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.
In a sense, the second person compels a reader to imaginatively "share" the character's feelings of shame and guilt, when in a third-person perspective we might be more inclined to judge. It's hard to judge her too harshly for the way she handles his illness: as you note, we know she's already been trying to find a way to leave him without hurting him too badly when he gets sick, and she sticks around for a long time after (for the "endless series of tests"). It would be easy to judge her, in a complacent, self-satisfied way, but it's actually not easy to see what she should do: would it be more "honest" to just tell him he annoys her and she's not that into him, even though he's sick? should she just keep stringing him along, thinking he has this close relationship with a woman who loves him, when indeed she doesn't? It's important that they haven't been married (reflective of the woman's deep resistance to commitment)--she has never vowed to be around "in sickness and in health," and yet she can't bring herself to just abandon him when he needs her. And she's kicking herself because she couldn't find a way to break up with him before the illness, and now it's too late.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point of pointing out the specific aspects of second person narration that distinguish it from not only third person but also first person narration in it's ability to connect the reader with the character. It is much easier to judge in third person, as the reader is simply observing thoughts and actions, and even in first person the reader is judging the actions of one particular character, where they can disagree with this one character's perspective if they choose to do so. With the second person, however, there isn't really a choice; you are forced to align with the narrator when they attribute all of the actions to "you". We saw how even in some of the "choose you own adventure" type second person narratives, we didn't really have a choice at all.
ReplyDeleteSome of the things that Moore's narrators say make so much sense. The audience is likely to get it, because they have similar thoughts in their heads. If these stories were in first or third person, we would see the main character simply as a character, but in second person we see the main character's thoughts as an extension of ours, even if they don't fit into our lives.
ReplyDeleteNice post, Zina! I agree that the second person narrative makes it a lot harder to judge the narrators harshly. Many of the narrators in this book make questionable decisions, but the second person forces the readers to think about how the narrators must be feeling.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I really enjoyed how you talked about the downward spiral of the story and how the second-person affects that. When most people think of themselves in the narrators situation, they would usually do something differently, but the way that Moore writes the story, we are given the impression that there is nothing we could have done. This feeling truly stems from the second person, and without it the story would not be as good.
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