Thoughts on "The Semplica-Girl Diaries" and "Sonny's Blues"
Question: Choose the point-of-view character from one of these stories. What are the limitations of his perspective, and how do those limitations contribute to the tension in the story?
The father's perspective in The Semplica-Girl Diaries is limited not only because of his lack of knowledge about the characters and events around him, but also because of the world he lives in and the societal values that he has been raised into. Because the readers comes from a different background, one where the acceptability of the Semplica-Girls is not simply assumed, they are repulsed by the idea and immediately understand and sympathize with Eva. On the other hand, Dad does not share these sentiments, so he does not understand the full extent of Eva's horror and believes he can easily convince her otherwise--rectifying her ignorance, so to speak. From the perspective of the plot, the primary conflict is created by these differences in beliefs and values when Eva frees the SGs and sends the family into debt.
On the other hand, the father's perspective is further limited by desires and dreams that are shared by many Americans today. He is always painfully aware of how much more others seem to have than he does, of how much his children seem to lack compared to other children, and of how much he loves his family and wants them to be happy. Because of these pressures he overextends on his credit cards, spends money on SGs when he could have cleared his debts instead, and ultimately blows through what could have been the family's way out. He is terribly well-intentioned, and the reader wants to root for him because his point of view allows us to see his genuineness and the love he has for his children, but the eerieness of the SGs hints at a less-than-happy ending that Dad, with his blind spot, cannot foresee.
Told as a series of diary entries by a father who writes his seemingly trivial thoughts for an addressed “future reader,” “The Semplica-Girl Diaries” sheds light on a community that is divided along class lines into people with money and people without. Written in first person point of view, the story is at once dystopian and fragmented as the narrator is a bundle of contradictions: constantly correcting earlier statements and striding a fine line between fortitude and self-pity. There are several limitations to the narrator’s first person point of view in the story. Firstly, the narrator promises to write for a year but we as readers only receive 23 days of entries, which makes the story seem incomplete. Furthermore, the journal format of the story, which results in the first person point of view, seems to rid the story of drama because we do not feel like we are watching the story unfold live; instead, we witness a delay. Furthermore, the stilted, stream-of-consciousness prose style of the main character’s prose prompts us to question his reliability as a narrator and whether the story might have been better written with more dialogue.
The major source of tension in the story is that since the first few entries begin with descriptions of OfficeMax, DVD players, and NPR, we do not realize that the setting is futuristic until the narrator reveals to us several entries later of the existence of Semplica-Girls. Because the narrator writes excitedly about the SGs in a light, almost exulting way, we as readers are prompted to draw our own conclusions about the immorality and true horrific nature of the existence of SGs. When they are freed, the unanswerable question then becomes: is life better for them freed or not?
Point of View and Its Limitations As “Sonny’s Blues” opens, we are given insight into the narrator’s inner thoughts and how he sees the world through his perception of other people. It is clear he is astute, but he is hardened and jaded and his air of negativity colors the way we perceive the other characters. For example, Sonny’s old friend is described as being a shady character who may be involved with drugs and is someone not deserving of our respect. His actions and words actually bar the reader from feeling any softer emotions toward him such as when he tells him, “Look. Don’t tell me your sad story…” This is also exemplified in the barmaid. From his shallow descriptions she seems to be a happy beautiful woman, but he still looks and sees a “semi-whore.” His letter from his brother did not seem to be bad in any way, yet he still feels like a bad guy after reading it, seemingly for no apparent reason. His negativity even colors the inanimate perspectives of his life. While, the environment he is describing is understandably bleak, the way he is describing the neighborhood makes it seem devoid of hope and of life. It is darker than I would expect, even taking into considerations the difficulties historically faced by those growing up in the ghettos of New York City. In some ways his views are a reincarnation of his father’s derision. However, the biggest limitation of his perspective is in regard to Sonny. In many ways he is blind to his brother’s struggles. Being misunderstood, disregarded, ignored. Isabel’s family shows us how important music is to him and that it is a part is his survival, but his brother does not. He is skeptical and questions Sonny’s choices. He even admits that he could not understand his brother’s music. It is not until the end, when he sets aside his bitterness to actually hear what his brother has been telling him for so long and in so many ways that he can begin to appreciate his brother.
