VOICES

Critical Analysis:

Voices

‘Voices’ is a short story by Alice Munro published in her collection of short stories- Dear Life. It is one out of the four stories in this collection that Munro describes as ‘not quite stories’. They are, she writes, "autobiographical in feeling ... the first and last – and the closest – things I have to say about my own life”.

Munro, a Noble Laureate has been titled by the Swedish Academy as the ‘Master of Contemporary Short Story’. Her works explore the tangles of relationships between men and women, small town existence and the fallibility of memory and deeply reveals human tendencies and flaws. She is also a winner of a number of prestigious awards in which International Man Booker Prize and PEN/Malamud Award are notable mentions.

‘Voices’ offers the reader a tiny crevice to peep into the life of the writer as a child with subtle references to her family life, the society and culture in the times of the Great Depression. The larger focus is though on the child’s inner network of thoughts, her innocent aspirations, her expectations from society and, quite possibly, her first experience of acute consciousness of the opposite sex. The story significantly focuses on her brief encounter with the notorious women of the city and her feelings of awe for the ‘bold as brass and yet mightily dignified’ woman.

The first person narration of the story allows the reader to enjoy a firsthand account of the writer’s life and to live the events of the story from writer’s perception. This also at some points helps the reader to identify with the writer, her instincts, her behavior, her experiences. The inception –

“When my mother was growing up, she and her whole family would go to dances…”

is suggestive of the reminiscent quality of the story and prepares the reader for a short stroll down the memory lanes of the writer. The first mention in this autobiographical work is of

the writer’s mother and her substantial interest in the dances that held in ‘schoolhouse’ or ‘farmhouses’. Munro’s description of her mother is exactly like a child would describe her mother – raw, authentic and honest with no embellishments or biases. She admits that her mother was not much liked by the people. The description of her mother gives a glimpse of the life of middle-class women in the time of Great Depression. Driven by desire, aspirations and a taste for life that is lavish, social and elite but restricted by financial meagerness, most women found themselves living an ordinary life with no or little interests to pursue. “She was living in the wrong place and had not enough money, but she was not equipped anyway. […]Like any other woman with washtubs to haul into the kitchen and no running water and a need to spend most of the summer preparing food to be eaten in the winter, she was kept busy.”

The story enlightens the reader not only about the condition of women but also the general condition of the society, of common people who dwelled in an ‘odd situation’. The story takes the reader back to the black period of world economy, namely – the Great Economic depression, a period of 1929-39 ,deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world, when millions of people lost their savings and their means of livelihood. As sources were meagre and incomes deficit, people reveled in the simple rustic means of enjoyment like dances ‘held in one of the altogether decent but not prosperous-looking houses on our road’. Also, people worked hard even in old age. It was a ‘disgrace’ to quit working and living on ‘old age pension’. The specific mention of ‘Doctor’s bills’ is also suggestive of the financial meagerness of the times and the plight of common people as it could ‘dreadfully fall upon a family’. These are some ‘questions that come to her mind’ about life in those times. She wonders why it was only her mother who she would accompany to the dances and why her father was left behind. But she quickly assumes some explanation putting an end to the presumed ‘puzzle’.

In the detailed layers of the story; the myriad list of things she describes in this memoir, Alice Munro- the child - stays centrally staged, almost alone and inwardly bent: an admission that is made many times during the telling of the story. Munro’s writing and her choice of words hint at the child’s loneliness and her supposed awkwardness in school. Her mother’s disappointment with her for ‘not bringing the right kind of friends, or any friends at all, home from the town school’, her ‘shying away from Sunday school recitations’ indicate Munro’s aloofness and introversion in her childhood: the qualities most writers in their childhood tend to exhibit. The child’s abhorrence towards and reluctance to go to the dance wearing ‘long sausage-like ringlets’ - which she disheveled on her daily commute - and her subsequent agreement because she ‘thought that nobody from school would be at the dance so it didn’t matter’ shows that ‘it was the ridicule of school fellows’ that she had most feared, again hint at the quite, solitary nature of the child.

The story advances to the main plot i.e. young Munro’s visit to the country dance with her mother. Again while reminiscing that time, Munro finds herself perplexed with many questions. She wonders if there had been a payment for attending that dance, or if people brought the refreshments even after paying as they were so poor. As the story progresses, the reader learns that Munro will keep hearing these ‘voices’ from the past throughout the course of the story, yet unaware about that one most significant reminiscence that she’ll cherish the most. Also these ‘voices’ from time to time recount the conditions of common people during that time and the reader learns how the normal life of people was in difficult straits after being hit by the economic crisis.

