After finishing Self Help by Lorrie Moore, I can honestly say that this is probably my favorite collection that we have read so far. One of the things that drew me was the unique writing style Moore possess. I found myself being drawn to stories like "How Be an Other Woman", "How", and "Amahl and the Night Visitors" which were all written in second person. This is one of the few times that I have read a story in the second person and I found myself becoming fascinated with the narration style.
The use of the second person narration allows the author to establish a connection with the reader and to put yourself as a reader into the story. I think that this is an effective tool especially when it comes to the stories that I have mentioned above. There is a common theme dysfunctional relationships in both "How to be an Other Woman" and "How". The use of second person in these two stories allows us as the readers to sympathize with the character and because of that I found myself justifying the actions of the characters. In the case of "Amahl and the Night Visitors", I think that the use of second person allows me as a reader to understand why someone like Trudy would be so distrustful of her husband.
In class today, while discussing the last story in this collection "To Fill", someone made a comment about how Moore chose not to end the collection with a story written in second person. I like others was upset by the fact that this last story wasn't written in second person. One student made the comment that Moore might have written this story in 1st person point of view because of the worry that not many people would relate to the character. By writing this story in second person, the author is urges for the reader to create a connection with the main character. With this story however, there could be a worry that with such a character, people would pull away from the story.
While I agree that writing the story in second person could cause readers to pull away from the story but I think that if we had the opportunity to read the story in second person point of view, we would get a much more intense ending to the story. If the story was written in second person, we as readers would seeing ourselves as Riva in the story. Yes, it would be hard to imaging stealing money and being paranoid throughout the story. I think that is the think that would make Riva more understandable to me. I enjoyed the story overall but I think that it would be interesting to read this story in second person to see what more we could learn about Riva as a character.
I agree with your assessment. I would have liked to see "To fill" wrtitten in second person because the ending would be much more exhilarating. I also agree that second person narration in "To fill" would allow the reader to "step in the shoes" of the main character and connect with them more. On another note, when I think of Lorrie Moore and this book in general, I'm going to automatically think of the second person style that Moore uses and pull off. I would have enjoyed a story with this unique style to finish of the book. Just me personally.
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy the second person a lot, and I admired the way Lorrie Moore was able to incorporate it into her stories so seamlessly (most of the time, while we were reading, we forgot it was in second person, because the stories themselves were so intimate and felt more like first-person narratives). I didn't have too much of a problem with the last story being in first person, though. It would certainly be interesting to read it from a different perspective, but I wasn't upset that she used a first person voice in her concluding story. I was able to relate to Riva as much as to the other characters in the book; I didn't feel like I was shut out of her world just because I wasn't being offered a role in the story through the second person voice. Moore uses just as many personal details as she does in the other stories, and I still felt like I had a good grasp of Riva's world.
ReplyDeleteI was a little confused when the book ended from a first person point of view. However, I think having it in first person did work. I agree with Elissa that we still get as much out of this story as in the other that aren't in first person. I never thought about why she wouldn't have written it in 2nd person but what you said totally makes sense.
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