The father in “The Semplica Girl Diaries” is a compelling character primarily because of his convoluted and abbreviated style of narration. Because the story is conveyed in the form of a daily journal, the father leaves out a number of important details, vastly limiting the reader’s perspective and our knowledge of each situation—as an example, we are not informed of the narrator’s gender until the second entry, when the daughter Eva refers to him as “Daddy.” As the story progresses, the father’s continued obsession with money and material wealth further dominates the narration, providing readers with further proof that we are dealing with an unreliable or at the very least, imperceptive, narrator.
The limitations of this perspective come to the forefront with the discussion of Semplica Girls. The author makes a conscious decision to forego a definition of Semplica Girls until the narrator’s daughter asks him directly about their origin (prior to that point, the girls are referred to simply as “SG’s”). This limitation, which obscures an important plot point for much of the story, forces the reader to worry about the meaning of the term SG and to question their value. Toward the end of the story, the narrator’s limited perception of his family’s emotions creates further tension, as he fails to realize the moral quandaries that are plaguing Eva.
The limited perspective of the world sculpted by the father's punctuated narrative style in The Semplica Girl Diaries contributed directly to the build up of tension and ultimate climax of the story. By revealing the events as truncated diary reports, the reader is only provided with snippets of the world as determined by the father. Thus, the reader is similarly blinded by the father's preoccupation with finances and neglects to address Eva's uneasiness at the SG situation until too late.
Much of the story's brilliance lies with George Saunder's ability to heighten the unexpected unfoldings of the story with the rhythmic form of short stream-of-consciousness sentences. This informal truncated prose provides ample opportunity to share the father's thoughts, without providing the often-necessary contextual detail to make the story compelling. The distractions of the father forces the reader to view the world through his similarly narrow lens, allowing Eva's growing sensitivity to continue undiagnosed and the SG disappearance to emerge as an unexpected climax.
I also agree that the father in "Semplica Girl Diaries" offers a unique first person narration throughout the story. As the reader, we are able to hear his deepest thoughts and concerns in each of his diary entries. He comes to the realization in his life that he will never achieve all of his goals, his life will be full of trials and disappointments, and there will always be others who have more than him. While we realize this, he never directly says these things. His first person narration takes on the role of delivering his thoughts, and further, allowing us to analyze them. George Saunders writes in a short, to the point style and in doing this, he limits many "to be" verbs. The authors thoughts are listed bluntly and briefly. This limitation however, gets each point across simply. Thus, the textual limitations further allows us to view the year only through the father's perspective, disregarding the Semplica Girls characters and appearance as well as the individual family struggles that we see a lot throughout the diary.
In “The Semplica Girl Diaries,” the narrator’s perspective is limited in many ways. In particular, the use of diary entries automatically presents a limitation in its nature: that diaries often are written not to storytell, but to record. The author tries to account for this through snippets of the narrator explaining things, in case future readers of the narrator’s diary entries are confused. But although the narrator does explain many things (such as how credit cards work), we are still left in the dark about many things that are obvious to him (and thus, mentioned as if we knew – such is the nature of a diary). The narrator uses references we are made to wonder at. For example, when describing his work of “observ[ing] Mel Redden” – he does not speak about his job as a third person narrator might, instead leaving us to wonder what job exactly encompasses this mix of tasks.
These limitations leave us anxious to realize and discover the entire picture. What exactly does the narrator mean when referring to SGs and their role, what does he know that we are finding out along the way? The style of diary entries in this story gives a situation where we know less than the character, which I found a timely contrast to our last reading “Gorse is Not People,” in which we knew more than Naida.
The father from "The Semplica Girl Diaries" is limited due its first person point of view. We know that the father is not particularly happy about the socioeconomic status of him and his family (relative to those in his community). Thus, the story is told from the limited perspective of the father who uses that perspective when describing other characters. We see this in his description of getting his daughter a birthday present. In this case, he comments on what he believes to be Lilly's thoughts and concerns,but the reader never knows if that is true or not.Overall, the character's circumstances influences the perception the reader gains of other characters.
Additionally, the father is writing in a journal (in a writing style that I am not particularly fond of), and typically with a journal as you reflect on your day you may leave details out. In this case, we do not expect the father to remember every detail or facial expression from the other characters so that we can form connections or bonds with the other characters in the story. The journal entries also seem to be written as a stream of consciousness which can be a bit confusing and seem disorganized to some readers.
