Friday, January 29, 2010
SSRJ #2 OATES
Immediately I fell into a comfortable, warm and safe place inside The Strand with the two NYU girl-poets. Joyce Carol Oates drew me in with the warm tone she used for the setting in her short story, “Three Girls”. I felt as though I were “drifting through the warehouse of treasures as through an enchanted forest” with them. I felt safe and uninhibited as her story unfolded before me. I found the contrast of the other “cranky brooding regulars” and the girls to be reassuring as it emphasized the subtle romance that was blooming between them. The girls experience the thrill of recognizing Marilyn and share the responsibility of keeping her a secret. This was a moment they would never forget, and no matter what was to become of their relationship, they would never forget each other. Like a first love, this memory would stay with both of them forever. “That magical evening of Marilyn Monroe, when I kissed you for the first time.”
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It's always great to find a story you can just fall into, isn't it? The emotion portrayed in this story was very intense. The contrast between the "three girls" of the story and the rest of the customers in the Strand was one of my favorite elements in the story. It really showed that the two friends, while familiar with the store, were almost as out of place as Monroe.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the story gives the feeling that the strand is a comfortable and warm. I like it that you said that the strand was a safe place for these girls and for Marilyn Monroe. It was portrayed as a safe haven for each of these three girls to be themselves without risk of exposure.
ReplyDeleteThe author did do a great job of making me feel like I was inside the bookstore. She took great care to detail everything someone would find a spectacle in a bookstore. You know when you start to make going to a restaurant or a store that is your favorite and it starts to become "your" store? You feel that everyone else doesn't belong there or that you are higher and mightier because you have been going there for ages. I thought it was neat that the author connected to the Strand the same way that I do to my favorite store.
ReplyDeleteI had similar feelings while reading this story. The author did an amazing job of describing the book store. With Marilyn Monroe being there, it makes it seem like it is a safe place for the girls and anyone else that goes into the store.
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