Antonya Nelson takes surface problems and details in her
stories and buries bigger problems beneath them that don’t take the central
focus, but certainly add flavor to the characters and to the story. These
deeper problems provide motivation or background information that explains or
colors the characters’ actions and the way they interact with people.
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In “Control Group”, TV’s surface problem is that he’s in
love with his teacher, but the bigger problem that takes the back seat in the
story is that his mother murdered his grandfather. This isn’t the main point of
the story but it flavors and colors the events and provides a way for us to
evaluate TV’s actions. There is also the side story involving the rats that
runs parallel to TV’s being in love with his teacher. The rats aren’t the
focus, and indeed they disappear halfway through the story, but they reflect
back on what we think of TV.
With the exception of Laura and her father in “Naked
Ladies”, the other characters seem to be preoccupied with what’s on the surface.
Laura’s sister wants to be a model, Playboy magazines fascinate the boys, Mrs.
House hides her figure behind peacock-colored clothing, and Mr. House festoons
his entire house with artwork. The bigger problem is Laura’s mother and what’s
going on with her. She takes off her wedding ring and gives it to Mikey as a
toy, so she can’t think much of her marriage.
“Female Trouble” also deals with surface issues in that
McBride sees all of these problems in the women he associates with. Daisy is
out of control and immature, Martha is too serious and wants children, while
Claire is depressive and suicidal. All of these women are older than McBride
and, throughout the story, they prove themselves to be more mature and
responsible than he is, though he doesn’t agree. Daisy is moving on from the
past and becoming a more grown-up person, while Martha wants to settle down and
tries to get McBride to move forward as well with his life. Claire serves as a
lesson at the end that he has to take responsibility for his actions and he
can’t just float through life, carefree, without there being consequences.
I love the “stories within stories” aspect to Antonya Nelson’s work, and I love the language that she uses, like how Mrs. House’s skin was “melting over her like vanilla ice cream” (798) and how Mr. Laughlin’s painting was among the others “like a slammed door” (803). But what I find most interesting is the absurdity in each story, and how Nelson develops this craziness. It’s absurd, but not so much that I don’t believe it. I think it relates to what Michelle is saying about surface vs. under the surface issues.
ReplyDeleteIn “The Control Group,” TV develops a crush on his teacher. Okay, that’s pretty normal. Then, he accidentally freezes his rat that he’s supposed to be experimenting with. This is weird, but we can relate it to his crush on Mrs. Dugas and his foster mother’s response to Batman and Joker being taken away to be killed: “I wonder which lesson will stick? You Are What You Eat? Or, Life Sucks?” (785). Then we have the step up, the crank that Nelson turns in each of her stories. For this one, it is the fact that while all this is going on, we are thinking about how TV’s mother killed her father with a hammer.
Likewise, the title of “Naked Ladies” promises us that we’re in for a wild ride. Mr. House’s face “had the sleek eagerness of a wet dog’s” (795). We learn of the paintings on his wall, of the naked women, we sense that Mrs. Laughlin is having an affair with Mr. House, but Laura is the one who puts it all together: “It could be her, she thought. The woman in the pictures could her mother—which would make Mr. House the artist” (804). Mr. House is a character who is full of wealth, has a child with Down’s syndrome, paints pictures of naked women, and is having an affair with his children’s nanny, or so it seems. It’s nuts, including all of this and more in one story, but somehow, I believe it.
“Female Trouble” threw me over the edge. I’m glad it came last in the series, because I feel like the first two stories set me up for the kind of absurd plotlines that Nelson writes about. I don’t even know where to start here—the multiple triangles of McBride, Daisy, Martha, and Claire, the fact that the very first sentence of the story lands us in a psychiatric hospital. I love it—I love the risks that Nelson takes to color a collection of lives very different from some of our own, and by first developing characters with some serious issues, I’m willing to accept how, like in the two previous stories, these types of events can happen. Someone can be living in two different worlds, two different lives (or multiple ones), at the same time. And what’s more, we as readers can be part of the action too, caught up in the mess just like the characters themselves.
