Moore's how-to style of narrative seems to change with every story. Some have more choices than others, in a more choose your own adventure style, while others just tell you what to do. "How" is the first story that we get where Moore employs a narrative that has many choices for the reader to choose from.
The story starts off with, "Begin by meeting him in a class, in a bar, at a rummage sale." (55) giving the illusion of a choice that would determine the type of relationship present in the story. However, this doesn't happen. Instead of giving the main character in the story a choice in her life, we find that it is rather arbitrary. It doesn't matter where the characters met, what their jobs or hobbies are, or the time frame of the relationship, the relationship seems predestined to failure. This story is an interesting twist on the common cliche of one person falling out of love with their partner and then the partner getting a disease. There is a struggle in the mind of the person as to whether they should stay with and support someone who they really don’t love any more or if they should just leave. Moore presents this with a sense that any choice is arbitrary. At one point, the main character has a choice to sleep with another man, which seems to be a very important decision that one could make in a failing relationship, but in the end the outcome doesn’t change. In both situations, the relationship continues for a long while until the main character cannot stand to struggle anymore.
Moore seems to be using the lack of real choice to show that you cannot control everything. At some point, any choice that the main character makes won’t have any effect on her relationship. Even a choice that is as important as cheating on your partner really doesn’t affect much, other than when she gets home. We understand that her partner got a disease, but there is no way that the disease can be traced back to the background of either of the characters because there were so many choices that could be made. Moore wants the reader to understand that you can only control a small subsection of what happens in the world around you, and that you cannot blame yourself for things that are outside of your control.
In addition, the story ends with, “The sadness will die like an old dog” (64), which shows how everything will pass. Moore throughout the story is trying to get the reader to understand that whatever happens to make this situation happen, and whatever happens afterwards, as long as it is outside of your control to a certain extent, you won't need to feel guilty for the rest of your life. Many things in life are arbitrary, so control what you can and don’t let what you cannot control affect you more than it needs to.
I never thought about the idea that the lack of choice in some of Moore's stories symbolized how there are things we cannot control. Now that you point this out, I definitely agree. Like you said, although it seems like you have choices in this story, in the end, no matter what you "choose", the outcome is the same. You pointed out a great lesson/moral that I think Moore was trying to convey to us: life itself is unpredictable and you do not have complete control over what happens. Even in my own life it seems like I have so many choices and decisions that could have such great consequences, but many times I find that major events in life occur outside of my control.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is interesting that this is the story that Moore decided to make in more of a, as you call it, choose your own adventure style. Reading Minwoo's comment, I agree with what both of you said. It does seem as if Moore is telling you that sometimes you have no control of what happens in life. I also think that there was a touch of helplessness in there. It was as if that you couldn't do anything to get out of the situation that you were put in.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything here. I wonder if Moore actually wanted to convey this lesson/moral or it just happened. Regardless, through reading these types of stories this book really taught me this lesson in a very effective way.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, Pranav. I too contemplated the reason for which some stories were left more open ended than others. Some, as we discussed in class, provided room for the reader to "choose their own adventure", while others implied that the choices provided were the only ones. I wondered whether the amount of decision making involved in each respective story was somehow indicative of an underlying message, or theme of the stories. Your hypothesis here satisfies my thoughts surrounding this particular story. It's very interesting to see how many of the options she provides have little impact on the overall course of the story. It's a truly fascinating concept to think about: the notion that we have such little control over our surroundings, and that in life we must adapt and learn to live with the obstacles set before us.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with just about all of what you are saying. Though I wouldn't say that her choices have no effect on the relationship. While they are unable to change the eventual outcome, I think this story is written to highlight that the choices still matter in spite of that. Rather than being a pessimistic story about how the end will always be the same, it is rather about the cheesy cliche that the journey is more important that the destination.
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