One major encounter takes place at this point which is a key juncture in the story – young Munro’s brief encounter with ‘a woman in that room you couldn’t help noticing’ ,the notorious woman from the town, supposedly a prostitute. Munro describes her superficies- a sight she calls ‘a startling sight’- with a keen eye embellished with awe-inspiring details about her attire, her hairstyle, her demeanor and her mannerisms. The young child is quite bewitched by the woman’s appearance and wonders how ‘somebody could look both old and polished, both heavy and graceful, bold as brass and yet mightily dignified’. Munro’s statements astonish the reader and offers an avenue to observe the simplicity of a child’s mind which is oblivious to the societal norms of morality and immorality. What would have seemed ‘brazen’ to an adult evoked feelings of awe in a child who better describes the woman as ‘stately’. Her admission of finding the woman ‘disgusting and dangerous and exciting and bold’ shows the kind of impact the woman had on her mind. The multiple use of ‘and’ shows child’s heightened amazement as she speaks with great fervor.

Another encounter follows which is the most important juncture in the story as well as in young Munro’s childhood through which the reader is offered an important insight into a child’s perceptions and aspirations. On her way upstairs, young Munro finds sitting on the stair steps two men and a girl, older than her-Peggy. Peggy is crying as she seems to be hurt by something and is being consoled by the two men in uniforms.

Munro recalls numerous occasions to show her lachrymal tendency at even trivial misfortunes- . I cried when chased and beaten with shingles on the way home from my first school. I cried when the teacher in the town school singled me out and thus is able to identify with the crying figure – Peggy. But what captures her attention is not the sight of Peggy, - So it wasn’t Peggy I was interested in, not her tears, her crumpled looks. She reminded me too much of myself- but the men consoling her- It was her comforters I marveled at. How they seemed to bow down and declare themselves in front of her.

Munro, who at several instances of the story, declares herself starved for companionship and warmth, is instantly fascinated by the kind, warm gestures of the men towards Peggy. She is almost surprised at their display of generosity, which is clearly expressed by the lines – ‘Such

kindness. That anybody could be so kind’. It also shows how emotionally deprived childhood the writer had experienced.

Munro also brings forth the general behavior of men towards women in those times and culture. Her confession - I had never in my life heard a man speak in that way, treating a woman as if she was so fine and valued a creature that whatever it was, whatever unkindness had come near her, was somehow a breach of a law, a sin’, clearly establishes the fact that the household in which Munro was brought up, women were not much valued by men who were not disposed to treat them with kindness and make them feel loved.

Munro is so touched by the warm, kind and generous words of the men, the way they try to assuage the crying girl, that she finds herself envious of her and longs to be the one to receive such a treatment to be “someone who rightfully should be petted, and pleasured and have heads bowed before her”, an admission made clearly in the story – ‘how wonderful to get on the receiving end of it, how strangely lucky and undeserving was that Peggy’.

The closing lines of the story provide an appropriate justification to the title of the story –Voices. Munro, a forlorn and lonely child, keeps the memory of those ‘voices’- the kind, affable words of the men- close to her heart to comfort her and mollify her at times she feels down in the dumps. In the cold dark of my bedroom they rocked me to sleep. I could turn them on, summon up their faces and their voices

She dismisses Peggy as ‘an unnecessary third party’ and emulates the voices to be directed towards her to pacify her. She imagines her own skinny thighs being blessed by the hands of the men. The use of words- In the cold dark of my bedroom, highlights her deep feelings of despair and loneliness but young Munro finds a temporary refuge in the warm bliss of the benevolent ‘voices’, something that ‘rocked her to sleep’ and assured that she, too ‘was worthy of love’.

Hence Alice Munro by this poignant narration of her own childhood reveals the intricate psychology of a child, her longing for attention and love. Her language and choice of words are successful in bringing the right mood and tone to the story. The flow is seamless and binds the interest of the reader who at many events is able to identify with her life experiences and in the end is left teary eyed at the child’s innocent confession of being deeply touched by the kindness of the two men and imaging herself as the one to receive their kindness. The story pulls at the heartstrings of the reader with its heartwarming descriptions and innocently conveys the message that it is love and kindness that a child needs the most.

Bibliography:

Munro, Alice. Dear Life. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2012. Print.
Munro, Alice. Runaway. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2004. Print.
Jones, Josh. “Read 19 short stories by Noble Prize winning writer Alice Munro”,
Openculture.com. Open Culture, 10 Oct. 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2017
Bosman, Julie. “Alice Munro wins Noble Prize in Literature”, nytimes.com. The New York
Times, 10 Oct. 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2017
Panday, Dr.Sanjay Prasad. “Beauty: Illusion or Reality”. The Achiever’s Journal 1.1(2015)
npage. Web < theachieversjournal.com>

By Anukampa Sharma

Reg. 11404511