Antonya Nelson is a rather subtle and clever writer. In each of these stories, we are presented with a scenario. But, the scenario itself is not what’s important. It is far more important that there is a constant inner battle for many of the characters. TV’s inner battle in “The Control Group” is that he is having feelings for his fifty-year-old schoolteacher that he cannot truly rationalize in any real sense. All he knows is that he can’t stop thinking of her. It is, quite simply a schoolboy crush. But, how is TV supposed to know that? He’s just a kid, for crying out loud. And, what’s more, he doesn’t have anyone to guide him through his life. Sure, his current foster mother, Joanne means well, but she cannot be a true mother to him. Perhaps, in some sort of Freudian sense, TV is actually attracted to Mrs. Dugas, because she is a maternal figure in his life. Does he really love her in a sexual sense? No, of course not; he’s too young for lust. However, the more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that TV is really just searching for a mother figure. He needs someone who can protect him, like only a mother can. Naturally, Antonya Nelson does an excellent job of subtly pushing the reader to this possible conclusion. There are no vibrant signs of this, but rather we are given hints throughout the piece (why else mention, TV’s mother, in the first place?).
ReplyDelete“Naked Ladies” carries a similar subtlety, though it is not presented in exactly the same way as “The Control Group.” Rather than the sub context be a somewhat Oedipal fascination of a school teacher, this story focuses on a deteriorating marriage, as seen through the eyes of a teenage daughter. It is especially interesting, because we see this happening without any sort of big confrontation. In fact, the father is largely absent from the piece, but we know that things are going south and quickly. Laura knows exactly how her father is going to react to his painting and yet, she is wrong. Instead, he notices what we did not notice earlier: the nude paintings that are most likely depictions of Mrs. Laughlin. But, nothing comes of this, except for a slow dissolution of a marriage that, in reality, was never existent in the first place.
“Female Trouble” is easily my favorite of the three stories. I found it slightly different from the others, in that subtlety is not necessarily the most important aspect of it. Certainly, McBride has some sort of hidden sexual desires that could be analyzed till the cows come home, but I don’t think that’s really the most important part of this piece. Rather, this is a story about disfunctionalism. It is not unlike the other stories, in this way. All three share this particular ideal. McBride’s life, it would seem, is fucked up. He can’t just settle down. Maybe that’s his problem. He can’t ever just stop to smell the roses. He is restless and so he needs to screw things up. That’s why he starts sleeping with Clare. Maybe he has some attraction to her, but that’s not the point. He just wants something else in his life and he has no idea what that thing is. In fact, he’ll never know. He’ll always be wandering around, looking for some sort of answer to a somewhat unclear question.
Antonya Nelson is a very insightful writer, adding in detail and deeper problems with a story. The thing that I noticed the most about Nelson's stories was that they all held women in different lights. The main characters all had their own impressions of what was right or what was happening, but there was always something that they missed by accident. She adds such beautiful and artist talent to stories that are engaging and interesting.
ReplyDeleteIn the story "The Control Group," the little boy TV falls in love with his teacher, only to realize that her cold detachment from things would have him out in the dark. The story plays with a bunch of cool tactics going along with death and murder, all the way to feeling alone and wanting companionship. I just thought that it was really well written, TV was a great character to follow around and the scenes where his foster mother is talking to him gives a good description of the style that Nelson is working with. This was one of my more favorite stories or rather I enjoyed all of them and especially "Nude Ladies," but they all had great sentences.
"Nude Ladies" was one of my favorite stories simply because of the character that the story was following and that the characters where so unique. I just was constantly engaged about the story. It on the surface was about to me a family where the mother cheated on her husband and the family didn't get divorced, but at the same time it's also looking into the women aspect of being Naked and if that a good thing or not.I just loved the use of language in this story so colorful and great, especially when they described Mr. House or any of the paintings.
