Second-Person Significance

Unlike any other short stories we have read this semester, Lorrie Moore’s book Self Help frequently utilizes the second-person point of view. In stories where characters are often committing controversial actions, such as being an “other” woman, the second-person narrative voice makes it harder for readers to criticize and judge the standardly immoral behavior. The style connects you with the narrator, forces you to understand their thinking, and makes you evaluate things from their point of view. Specifically, Moore’s short story “How” exemplifies the execution and effect of second-person narration.

The narrator in “How” is a controversial character who would typically be easy to judge. She is a woman who wants to leave her boyfriend while he is sick and dying. However, with the direct, candid, unfiltered second-person point of view, readers are able to put themselves in her position and understand her thinking. For example, from the beginning of the story, we are told that the woman feels “bored” in the relationship; she moves in with him “hesitantly, with ambivalence” (55). Before the boyfriend even gets sick, the woman is already feeling “cranky,” “tired,” and “suffocated” (57). In this constraining relationship, it makes sense why the woman has affairs and tries to leave. The second-person point of view is directed at you, forcing you to put yourself in the narrator’s position. The style forces the reader to think about how they would morally handle the situation and hurdles presented, unlike in a detached, objective third-person style. You don’t necessarily see the narrator’s actions as right, but the second-person narrative makes it harder to judge her choices.

Additionally, after the boyfriend gets sick, the second-person style makes the narrator’s guilt, shame, and internal struggle apparent. For example, when considering leaving him, the narrator notes, “the houseplants will appear to have chosen sides. Some will thrust stems at you like angry limbs. They will seem to caw like crows. Others will simply sag” (62). This quote demonstrates the extreme guilt and struggle that the narrator faces. Similarly, lines like “the thought will occur to you that you are waiting for him to die” show the brutal honesty and intimacy of the second-person narration (60). Although the reader will not necessarily agree with the narrator’s eventual choice to leave her boyfriend, the second-person narrative makes the choice much more understandable and complex.

Ostracized Outsider

James Baldwin’s The Outing is largely a story about an ostrichsized young boy. Johnnie feels like an outsider in various aspects of his life including his sexuality, religious beliefs, place in his family, and place with his friends.

As we saw in The Rockpile, Johnnie is in a difficult situation because he is Gabriel’s only stepchild; “a stranger, living, unalterable testimony to his mother’s days in sin” (22). Gabriel is a hugely powerful figure who blatantly favors his other children over Johnnie. To his wife, Gabriel says Johnnie’s “pride is running away with him” and “that proud demon is just eating him up. (...) Be the best thing in the world if the Lord would take his soul” (40). With Gabriel’s hatred for him, Johnnie is left ostracized and without a place in his family.

Additionally, Johnnie is confused and lost with his friends. Gabriel completely disregards and disrespects Johnnie when he says David is Roy’s friend, not Johnnie’s. Then, at the end of the story, Elizabeth, Roy, Johnnie, and Sylvia disappear, leaving Johnnie alone. Similarly, Johnnie feels like an outsider in terms of his sexuality. Johnnie and David have a trapped romantic relationship, but in his super religious, conservative context, Johnnie knows this secret would be catastrophic. Finally, Johnnie feels ostracized within his religion. His sexuality coupled with the fact that he doesn’t know if he’s “saved” leaves him questioning his religion in the midst of a group of avid believers. In all of these ways, Johnnie is going through a challenging time in which he feels like an ostrich ized outsider and is struggling to find his place.