An important stylistic aspect of July, July is the organization of the chapters. The first chapter takes place in 2000 at a college reunion (I talked about this chapter in my previous entry). After that, the second chapter delves into the story of David Todd in the Vietnam War. The third chapter goes back to the reunion. The forth chapter discusses why Amy left her husband, Bobby, and the fifth chapter talks about Jan Huebner's naked photography business. The chapters about individual characters are flashbacks into their pasts and explain what happened to them to make them so unhappy. Each chapter is a short story describing a specific event that has greatly affected the character's life. David Todd, for example, was shot in both feet in a near death experience where he chooses to live in a world where his girlfriend will most likely leave him rather than die from his injury. The events described in each chapter take place between the characters' college graduation and the reunion.
The chapters that take place during the reunion are in chronological order starting at the beginning of the party and continuing through the night and into the morning. These chapters switch around point of view within the section. During this time I see the connections between the characters' pasts and the way they are behaving in the present. In chapter three, one taking place at the reunion, Dorothy comforts Paulette as Paulette whimpers that she is a "'...stinky certified crook. All [she] did, [she] tried to be nice... [She] tried and tried, just kept trying, and now [she's] a putrid, barfing criminal. They arrested [her]'"(40). When I first read this I was very confused an curious as to what she could have done and why she would of done it. Later on, in chapter eleven, I learned that Paulette broke into the home of her dead boyfriend's house to retrieve a few of her possessions and is caught by the man's widow. The balance of flashbacks and present stories helps build a more complete image of who the characters are. It also makes the book more interesting because the present and the past foreshadow each other. For this reason, I always have questions about the characters formulating in my mind as I read.
Where as many modern books are plot driven, July, July is a character driven book. Tim O'Brien has many equally important characters in his book. This allows him to develop and analyze the changes in each character instead of only showing change in one main character. The separate chapters on each character allows the reader to understand the character's motives in the present.
In my next blog post I will analyze the characters, now they change, and their similarities.
Great job describing the organization and structure of the novel. Did it take a while to get used to or did reading The Things They Carried make it easier for you?
ReplyDeleteThe organization and style were easy for me to get used to. It helped that I have already read one Tim O'Brien book so I have been previously introduced to some topics and themes that he brings up, namely the Vietnam War. The Things They Carried is a more complicated book because of its many separate stories and less detailed character descriptions. Also, as I explained in my response to Izzy's comment, July, July is not concerned with truth, a theme that made The Things They Carried more difficult and frustrating to read. As to each character narrating a different chapter, I look forward to learning about each character because so much of their past is left unexplained in the reunion chapters.
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