And last but not least was "Female Troubles" which was also one of my favorites just because of the different dimensions that the story takes. McBride was just interesting in his deniable and the three women that where followed around also were incredible interesting. Mcbride's life is not perfect and he fucks it up; he then proceeds to sleep with or trying to get with Clare, Daisy and Martha.
Like Michelle explained in her post, I think that all three of Antonya Nelson’s stories have a way at grasping deeper meanings, which are often hinted at through her elaborate details. While reading “Naked Ladies, the detailed description of how Mickey clings to a mother that is not his own, and the idea of Mrs. House being so accepting of it shows that this family dynamic is off, yet the family and Mrs. Laughlin seem to accept it. “He misses his Nana-don’t you, Mikey? Said Mrs. House, unjealous”. The idea that Mrs. House is okay with the fact that her son is growing up to love and want someone else couldn’t be easy, but yet Mrs. House seems to be letting her husband do the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI like the way that Nelson described the details of both Mrs. House and Mrs. Laughlin so thoroughly. I kept getting images of Mrs. House’s bulky figure and then the big breasted, milky skin tone of Mrs. Laughlin. When it came to the end of the story and we are shown the paintings again through the fathers eyes it all clicks into place, these two woman are naked, emotional and physically on the page.
In “Control Group”, the character of T.V is innocent, to some extent, yet at the same time being only in elementary school he has been forced to grow up and witness the horrific events that can happen in this world. Being taken from his own mother, and dealing with the fact that she killed his grandfather, isn’t an easy concept that he will just grow out of. Having this crush on his teacher again is innocent, yet at the same time we see she is trying to teach T.V. She doesn’t want him to let his past rule his future nor does she find it suitable for him to go around and use it as an excuse. The character of T.V is shown as mature, not only in his thoughts but also in his actions. Yet at the same time Nelson takes this character an shows him for what he really is, which is a confused and hurt young boy. I struggled with the concept of the rats in this story, if Bateman and Joker were supposed to resemble T.V and his relationship with his mother, or if it was to show T.V how important it is to cherish what you do have and to feed yourself and fuel your life on motivational thoughts, loving people, and nourishing care. In “Female pains” we see the ways in which McBride tries to figure his life out, he thinks his answer is sleeping with these three women, yet really we see how much he needs roam and have options. This story to me reminded of the difficulties one might face when it comes to committing to a relationship, job, or even just a lifestyle
I certainly had fun reading Antonya Nelson’s stories since I’m the type who loves complex, multi-layered characters. As Michelle said, all of these characters had their own surface problems, but what was interesting was being able to dig down to see the events that motivated them and made them tick. These deeper layers and past situations may or may not have been the central focus of each story, but they added a sort of flavor to each one. The basic scenarios we’ve probably seen before, but the characters are what shaped the stories into something new and unique.
ReplyDelete“Control Group” sets us up with the basic, familiar scenario of “student has a crush on his teacher.” But TV is his own character and is what makes this story different from all the others about the same scenario. While it is below the surface of the story, we are told of how his mother killed his grandfather. TV even carries around the handkerchief that was used in the murderous deed. It makes him seem cool. Then we throw the situation with the rats into the mix. Can’t say that I’ve read a story like that before.
Then we move onto “Naked Ladies” and all of those interesting characters. We even had a workshop piece about an Easter Party, but this one is entirely different because of the characters present. All of the people at the party, including Laura’s mother are too concerned with what’s on the surface, this almost fantasy life they’ve created for themselves. Laura’s mother has her own deeper problems though. Not only does she remove her wedding ring, and obvious sign that she doesn’t care much about it, but she lets the kid play with it, and then she forgets about it! Laura and her father are the only ones that aren’t blinded by this silly fantasy. They can see the problems past the surface in these characters, and they don’t like what they see.
