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.