I loved "Sonny's Blues" because I felt as though the perspective captured all the limitations of sympathy/empathy. Baldwin does an amazing job of creating a lyrical, heartfelt first-person voice. Lines like "It filled everything, the people, the houses, the music, the dark, quicksilver barmaid, with meance; and this menace was their reality," fit surprisingly well into first person, and I felt as though they convinced me of the depth with which the narrator cares for the people suffering around him.
So given this deeply empathetic character, what moved me most was how he kept trying to fill in the narratives of the people he loved (or disliked, or feared, or disdained), like the barmaid or Sonny's old junkie friend or Sonny himself. The first person perspective helped convey how blindly we try to feel out other people's stories, even if we feel sure of them.
Like Annie and Lori, I am writing about the narrator in Sonny's Blues. The first-person POV brings you into the story very effectively because you are very attentive to things in the present and you are looking for clues about what is happening. In other ways, however, it creates tension because basically every other character in the story knows what is going on and you don't, so it creates distance between you and the other characters, and even the narrator, because you don't necessarily understand t hem.
Like Annie, I loved Baldwin's turns of phrase. I loved when he talked about the seven years as a chasm and not a bridge, and the live that Sonny lived inside. The story is really about Sonny, to the point where we don't even learn the name of the narrator. The first person POV really creates an interesting tension with this focus on Sonny, because we only see Sonny through somebody else's eyes.
While I agree that the narrator in Sonny's Blue is well-intentioned and even heartfelt, I would argue that he is not empathetic in the slightest, at least not naturally. The narrator in Sonny’s Blue is limited not only by his experience but in his innate social inhibitions. He of course does not have omniscient knowledge of the thoughts and motivations of other characters, but more than that he is also limited by his disinclination to ask, or even listen to other’s perspectives.
This is visible in his rejection of Sonny’s friend (“don’t tell me your sad story), his lack of curiosity about his Mother’s past, even his awkwardness when Sonny came over for dinner with his family. The narrator is very much most comfortable in his own shoes, and has trouble viewing things from other people’s perspectives. In the end this limitation is also this story’s asset, because that lack of empathy and understanding for Sonny is what drives the narrative and makes the resolution satisfying.
"Sonny's Blues" is the most compelling literary piece I have read in a long time. I thought it was brilliant. As Annie points out, the first person point of view limits the perspective in such that is fundamental to the story itself.
The story is about Sonny. But all we know of Sonny is what the protagonist can understand of Sonny. Consequently, the narration establish a tone of things being "felt" but not being "touched." This experience is reproduced through the motif of the darkness and through the experience of the music. The power of Baldwin's writing is created through the unease produced by the feeling of things being just out of reach. For example, when the protagonist is listening to Sonny play, he is sensing the experience of music though he cannot enter it himself. As with the darkness he sensed as a child yet not come to experience. The limited perspective of the first person narration in a story primarily about another individual establishes the foreboding/impending mood, that you can feel something happening but you cannot know it. Without knowing it, you are left to wonder about whether an escape is possible.
The point of view in "The Semplica-Girl Diaries", as multiple people have pointed out, is limited by the fact it is a first person piece of writing. This gives you insight into into only the protagonist's encounters and mental processes by the very nature of first-person narrative (the exception being if your character is telepath). Layered on top of the inherent limitation of first person, the structure of this piece is a journal that has gaps in days and the protagonist is a father with preoccupations concerning money. This lends itself to a point of view that has gaps in what happened as well as recounting only a fraction of the internal world of the character. You can call these "contextual limitations" as these are limitations based on the context of the story.
These limitations (insight into one character, gaps, preoccupations) contribute very well to the tension of the story. The protagonist had at the outset declared how he would write every single day in the journal. The gaps between journal entry days build concern as to what happened for him to miss several days of entries. The preoccupations build tension by just building a discomfort with how the character obsesses over wealth, partnered with the singular insight of first person building tension through not being able to see what is objectively occurring to others in his life, only through the eyes of this obsessive man. You are only given the obsession and the story is told through how it relates to the obsession. You only are given his insight into the situation which may be skewed.