McBride in “Female Trouble” is much like the party members who can’t see past their surface problems. All he can see are the problems his women have. He believes himself to be more mature than these women and their silly female problems, despite the fact that they are older than him. The women prove though, that they have much more below the surface, but McBride can never see past their problems. Even Daisy who, yes, has gotten pregnant, proves that she can move past that childish immaturity to accept the responsibility she now has. It turns out that McBride can’t even see past his own surface. He’s the one with the maturity problems.
Antonya Nelson has a talent for combining multiple stories of characters into a single work, despite only having the length of a short story to accomplish this in. Of course, she makes this work by having the stories come together as a cohesive whole, not just by coming together in terms of chronology and plot, but also by theme and metaphor. “Control Group” features four tales within itself: TV’s love for his teacher, the test on the rats, the murder of TV’s grandfather by his mother, and TV’s relationship with his foster families. All four of these tales combine to reveal TV’s own fear and insecurity. His grandfather’s murder, a horrific event in its own right, becomes a tool for TV to get “playground cred” and gain acceptance in his peers as a substitute for the absence of a stable family base. However, what causes him more stress is gaining the approval of Mrs. Dugas, a task which he fears using the murder story will be detrimental to, yet he brings it up in front of her while trying to explain himself to someone else, at which point he feels as though he has lost her respect. The test rats serve as a metaphor for TV himself, fearful and in danger from moving around to different homes, insecure of the sincerity and care of those around him. This metaphor also extends to TV’s foster mother, whom TV is not focused on growing attached to, much like the case would be with the rat’s attention span, while she feels anxiety over being able to properly care for him, as he felt the same anxiety for the rat. “Naked Ladies” takes a different approach, in which Laura finally sees the two stories her mother lives in: her family life, and the fantasy of the House’s family. The tension in this story arises from the two stories ultimately colliding, when not only Laura, but her father as well, piece together the greater value her mother places on the fantasy story. The mixture of stories occurs in another way in “Female Trouble” in which McBride finds himself as the unifying point in three stories, that of Daisy, Martha, and Claire. It is through these three stories and McBride’s unwillingness to see them through to the end that we are given insight into his character, and therefore, his story. This technique of combining stories to create a whole is simply fascinating to me, as this process has been a longtime interest of mine, and it is a good feeling to see it done and done well.
ReplyDeleteAntonya Nelson wrote in a way that felt to me like I was looking at these stories through the viewpoint of someone else. I feel as though for the majority of stories I read, I read them as a 20 year old woman who hails from New Jersey. However, in this case I felt myself morphing into someone else who was getting to know all of these characters, and I felt myself becoming intertwined within the web of stories.
ReplyDeleteIn “The Control Group” TV Mitchell has proven to live an interesting life as a fourth-grader and it is fueled with only the fact that is mother murdered his grandmother. We don’t know how old he was when she did it, we know he overheard the plans of murder, and we know he is not with his mother now. We also see this young boy showing some mature feelings for his teacher Mrs. Dugas. The most interesting point of this story for me was the fact that I actually sympathized with TV, who tries his best at one point to impress his teacher, only to fail when he needs to use the murder of his grandfather as a crutch. What a way to have to live your life, and TV will probably end up doing that for a long time. I felt hopeless for him.
“Naked Ladies” interested me as I followed Laura and her realizations that her curvy mother might not be so faithful and true to her traveling painter of a father. I found myself becoming irritated, along with Laura, who found the Houses’ interesting characters, especially Mr. House who really did remind me of what a creepy uncle or something along those lines would be like. To be honest, I should’ve seen the father showing up at the end of the story, just because we read at the beginning of the story that he never wanted to go to the Houses’ Easter Frolic. It didn’t come to mind, but it didn’t surprise me either.
As for “Female Trouble”, McBride’s attitude kept me fascinated as he moved from woman to woman. To be honest, I didn’t really like or dislike him, but I didn’t really like Martha or Daisy either. I found all of the female characters to be just as ridiculous, if not more than, McBride. I felt bad for the guy, who did have his own personality issues with growing up and living his life, but I really sympathized with him because of the situation he found himself in… At the same time, he DID put himself into that situation.
