Roommate in "How to become a Writer"
The one thing that struck me the most as I read through “How to become a writer” by Lorrie Moore was the roommate. Throughout the short story, we follow as the narrator continues their troubled journey through attempting to become an author. Constantly throughout the story, the narrator mentions the remarks made by her roommate. The remarks are typically disheartening and are an attempt to bring the narrator back to earth.
We are first introduced to the roommate when the narrator goes off to college and meets her new boyfriend. After the boyfriend recommends cycling as a way to beat motivation and stress, the roommate recommends the narrator finds a new boyfriend.”Your boyfriend suggests bicycling. Your roommate suggests a new boyfriend.” The purpose of this comment seems to be that the narrator’s boyfriend is recommending a fake “positive” response to her issues and the roommate believes that the narrator should find someone who can really give realistic advice. I believe that the purpose of the roommate is to give the reader a character to relate to. Moore uses the roommate as a sense of reality in the world of insane writing and ideas that most people don’t care about. I think this idea is clearly evident when the narrator attempts to explain her “Power of Imagination” idea.
“Say to your roommate: ''Mopey Dick, get it?'' Your roommate looks at you, her face blank as a large Kleenex. She comes up to you, like a buddy, and puts an arm around your burdened shoulders. ''Listen, Francie,'' she says, slow as speech therapy. ''Let's go out and get a big beer.''
To the normal person the idea of writing about “fish-eat-fish world of life insurance in Rochester, N.Y” is insane, due to the amount of “creative” thinking required to reach that point. But Moore gives the option to relate to a more sane character. The roommate responds with changing the subject and suggesting they get a drink. The roommate is used to amplify the true absurdity of the narrator's ideas and convey to the reader what it truly takes to become a writer.
We are first introduced to the roommate when the narrator goes off to college and meets her new boyfriend. After the boyfriend recommends cycling as a way to beat motivation and stress, the roommate recommends the narrator finds a new boyfriend.”Your boyfriend suggests bicycling. Your roommate suggests a new boyfriend.” The purpose of this comment seems to be that the narrator’s boyfriend is recommending a fake “positive” response to her issues and the roommate believes that the narrator should find someone who can really give realistic advice. I believe that the purpose of the roommate is to give the reader a character to relate to. Moore uses the roommate as a sense of reality in the world of insane writing and ideas that most people don’t care about. I think this idea is clearly evident when the narrator attempts to explain her “Power of Imagination” idea.
“Say to your roommate: ''Mopey Dick, get it?'' Your roommate looks at you, her face blank as a large Kleenex. She comes up to you, like a buddy, and puts an arm around your burdened shoulders. ''Listen, Francie,'' she says, slow as speech therapy. ''Let's go out and get a big beer.''
To the normal person the idea of writing about “fish-eat-fish world of life insurance in Rochester, N.Y” is insane, due to the amount of “creative” thinking required to reach that point. But Moore gives the option to relate to a more sane character. The roommate responds with changing the subject and suggesting they get a drink. The roommate is used to amplify the true absurdity of the narrator's ideas and convey to the reader what it truly takes to become a writer.
I'm just going to say for starters that biking sounds like a great way to clear your head and get your blood pumping and thus all around a great suggestion to beat writer's block, so that boyfriend sounded like a keeper to me.
ReplyDeleteI kind of had an opposite reaction to the roommate. I thought the roommate was kind of annoying, and kind of daft to never give Francie back any good conversation. I didn't see the roommate as an audience surrogate at all, but more so representative of the (often sound) shut-downs many overactive thinkers deal with. I don't like to assume things but I think it's more likely Moore, as well as likely readers of Moore's work, would parallel their experiences closer to Francie's rather than the roommate's.
though I do think Moore is making fun of Francie a bit through the roommate
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