The father's perspective in The Semplica-Girl Diaries is limited not only because of his lack of knowledge about the characters and events around him, but also because of the world he lives in and the societal values that he has been raised into. Because the readers comes from a different background, one where the acceptability of the Semplica-Girls is not simply assumed, they are repulsed by the idea and immediately understand and sympathize with Eva. On the other hand, Dad does not share these sentiments, so he does not understand the full extent of Eva's horror and believes he can easily convince her otherwise--rectifying her ignorance, so to speak. From the perspective of the plot, the primary conflict is created by these differences in beliefs and values when Eva frees the SGs and sends the family into debt.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the father's perspective is further limited by desires and dreams that are shared by many Americans today. He is always painfully aware of how much more others seem to have than he does, of how much his children seem to lack compared to other children, and of how much he loves his family and wants them to be happy. Because of these pressures he overextends on his credit cards, spends money on SGs when he could have cleared his debts instead, and ultimately blows through what could have been the family's way out. He is terribly well-intentioned, and the reader wants to root for him because his point of view allows us to see his genuineness and the love he has for his children, but the eerieness of the SGs hints at a less-than-happy ending that Dad, with his blind spot, cannot foresee.
Told as a series of diary entries by a father who writes his seemingly trivial thoughts for an addressed “future reader,” “The Semplica-Girl Diaries” sheds light on a community that is divided along class lines into people with money and people without. Written in first person point of view, the story is at once dystopian and fragmented as the narrator is a bundle of contradictions: constantly correcting earlier statements and striding a fine line between fortitude and self-pity. There are several limitations to the narrator’s first person point of view in the story. Firstly, the narrator promises to write for a year but we as readers only receive 23 days of entries, which makes the story seem incomplete. Furthermore, the journal format of the story, which results in the first person point of view, seems to rid the story of drama because we do not feel like we are watching the story unfold live; instead, we witness a delay. Furthermore, the stilted, stream-of-consciousness prose style of the main character’s prose prompts us to question his reliability as a narrator and whether the story might have been better written with more dialogue.
ReplyDeleteThe major source of tension in the story is that since the first few entries begin with descriptions of OfficeMax, DVD players, and NPR, we do not realize that the setting is futuristic until the narrator reveals to us several entries later of the existence of Semplica-Girls. Because the narrator writes excitedly about the SGs in a light, almost exulting way, we as readers are prompted to draw our own conclusions about the immorality and true horrific nature of the existence of SGs. When they are freed, the unanswerable question then becomes: is life better for them freed or not?
Point of View and Its Limitations
ReplyDeleteAs “Sonny’s Blues” opens, we are given insight into the narrator’s inner thoughts and how he sees the world through his perception of other people. It is clear he is astute, but he is hardened and jaded and his air of negativity colors the way we perceive the other characters. For example, Sonny’s old friend is described as being a shady character who may be involved with drugs and is someone not deserving of our respect. His actions and words actually bar the reader from feeling any softer emotions toward him such as when he tells him, “Look. Don’t tell me your sad story…” This is also exemplified in the barmaid. From his shallow descriptions she seems to be a happy beautiful woman, but he still looks and sees a “semi-whore.” His letter from his brother did not seem to be bad in any way, yet he still feels like a bad guy after reading it, seemingly for no apparent reason.
His negativity even colors the inanimate perspectives of his life. While, the environment he is describing is understandably bleak, the way he is describing the neighborhood makes it seem devoid of hope and of life. It is darker than I would expect, even taking into considerations the difficulties historically faced by those growing up in the ghettos of New York City. In some ways his views are a reincarnation of his father’s derision. However, the biggest limitation of his perspective is in regard to Sonny. In many ways he is blind to his brother’s struggles. Being misunderstood, disregarded, ignored. Isabel’s family shows us how important music is to him and that it is a part is his survival, but his brother does not. He is skeptical and questions Sonny’s choices. He even admits that he could not understand his brother’s music. It is not until the end, when he sets aside his bitterness to actually hear what his brother has been telling him for so long and in so many ways that he can begin to appreciate his brother.
