"The Tick" grosses me out. But I respect it. Both of these stories remind me of Ernest Hemingway's famous iceberg theory, as expressed in his interview with the Paris Review and quoted by Burroway: "There is seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows. Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg. It is the part that doesn't show." What Burroway doesn't quote is the rest of the remark: "If a writer omits something because he does not know it then there is a hole in the story."
I think that Oates knows what she's omitting from these stories.
I have to say, out of all the readings we've done so far, this was by far my favorite. Where I hated Coover, I really liked Oates and especially "The Tick." I loved the level of detail that she went into in this story and the heavy layer of metaphor behind the idea of a tick. I really loved the way she described it physically but what I loved more was the way she was able to get across her message about what the tick represented for her relationship with her husband. I loved the level of detail and I think the line that stood out to me the most in the entire story was, "Easier, she thinks, to hate yourself than to respect yourself: it involves less imagination." I thought this line said so much about the character, her relationship and her entire outlook on the world.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'd like to be able to take from Oates would be to be able to replicate such a level of metaphor that's both obvious to the reader and at the same time not obvious at all.
The first two paragraphs set the stage of Joyce Carol Oates' Tick. These paragraphs explain that her husband left the house because she could not deal with their current "conditions" any longer. Oates then goes on to paint an amazing portrait of this character with such little, actual content. "She is working well, better than she has in years but it's all precarious, she knows it's precarious, not the temptation to kill herself—she understands this is an adolescent fantasy and would never act upon it—but the temptation to succumb to thoughts of despair, self-hatred"—I thought this line worked incredibly well in describing the type of person she was (p 470). In this quotation, Oates creates a woman who is trying to be mentally strong when she is obviously not a strong person. Teetering on the edge of despair, one thing could set the woman off and that is exactly what happens next.
ReplyDeleteI love character development that is good when the writer barely even uses facts about the character. We don't know what her occupation is, why her husband left, what the "conditions" were—all we know as a reader is that what seems to be a tick in her scalp is driving her completely insane. Yet at the same time, we have learned to much about her by witnessing the way she deals with it all. I think it would be a good exercise for one to try and develop a character through showing the way they deal with a certain situation. It's an easy, yet interesting way to show the character's true color.
I really want to write about Oates' "The Tick," for my blog, because although it is a short, fairly compact story, I see so much symbolism within. Before I get to that, I really liked all of the detail. I was really able to picture the woman in this story, all of her facial expressions. Some of the detail seemed a bit gross, but the images became very concrete.
ReplyDeleteThe symbolism comes from the tick. The tick seems to drive the woman crazy in this story, she is battling a constant struggle. She is alone and depressed. I believe this story is really about how when people are stressed, a small thing, miniscule even, can hang over our heads and we can blow it way out of proportion. The tick seems more like a metaphor in that it is that small thing, weighing over the woman's head, no pun intended, but it nearly drives her to suicide. At the end of the story, She finally picks up the phone, and I think this represents that anything, no matter how big or how small, can be handles with the support of others, especially those who love you.
In my future writing, I will definitely take Oates' style of in depth detail, something which I need more of. This story is one that reiterates the importance of good detail. I also think it would be interesting to write a story that had a deeper meaning than the text, for the purpose of conveying a certain message or idea, one that goes beyond the physical text.
"The abduction" remided me of Coover's "The brother." It was strange how similar they were. They both used the same style in that there were no periods. When I read Coover I thought he was just being weird by writing like this. But seeing another author do the same exact thing makes me wonder if there really is something about this style that readers like. I personally was not happy seeing it again. However if it acctually is a worthy enough style to make it into this book twice, then perhaps I should try it, just to see the appeal.
ReplyDelete"The abduction was diferent than "Tick". "Tick" had a more straightforward style than "The abduction" did. They might as well have been written by different authors. I think that is a good thing to take from Oats. The ability to have your own style, but also have the ability to adjust it according to what the story calls for.
While I was reading "The Abduction," it took me over a page to notice the minimal punctuation she used and that was only because I accidentally skipped a sentence. I feel like this use of the minimal punctuation is better than Coover's because it gave the reader a better understanding into the narrator's thoughts. You felt her racing thoughts and the speed of the car. What I most love about Oates is her ability to create these deep and multidimensional characters while at the same time not giving many details about them. I especially love this in "The Abduction" because as you are reading about how freaked out the narrating is getting, she isn't as freaked out as I think I would feel in that sort of situation. I think she does this to build up to "she was marked for a special destiny and a special happiness - about which, out of very gratitude, she dared not speak." She, in the end, was happy that something happened to her because it made her stand out and Joyce is able to convey that in a single sentence, well about two lines I should say. That is something I hope to bring into my own writing from Oates.
ReplyDeleteShe does the same thing with the "Tick" but with a higher emphasis on symbolism in the story. I can clearly see how both of these were a part of her collection of experimental pieces. These two stories are ones I have never read of Oates before and it has only made me want to read more. I can only hope that Oates will be a part of my writing family.
J.C.O. is my homie. I have admired Oates’ work since I began reading short fiction; in crafting short stories, her mastery is undeniable. Known for a keen utilization of subtle symbolism, not only is Hemmingway’s iceberg theory evident in her work, it’s a theory on which the success of Oates’ stories rely heavily. While “The Tick” is certainly not the most savory narrative, graphically detailing a woman’s battle against a tick lodged in her scalp, it beautifully employs allegory by using a natural problem presented by deus ex machina to illustrate the self-inflicted emotional problems plaguing the protagonist’s life. By the story’s completion, the woman’s tick crisis results in a life-changing epiphany; after being forced to be self-reliant, the woman realizes that she needs to reconcile with her lover and have a child, a parasite—the probable condition on which her husband insisted.
ReplyDeleteIn “The Abduction”, Oates applies the same minimalistic approach to punctuation that was observed in Robert Coover’s “The Brother”. Because it is such a compact and mysterious piece, “The Abduction” establishes a sense of rushed chaos rather than sprawling ramblings. I think that Oates was successful in this experiment; the story is heaving with suspense and its optimistic conclusion is a pleasant and unexpected surprise for first-time readers. I will continue to dream of the day that my writing could be compared to that of J.C.O., where every page is so densely symbolic that, even under a magnifying glass, many details go unnoticed.