Arnold is not the only one in shock. The mother is, the family is. A rural, taciturn family. Many comments are hard on the mother, and the parents. As the author tells the story, she does not know who is behind the door. A small naked boy who does not speak. The family begins to shift and come together again in the story, so slightly, bu…
Arnold is not the only one in shock. The mother is, the family is. A rural, taciturn family. Many comments are hard on the mother, and the parents. As the author tells the story, she does not know who is behind the door. A small naked boy who does not speak. The family begins to shift and come together again in the story, so slightly, but the boy is scarred for life. But they all are. No mothering will change that. The small milk jug gesture of the father that rights his sister's reaction. For me the pivotal bits were the outsiders, their arrival, the sheriff's 'restless blue eyes'. The story they impose on Arnold, about his coldness when he doesn't act like they think he should. They take over Arnold's narrative for the community.
I was stunned by how accurately Berriault evoked real trauma. I don't know guns and didn't care if I didn't understand how the gun fired, I was with her. For me Arnold was at a stage in his life, 9-10 yrs old, where he is leaving the shelter of his childhood and entering into his adolescence, his shift into the outside world. That's where Berriault leaves us.
Thank you, Joyce, your perspective resonated. It’s brilliant how Berriault is able to depict the traumatized and confused agony of so many characters in the multiplicity of their individuality. And that age is such an important, transformational one, to turn to stone.
Arnold is not the only one in shock. The mother is, the family is. A rural, taciturn family. Many comments are hard on the mother, and the parents. As the author tells the story, she does not know who is behind the door. A small naked boy who does not speak. The family begins to shift and come together again in the story, so slightly, but the boy is scarred for life. But they all are. No mothering will change that. The small milk jug gesture of the father that rights his sister's reaction. For me the pivotal bits were the outsiders, their arrival, the sheriff's 'restless blue eyes'. The story they impose on Arnold, about his coldness when he doesn't act like they think he should. They take over Arnold's narrative for the community.
I was stunned by how accurately Berriault evoked real trauma. I don't know guns and didn't care if I didn't understand how the gun fired, I was with her. For me Arnold was at a stage in his life, 9-10 yrs old, where he is leaving the shelter of his childhood and entering into his adolescence, his shift into the outside world. That's where Berriault leaves us.
Thank you, Joyce, your perspective resonated. It’s brilliant how Berriault is able to depict the traumatized and confused agony of so many characters in the multiplicity of their individuality. And that age is such an important, transformational one, to turn to stone.