In most character driven books the characters change over the course of the book. The change in the character reveals the theme of the book. This happened in Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. The main character, Milkman, was self-centered and dependent on others in the beginning of the book. As the book continued, he slowly became nicer. A series of events in the book spark a change in his character. By the end of the book, Milkman vows to take responsibility and not to leave is friends and family behind as he becomes more independent.
I have read three quarters of July, July none of the 11 main characters have changed significantly. This is very frustrating for me as a reader because, as I have said in previous posts, the characters are very flawed. I was expecting the characters to show change by this point in the book.
I am doing them some injustice in saying that they have not changed at all for a few reasons. Firstly, Just being at a reunion might be bringing back memories of their college lives prompting them to act like twenty-year-olds. Secondly, they have changed a bit—at least they have recognized some of their flaws. As I saw in Song of Solomon, being aware of his faults was the first step to Milkman's character change.
Ellie holds a deep secret about an affair that she had with one of her old classmates the the year before. The man, Harmon, drowned during one of their getaways. Since then Ellie has never been able to rid her mind of the image of Harmon's body slipping beneath the surface of the lake. She promises herself that "...she [will] never tell. She [will] brace herself. She [will] endure the terror of discovery"(180). At the reunion, however, she brakes this promise by confessing her story to her close friend, Paulette. This shows that she is slowly changing to be more open about her secret. She is not totally changed, however, because she is still very sad about the event and afraid that the police will come after her. Sometimes she even sees Harmon drowning in her mind as if it is happening in front of her.
In the chapter about Dorothy, we learn that she lost a breast to cancer and is having troubles in her marriage because of it. Not only does she think that she is ugly, her husband, Ron, is not giving her as much attention as the wishes he was. In the story we hear about her, she is frustrated with her appearance so runs outside topless and begs Ron to look at her chest. Ron replies that "'It makes [him] want to cry'"(194). This makes Dorothy feel unworthy. Her outlook changes, however while she is preparing for Harmon and Karen's memorial service. As she stands in front of the mirror the is "...explaining to herself how happy she [is], how the cancer [has] been mostly beaten—eight nodes, knock on wood—and how her boys [are] two of the best kids on earth, and how Ron [is] completely devoted to her..."(185). She recognizes that despite some misfortune that she has encountered she is very fortunate and has many things to be thankful for.
I am hoping that in the last quarter of the book the characters will begin to change more. If they don't there must be a reason that O'Brien wrote the book this way. Most books have characters that change in some way throughout the course of the story. The static characters in July, July, are an important stylistic choice made by the author. I don't know what it means but am excited to learn more upon I finishing the book.
Do you think part of this stagnation in the characters is the short time span of the more contemporary time period of the story-the reunion? How likely is it that people would be hugely changed over the course of a weekend? Sometimes it is the small changes that are most important, though they aren't too satisfying to readers.
ReplyDeleteNow that I have finished the book I realize that the characters have changed. Not only since they were in college, but also over the three days of the reunion. In the beginning of the reunion they are gossiping about each other and are caught up in the way their lives were in college especially relationship-wise. By the time everyone is leaving, they are all more accepting of their lives. This change, however was not reviled until the last few chapters of the book.
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