First of all, I would like to present the plot of Small Avalanches by Joyce Carol Oates, the story that I'm going to write about.
The story occurs in rural Ontario, in which Nancy a 13 year old teenage girl has a dangerous encounter with a stranger. After visting her uncle, she was returning home walking under the sofocating heat of the deserted road when a strange and charming man started to follow her. At the beginning, she was confused and intimidated by the man's attention since she was not used to received this kind of attention from grown up men. After a while, Nancy was going to cut path through a shortcut but the man followed her regardless of her refusal. The man follwed Nancy, but after a while, overcome by the exhaustion he collapes and Nacy leaves him.
While I was reading this story, I was intrigued by the man's intention. It is not clear if he wanted to hurt Nancy or if he just was being friendly, but an adult man following a 13 year old girl through the road is pretty suspicious. I never imagined how the story could finished, but I suspected the intentions of the man.
Nancy was a pretty naive character, she was kind of suspicious about the man, but she wasn't fully aware of the danger. What I love about her character is how her personality is playful and childish, but at the same time is kind of mean and pretty dark at some moments. For example, when she throwed a rock at the man. At this moment, I started thinking: who was really the victim? who was in danger? At the beginning, I feared for Nancy's well being, but I realized that she could take care of herself. This fact present in the story reflects how Oates presents female empowerment. The lead character, a little girl knows how to take care of herself, and she took decisions by her own.
I compare this story with a movie that maybe some of you have watched: Hard Candy. Nancy really have some resemblance with Hayley, the main character of this movie. I strongly recommend this movie if you haven't watched, and if you did, you could share your thoughts about my opinion.
At first, I was disappointed with the ending of this story. When I took my time and analysed it, I came to the conclusion that Nancy was a real "choriza", if you allow me to say it that way, hahah. I really loved her independence and how her 'I don't know's were really powerful: they did not mean that she did not knew, they meant that she really did not mind about the man that was following her. She surely was shocked at some point by the man who stubbornly followed her, but she finally made things her way and left the man -with whichever intentions he had with the little girl- behind and suffering.
ResponderBorrarI haven't seen the movie, but since your recommendation is based on the character of Nancy, I think it will be worth watching. Thanks for sharing!