Kirsten's Trick Essay

5/4/07 Practice Essay- "The Trick Is To Keep Breathing" Kirsten Mcgill

"The Trick Is To Keep Breathing" by Janice Galloway is a novel which has a particularly well chosen title. The title is very relevant and is used effectively in preparing the reader for the novel overall. This essay will examine in detail the significance of the title and how Galloway's use of it helps the reader's appreciation of the text as a whole.
The title suggests that the novel will centre around the idea of breathing to stay alive, which most people would think of as a simple and natural function. However it is proven to be a very difficult and akward one for Joy, which she finds needs a lot of effort. The character of Joy Stone is very troubled and suffers with depression throughout the text. This only adds to the effectiveness of the title, in that it sums up her feelings towards life and how she feels she is not living, but rather existing. During the course of the novel the reader follows Joy through a journey of grieving and slowly watches her recover. In this time they realise how difficult living is for Joy and how much she struggles with everyday tasks, such as eating or breathing or washing, " There is no such thing as lunch". Joy makes these everyday things a massive deal and finds everything difficult in one way or another.
Galloway cleverly uses narrative structure and punctuation to convey fast speech to illustrate the breathing pattern of Joy, by doing this the reader realises the extent to which Joy is aware of her breathing and how much she has to think about how to breathe. Ironically at the end of the novel the name of the book is quoted: "I read somewhere the trick is to keep breathing", by doing this the reader portrays the importance of the title and Joy's recovery throughout the text. The use of the word Trick would suggest that Joy is going to recover and be alright in the end. This satisfies the reader to know that the character who's life they follow will get back on track and that she is going to get better.
It is made clear to the reader at the beginning of the novel that Joy's partner, Michael drowned, while the couple were on holiday. The irony of this is that Michael stopped breathing when he died. This gives Joy a real fear of water and throughout the novel she does everything in her power to avoid it: "Sucking at the sole" the use of the word 'sucking' suggests a threat and conveys water in a negative way. However as Joy progresses in her recovery she hits a turning point when she no longer fears water but shows her recovery by making the statement: "Maybe I could learn to swim". This ultimately shows the character of Joy turning her life around and recovering from the depression she undergos. Joy's recovery as a whole portrays the true meaning of the title, as it shows that if you try hard to keep breathing and don't give up you see the results in terms of recovery and this ultimately makes breathing a 'trick' to living as if you stop breathing you are giving up on life and any chance of recovery is abolished.
In conclusion, the reader is left feeling uplifted and satisfied that Joy did not give up on life but instead lived through depression and in doing so gained the reward of recovery, as breathing for Joy is no longer an effort but an almost natural function to her. Galloway's use of the title is very clever, in that it sets the reader up for the rest of the book and sums up the theme and meaning of the book in only a few words.