Blog Post 4/8: Maps to Anywhere (p. 67-end)

The first short story to catch my eye in the remaining pages of "Maps to Anywhere" is the one titled "Live Wire". The description of a cut wire was phenomenal and very easy to envision. The primary thing that I noticed about this selection is that there was no punctuation: it was one, giant run-on sentence. I am thinking that the author wrote this in that style particularly to give the reader the impression of a rush or hurried tone. When I read the paragraph in my head, I noticed that I was reading it in a "panicked" manner. The style in which "Live Wire" was written also reminds me of one of the poems we read specifically in the past poetry packet: she was describing another stressful scenario (the sexual assault she had endured). The author had also then used lack of punctuation to express urgency or feelings of the main character through the story.

 

"Do you ever say 'I wish it was now? No. You wish it was an hour from now, or years ago. A fortune teller has no interest in predicting your now. A psychiatrist is not paid to delve into your now."

 

This is an excerpt from "Que Sera Sera", which I instantly recognized as being Spanish and it translates into (I believe) "It is what it is". This quote meant a lot to me, because as a psychology major it announces a perspective that I have never thought of in the past. There is a lot of truth behind this sentence: we are always wishing to be in a different time than the present, whether we would rather be in the past or in the future. It is very rare that we are able to be content with the present, and I wonder why that is. It is then that I realized the meaning of all of the quotes that say to take it once step at a time and to enjoy every moment as if it is your last: it is because nobody ever does. Instead, time is wasted wishing to be elsewhere at a different point and time.

 



4/1 Blog Post: Maps to Anywhere (1-66)

"-- a melancholy undiminished by psychotropic drugs, she spent weeks languished in bed, mute and inconsolable; her jaw clenched and the shades drawn."

I found myself unable to decide how I felt about reading "Maps to Anywhere". I think it is definitely written in a unique way, and the mini-stories leading up to one long essay makes it appealing. However, some stories were more interesting than the others. It leads me to think that either every piece of information is important and links to another event, or that there is just too much extra information included in the stories that don't hold relevance to the main point (which, I believe, is the long essay "The Wind Did It").

The short story pieces and the long essay seemed to be related in many ways. One particular question I had came up when I read "Beacons Burning Down": the story mentions his 81-year old father having a health condition. I am wondering if this mini-story in particular is meant to insinuate it takes place after "The Wind Did It" events. I do believe that every story is included to provide additional background information before the reader reaches "The Wind Did It".

There are also many themes and ideas that are connected within the stories to the essay. An example of this is the description of the narrator's trip to the barbershop as a child in "Beacons Burning Down": this scene is described as being euphoric for the narrator, as he felt the affection he never received from his father from his barber. In "The Wind Did It", there is a scene described where his father is massaging his head. This makes me further question the placement of "Beacons Burning Down" on this book's timetable in comparison to "The Wind Did It". However - the point I believe was trying to be made is that now that he is older, he receives affection from his father after all? It seems the idea/theme of every story is about traveling globally and he is somehow able to relate this to his childhood experiences. In the long essay, his father even asks him to go on a trip with him.

There are differences in how the long essay is written and how the short stories are written. For instance, "The Wind Did It" is not only longer, but also has more of a description within it. The short stories were concise and to the point, but very descriptive language takes place within "The Wind Did It". The style is less narrative in the short stories, but "The Wind Did It"was a majority of description and a lot of dialogue.

The differences in writing definitely changed how I read the pieces of writing. The style in "The Wind Did It" is seemingly full of dialogue, but the short stories give off more of a journal-entry style. You can tell that the short stories are a telling of a past event: but "The Wind Did It" is written with a present-tense narration. I read "The Wind Did It" as if it was the closing statement and ending for the short stories: it was very easy to envision.