Florida part 1

In Ghosts and Empties, I noticed how “yell” was used to signify more than just yelling, but the effects of her temper on her family, “…whose little children walk around with frozen, watchful faces…” (Groff, 1).  I felt that told the reader a lot without going into detail about what the narrator has done.

            I felt the narrator’s disdain for her neighborhood by how they describe the Spanish moss as, “…dangling like armpit hair…” (Groff 3).  Later another character describes the Spanish moss as more sinister, “…Spanish moss and vines that looked from the corners of her eyes like snake.” (Groff 276).  This shows how different the moss can look to different characters, depending on who they are and what their situation is.   

            As the narrator moves around her neighborhood she slips into imagination about the real people who live around her, “…the nuns in full regalia in their shelter…while, aboveground, all has been blasted black…” (Groff 6).  She also imagines the woman with the Great Dane needing medical attention and the dog acting as a stretcher.  The narrator observes and rounds out her neighborhood with imagined stories and interactions with people she will probably never talk to. 

            At the end of the story, the narrator imagines her house, absent herself, much like she imagines the lives of her neighbors that she doesn’t get to witness.  Here, her body far away from them, she feels that she can love them without the other complicated emotions that get in the way.

            I got the sense that the older sister, in Dogs Go Wolf, is used to caring for her younger sister.  She is used to telling her bedtimes stories, and on page 68 she dresses her sister’s wound without thinking about asking the adults for help.  The adults, and the dog, both abandon the girls.

            On page 91 there is a flash-forward that lets us know they survive.  Just when the reader is the most doubtful of the sisters’ fate, the author introduces their future.  Instead of being wholly comforting, we learn about the younger sister’s doomed marriage.  This seems to be an important time that the older sister thinks back to the island.  The end of the story is focused on their rescue, we have already had a glimpse into what lies ahead for them.

            In the beginning of Above and Below, the main character kicks her cat out and is scratched.  It reminded me of Dogs Go Wolf, animals turning on humans in a way, but here the cat has more reason to be angry.  The scratches she receives become scars, and seem to remind her of the life she lost.

            At the start of the story I found her memories of her life before sad, but they become more and more painful to read later on, after she’s gone through more difficulties, I found my sympathy for her had grown. 

            I thought it was interesting how, when she surrenders Jane’s children, she is still waiting for her mother to help her.  She isn’t the children’s mother, but I thought it was interesting how she still believes in mothers even after Jane has difficulty providing, her mother hasn’t helped her, and she herself isn’t willing or able to help the children temporarily in her care.

            This story ends with a birth, it’s clear time has passed, but I’m not sure how much, and it’s unclear what her life is like at the time of the birth.  I felt the ending was more ambiguous, the mysteries of death and birth feel connected here.  The darkness of when she is lost and the fear of birth are connected, which made me think the “glow” in the dark that was her survival that night, is the same as her chance of survival while giving birth.    

-Iris