For this assignment, I decided to read "Pagan Night" by Kate Braverman and I decided to try to identify the gaps in the story. Overall, this story was very jumpy and you really had to pay attention to keep up with everything that was going on. There were many gaps in the text like how you only knew what Sunny was thinking and you didn't have access to Dalton's thoughts. You could only know what was going on through her mind and all the stories that she was thinking about. When she talks about her dad and how "if she went to nursing school, her father could believe she has finally forgotten. He could conclude that she was well and whole, and he could sleep without pills" (545). We can fill in the gaps here that something her father did something terrible to her affected her in such a terrible way that it also truly altered him that he had to take pills to sleep because he worries so. He probably raped her or something terrible because she relates to Marilyn Monroe about the foster nights when they take their clothes off and how her uncle molested her.
In the story, there is a lot of blank space of where she walks from the river to wherever she goes next like the zoo. What happens in that time where she is walking? What does she see? What happens? The readers also dont know what is going on when Dalton asks her what she is thinking. There is a lot more conversation going on through Sunny's head rather than actual conversations.
I feel Sunny would be more worried and more loving and caring towards her nameless baby if it weren't for Dalton. Dalton does not want the baby and doesn't even really want his girlfriend. He is ready to leave her if she doesn't do something about the baby and because we can only access Sunny's thoughts, we do not know the true reason why Dalton doesn't want the baby, but we can assume that it is because he wants to be free, not tied down, and roam the country doing drugs. He would probably sell his baby for drugs if he could.
We do not know what happens to the child, but the reader can guess that because there has been so much thought and planning to it, that soon they will abandon their baby and no one will ever know.
I agree with your views on the story. It was sometimes hard to follow what was going on and you really had to pay attention. I never thought of Sunny's father raping her but it is a good asumption. Good job!
ReplyDeleteKaitlyn,
ReplyDeleteI'm curious as to what you make of the gaps in terms of narration -- why do you think the author chooses to disclude Dalton's perspective. I think the text clearly signals there's a deep connection between Sunny's relationship with her father and with Dalton. This is part of the reason she's a sympathetic character -- we're meant to understand that whatever trauma she suffered at the hands of her father has left her unable to carry on a healthy, independent relationship with another man. This doesn't absolve her of guilt, but there's a reason we're hearing about Sunny's past and not Dalton's. Perhaps it's equally traumatic or may not be at all, but given this gap, we're likely to be much more dismissive of Dalton.