Antonya Nelson uses many strings to sew together her patchwork quilt of stories. She gives each of her characters secrets to guard that exist only between the character and the reader. The narratives move in a way that no other collection of stories has done. Each story has so many mini stories and details throughout that complicate the plot to make it plural verses the singular plot the story rides on. There is not just one linear story going on, but multiple that showcase the main character to make them very real and interesting. This makes reading each story again and again enjoyable, because the reader will catch new stories within the story.
ReplyDeleteIn “The Control Group,” TV explores what love is through what his first crush, his teacher. This narrative is pressured by many apposing forces with the rabbit hunt, details of his grandfather’s murder by his mother, the rat experiment, and his relationship with his current and past foster parents. Each mini story tries to help the reader decode exactly who TV is and what this turning point in life really means to him. He is discovering many new things about himself and how his actions and the actions of others will influence his future decisions.
An Easter party setting begins the tale of “Naked Ladies.” The main character, Laura gives her perceptions of the party and what this party means for her family and the Houses. Laura gives us details to show how complicated each person’s relationship is to her mother and her mother’s marriage. She tries to piece together what this party will mean for the future of her family as the father arrives at the end of the story to change the tone of this mystical household of the Houses. Laura doesn’t rely on facts for most of her perceptions. She analyses the characters and unveils what she thinks might happen/be happening to her family with an emphasis on her mother and the men in her mother’s life. By the end of the story, we see that this party is both a turning point of understanding for Laura and her parents as the Houses are never seen or talked to again. This was my favorite story of the three because of the crazy details of the party that made me constantly striving to know why it was in the story.
“Female Trouble” had the same multiple stories within the story, but with the approach of following three women in McBride’s life. Each woman brings out a different side of McBride to show the reader pieces of the whole character. We get to see McBride go through almost every emotion besides real happiness. At this point in his life, McBride doesn’t know what he wants. He doesn’t know where to find the woman of his dreams in connection to real happiness and stability. He has three women in his life that even he thinks combine together, would make his dream woman. And each of these unstable women drives McBride a little insane as he tries to sort out his feelings for each one. All three of Nelson’s stories show the readers the past, present, and potential futures of her characters to create not only a moment, but a life for each.
Antonya Nelson questions priority. The things that should take priority don’t and the little things are the focus and perhaps the most inconsequential things have underlining themes throughout the story. I’m not sure I’d call it a sandwich, but it makes the readers question what truly is important.
ReplyDelete“Control Group” has the rats, TV’s love for his teacher, and the murder of grandfather. The murder of his grandfather is the most interesting but it rarely is brought up. TV uses it to be interesting to his friends and to gain attention, but that’s it. It’s his backstory, the present love takes more importance in his life and in the story. But at the same time, Batman and Joker find their ways to leak into the story. They claim the title, proclaiming their importance to the story and Nelson sneaks in some references to experiments and statistics, such as on page 787 when TV’s psychologist tells him he “can buy better odds” in his new foster family. Joanne’s home is similar to his original home, going back to the control group instead of the experimental large house.
“Naked Ladies” has an emphasis on appearance and beauty when most people would be concerned about the mystery of adultery. Laura instead focuses on the appearance, on the dress that Mrs. House wears to make her look better, the siblings who start reading Playboys even Pammy, how Mrs. House looks naked, and how Laura feels pride at being told she’s attractive and how she should be a model instead of an intelligent lawyer. What does it matter that their mother removes and then forgets her wedding ring when there is appearance to notice?
“Female Trouble” follows McBride as he moves from woman to woman, each one more difficult to handle than the last. But even if the story proclaims the trouble is the women, the real problem is McBride who stays constant in the story. Daisy accepts responsibility for a child when McBride refuses to. McBride can barely accept the responsibility of a depressed woman, avoiding her instead of speaking directly to her and leading her to kill herself. McBride would like to believe that he is the only sane man in the story, but readers notice that he is worse than the woman around him, unchanging as everyone else matures.