on true facts as the writer remembers them, what craft is at work to make memoir read like fairytale or fiction? I view this craft technique, that I don't have name for, as a way for writers to separate the craft from the emotion and to keep readers engaged. As we read more memoir, I wonder how my perspective will change.
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