Mary Gaitskill’s “The Other Place”, the main character discusses how his son is beginning to do the things that he did when he was younger. Mainly, focusing on the fact that he sees a lot of himself in his son, especially when the movie advertisement comes across the television and “Doug didn’t speak or move” (510). The father states, “I could feel the fascination, the suddenly deepening quality of it. And I don’t doubt that he could feel mine. We sat there and felt it together” (510). Gaitskill opens with first allowing the main character to elaborate on his son Doug and then moving towards his own life while still referencing his son during certain points in the story, as well as times spent with his own dad. Throughout the story the author’s style conveys many images and moods allowing the reader to develop an understanding of the text.
She precedes a step further to show that the main character enjoyed doing things that seemed out of the ordinary. The author choice of words creates a scene that allows readers to visualize what was going on. The main character provides us with the imagery of him sitting on the Legges front porch, “thinking about stealing a piece of their garden statutory…I thought that one would look good in my room…but they were too heavy, so I just moved them around the yard”(510-11). This shows that the author’s style creates a way to appeal to readers allowing them to wonder as to why he would want to do such a thing? Although, “he believed he had a normal childhood” (511), his actions showed otherwise which displays why Gaitskill style proves effective for “the other place” that he escaped too.
Furthermore, as the main character starts to realize that as he begin to get older, things began to change. His feelings for the other place became tiresome and “he wanted to be somewhere that was neither the normal social world nor the other place” (514). Why didn’t he want to be in the other place? Why did it not excite him as much anymore? Could it be that he finally understood why he acted the way he did and now it was time to move on. Questions such as these, makes the reader wonder simply, why?
More so, the main character goes on to describe a scene that his life consisted of, which makes you wonder what he was really like. Given the chance and opportunity to do what intrigues him, he abruptly declines after much bickering back and forth. Noticing the hair of the woman whom he planned to shoot, he realized that “she’d been shot already, from the inside” (518). After this moment in his life, and as he began to get older, he understands why the lady was “wearing that awful wig because she was sick and undergoing chemo” (519). Although he was assuming based off a legitimate reason, what she was experiencing hits close to home for him, considering that his mother died of colon cancer. The way Gaitskill relates these two events, achieves the effect of what she wanted the reader to see and feel. Her style brings to life the meaning of what she wanted to convey.
In conclusion, Gaitskill’s overall approach to this particular piece of writing as far as her style allows the readers to get a deeper meaning of the story through what the main character expresses through his actions, even if you are not able to connect with “the other place” completely. Throughout the story Gaitskill’s style triggers all kinds of thoughts and contributes to the fact that the only way that the main character felt good was when he managed to escape to the other place, but he realized as he grew older, he no longer needed to be in the other place to feel satisfaction.
Work Cited
Gaitskill, Mary. “The Other Place.” The Story and Its Writer. Compact 9th ed. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 510-19. Print.
AngelinaDorsett 