The father in “The Semplica Girl Diaries” is a compelling character primarily because of his convoluted and abbreviated style of narration. Because the story is conveyed in the form of a daily journal, the father leaves out a number of important details, vastly limiting the reader’s perspective and our knowledge of each situation—as an example, we are not informed of the narrator’s gender until the second entry, when the daughter Eva refers to him as “Daddy.” As the story progresses, the father’s continued obsession with money and material wealth further dominates the narration, providing readers with further proof that we are dealing with an unreliable or at the very least, imperceptive, narrator.
ReplyDeleteThe limitations of this perspective come to the forefront with the discussion of Semplica Girls. The author makes a conscious decision to forego a definition of Semplica Girls until the narrator’s daughter asks him directly about their origin (prior to that point, the girls are referred to simply as “SG’s”). This limitation, which obscures an important plot point for much of the story, forces the reader to worry about the meaning of the term SG and to question their value. Toward the end of the story, the narrator’s limited perception of his family’s emotions creates further tension, as he fails to realize the moral quandaries that are plaguing Eva.
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ReplyDeleteThe limited perspective of the world sculpted by the father's punctuated narrative style in The Semplica Girl Diaries contributed directly to the build up of tension and ultimate climax of the story. By revealing the events as truncated diary reports, the reader is only provided with snippets of the world as determined by the father. Thus, the reader is similarly blinded by the father's preoccupation with finances and neglects to address Eva's uneasiness at the SG situation until too late.
ReplyDeleteMuch of the story's brilliance lies with George Saunder's ability to heighten the unexpected unfoldings of the story with the rhythmic form of short stream-of-consciousness sentences. This informal truncated prose provides ample opportunity to share the father's thoughts, without providing the often-necessary contextual detail to make the story compelling. The distractions of the father forces the reader to view the world through his similarly narrow lens, allowing Eva's growing sensitivity to continue undiagnosed and the SG disappearance to emerge as an unexpected climax.
I also agree that the father in "Semplica Girl Diaries" offers a unique first person narration throughout the story. As the reader, we are able to hear his deepest thoughts and concerns in each of his diary entries. He comes to the realization in his life that he will never achieve all of his goals, his life will be full of trials and disappointments, and there will always be others who have more than him. While we realize this, he never directly says these things. His first person narration takes on the role of delivering his thoughts, and further, allowing us to analyze them. George Saunders writes in a short, to the point style and in doing this, he limits many "to be" verbs. The authors thoughts are listed bluntly and briefly. This limitation however, gets each point across simply. Thus, the textual limitations further allows us to view the year only through the father's perspective, disregarding the Semplica Girls characters and appearance as well as the individual family struggles that we see a lot throughout the diary.
DeleteIn “The Semplica Girl Diaries,” the narrator’s perspective is limited in many ways. In particular, the use of diary entries automatically presents a limitation in its nature: that diaries often are written not to storytell, but to record. The author tries to account for this through snippets of the narrator explaining things, in case future readers of the narrator’s diary entries are confused. But although the narrator does explain many things (such as how credit cards work), we are still left in the dark about many things that are obvious to him (and thus, mentioned as if we knew – such is the nature of a diary). The narrator uses references we are made to wonder at. For example, when describing his work of “observ[ing] Mel Redden” – he does not speak about his job as a third person narrator might, instead leaving us to wonder what job exactly encompasses this mix of tasks.
ReplyDeleteThese limitations leave us anxious to realize and discover the entire picture. What exactly does the narrator mean when referring to SGs and their role, what does he know that we are finding out along the way? The style of diary entries in this story gives a situation where we know less than the character, which I found a timely contrast to our last reading “Gorse is Not People,” in which we knew more than Naida.
The father from "The Semplica Girl Diaries" is limited due its first person point of view. We know that the father is not particularly happy about the socioeconomic status of him and his family (relative to those in his community). Thus, the story is told from the limited perspective of the father who uses that perspective when describing other characters. We see this in his description of getting his daughter a birthday present. In this case, he comments on what he believes to be Lilly's thoughts and concerns,but the reader never knows if that is true or not.Overall, the character's circumstances influences the perception the reader gains of other characters.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, the father is writing in a journal (in a writing style that I am not particularly fond of), and typically with a journal as you reflect on your day you may leave details out. In this case, we do not expect the father to remember every detail or facial expression from the other characters so that we can form connections or bonds with the other characters in the story. The journal entries also seem to be written as a stream of consciousness which can be a bit confusing and seem disorganized to some readers.
