As I read through Monsoon Mansion, I assumed that there was a plot driving this story. For the majority of the book it really did not feel to me as if it were lacking in plot, but I think the turning point for me was when the narrator and her mother dance in the rain together. I realized that the thing holding me in the story was not a plot at all, but an underlying motif that the author was carrying throughout the body of the memoir. Water plays a pivotal role for the narrator as she is growing up and well into her adult life. We see water on the cover, but it also highlights the highs and lows of the narrator’s life. For example when the water in the mansion gets shut off, when she gets sick from the unclean drinking water, when her family is trapped by the monsoon that damages the mansion, all of these are lows. But we can also see joy around water, like when she meets Diyosa for the first time, her Christmas wish being to go to the beach, and her love for swimming that follows her through life.
I found myself tracking water throughout the story more than any other character. I kept searching for each little way that water popped up and what it did in the story. One of the most powerful of these little moments for me was after Norman had sent the narrator’s mother to the hospital. On their return to the house, Norman offered the mother a glass of water, and the narrator storms upstairs to think about the mother drinking this water. There’s something about water in this moment. Water is an essential need, but there is an excess of it in this story. It surrounds and drowns the reader, just as the narrator feels she is drowning in the mother, just as she feels her father also drowned in this woman. It creates a parallel between the reader and the characters in this story, allowing the reader to feel grounded without necessarily providing a traditional plot arc.
An author cannot control the trajectory of a memoir because the events have already happened, they are telling the story as they experienced it. Not all stories come as perfectly formed arcs, life is not necessarily a thing that moves forward in one direction easily. To force a memoir to adhere to a plot seems harsh, and delves into much deeper philosophical debate. If a memoir needs a plot, then what is the plot of one’s life? I certainly could not tell you the plot of mine, if there is one I assure you that it would not sound like a good story (to me at least.) Memoirs need room to explore the space they take up without forcing them into a certain teleology. By grounding Monsoon Mansion in the motif of water and weaving it throughout the story, the author is able to roam her narrative freely. I personally do not believe that a clearer plot was necessary, and perhaps you did find plot as you were reading. But I was less engaged by what event was on the horizon and more enticed by when I would get my next sip of water.
I'm glad you talk about water and the different places where it comes up. I didn't notice just how present it is. I also didn't realize it until you mentioned Diyosa at the well, but meeting someone at a well is a motif found in the bible. Usually it is a man encountering a woman, and with a quick google search, Jesus also had an encounter with a woman at a well too. Considering Barnes' religious background it fits so perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI agree that forcing plot into the narrative may take away the author's full freedom. Barnes using water to weave the entire book together worked well, too well even. There's one scene that I thought encapsulated the whole book. The speaker learned to swim because her mother threw her into the pool and expected her to learn to survive on her own. And she does and goes on to claim that she was a good swimmer. Water represents the speaker's life and though she felt like drowning, multiple times because of her mother, she made it out stronger as a person.
Thought it was plot driven in the sense that the story was fairly linear and went through some of the major events that changed the family's lives. Water does seem to exist as its own character through out the memoir, and is the sole enemy that the family can rally around. It causes so much damage to the house and to their relationships. I appreciate how you pointed out meeting Diyosa at the well, I didn't catch that when reading it.
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