Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Escape

With "Family Furnishings," I began to notice Munro's recurring theme of escape.

In "Hateship," we have Johanna fleeing her dreary, loveless life for the possibility of companionship. In "Floating Bridge," Jinny had tried to escape before but never got farther than the bus stop; she eventually finds the release she had been seeking in a kiss with a teenage boy. And in "Family Furnishings," the narrator escapes into urban anonymity, surrounded by "people I did not know and who did not know me. What a blessing."

"Such happiness, to be alone."

Any thoughts on this theme? Is it depressing that everyone wants to get away from their lives?
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6 comments:

Ben said...

A lot of good short fiction is depressing. It seems to lend itself to negativity. And, yes, I think the escape aspect can be depressing. Less so in the first story, where the escape of one character occured and the escape of another character is looked forward to.

2:09 PM, June 06, 2007
Ben said...

I meant to say “was quite successful” rather than “occured.” And is that how you spell “occured,” or does it have two r’s?

2:10 PM, June 06, 2007
Erin said...

Two r's, yes.

2:34 PM, June 06, 2007
kc said...

Excellent obervation, Erin. I hadn't really picked up on that, but it's absolutely true. I don't find it depressing, though, or negative. Not at all. I think there's an element of seeking, of wanting something more or something else, of not feeling limited or defined by an experience or a town or a past or a group of people. "Escape" is one way to look at that. I think "desire"is another — the longing for something you don't have, even if you don't know what it is.

2:54 PM, June 06, 2007
Ben said...

Now that you mention it, it does look pretty silly with only one r.

2:54 PM, June 06, 2007
cl said...

What a good idea, Erin.

For the "Family Furnishings" narrator, I sympathize her need to escape. One, I think there were old secrets adding an ugly layer of tension to those long family gatherings. Two, the narrator was a natural intellect and author at heart, surrounded by people who thought the less said, the better. If that developed a malevolent twist to her feelings about family, that wouldn't surprise me.

10:09 AM, June 14, 2007

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