I loved "Sonny's Blues" because I felt as though the perspective captured all the limitations of sympathy/empathy. Baldwin does an amazing job of creating a lyrical, heartfelt first-person voice. Lines like "It filled everything, the people, the houses, the music, the dark, quicksilver barmaid, with meance; and this menace was their reality," fit surprisingly well into first person, and I felt as though they convinced me of the depth with which the narrator cares for the people suffering around him.
ReplyDeleteSo given this deeply empathetic character, what moved me most was how he kept trying to fill in the narratives of the people he loved (or disliked, or feared, or disdained), like the barmaid or Sonny's old junkie friend or Sonny himself. The first person perspective helped convey how blindly we try to feel out other people's stories, even if we feel sure of them.
Like Annie and Lori, I am writing about the narrator in Sonny's Blues. The first-person POV brings you into the story very effectively because you are very attentive to things in the present and you are looking for clues about what is happening. In other ways, however, it creates tension because basically every other character in the story knows what is going on and you don't, so it creates distance between you and the other characters, and even the narrator, because you don't necessarily understand t hem.
ReplyDeleteLike Annie, I loved Baldwin's turns of phrase. I loved when he talked about the seven years as a chasm and not a bridge, and the live that Sonny lived inside. The story is really about Sonny, to the point where we don't even learn the name of the narrator. The first person POV really creates an interesting tension with this focus on Sonny, because we only see Sonny through somebody else's eyes.
While I agree that the narrator in Sonny's Blue is well-intentioned and even heartfelt, I would argue that he is not empathetic in the slightest, at least not naturally. The narrator in Sonny’s Blue is limited not only by his experience but in his innate social inhibitions. He of course does not have omniscient knowledge of the thoughts and motivations of other characters, but more than that he is also limited by his disinclination to ask, or even listen to other’s perspectives.
ReplyDeleteThis is visible in his rejection of Sonny’s friend (“don’t tell me your sad story), his lack of curiosity about his Mother’s past, even his awkwardness when Sonny came over for dinner with his family. The narrator is very much most comfortable in his own shoes, and has trouble viewing things from other people’s perspectives. In the end this limitation is also this story’s asset, because that lack of empathy and understanding for Sonny is what drives the narrative and makes the resolution satisfying.
"Sonny's Blues" is the most compelling literary piece I have read in a long time. I thought it was brilliant. As Annie points out, the first person point of view limits the perspective in such that is fundamental to the story itself.
ReplyDeleteThe story is about Sonny. But all we know of Sonny is what the protagonist can understand of Sonny. Consequently, the narration establish a tone of things being "felt" but not being "touched." This experience is reproduced through the motif of the darkness and through the experience of the music. The power of Baldwin's writing is created through the unease produced by the feeling of things being just out of reach. For example, when the protagonist is listening to Sonny play, he is sensing the experience of music though he cannot enter it himself. As with the darkness he sensed as a child yet not come to experience. The limited perspective of the first person narration in a story primarily about another individual establishes the foreboding/impending mood, that you can feel something happening but you cannot know it. Without knowing it, you are left to wonder about whether an escape is possible.
The point of view in "The Semplica-Girl Diaries", as multiple people have pointed out, is limited by the fact it is a first person piece of writing. This gives you insight into into only the protagonist's encounters and mental processes by the very nature of first-person narrative (the exception being if your character is telepath). Layered on top of the inherent limitation of first person, the structure of this piece is a journal that has gaps in days and the protagonist is a father with preoccupations concerning money. This lends itself to a point of view that has gaps in what happened as well as recounting only a fraction of the internal world of the character. You can call these "contextual limitations" as these are limitations based on the context of the story.
ReplyDeleteThese limitations (insight into one character, gaps, preoccupations) contribute very well to the tension of the story. The protagonist had at the outset declared how he would write every single day in the journal. The gaps between journal entry days build concern as to what happened for him to miss several days of entries. The preoccupations build tension by just building a discomfort with how the character obsesses over wealth, partnered with the singular insight of first person building tension through not being able to see what is objectively occurring to others in his life, only through the eyes of this obsessive man. You are only given the obsession and the story is told through how it relates to the obsession. You only are given his insight into the situation which may be skewed.