Nicole's Trick Essay

‘‘The Trick Is To Keep Breathing’’
4. Choose a novel or a short story in which a technique (such as symbolism) is used by the author and is, in your view, vital to the success of the text. Explain how the writer employs this technique and why, in your opinion it is so important to your appreciation of the text.

Janice Galloway adopts a stream of consciousness narrative in ‘‘The Trick Is To Keep Breathing’’ which is vital to the success of the text. My essay will explore how Galloway employs narrative structure by using flashbacks and script in order to add to my appreciation of the novel.
A stream of consciousness narrative is a form of first person narration in which we can see the entire novel through the eyes of our protagonist, Joy Stone. This narrative traps the reader into Joy’s mind and allows us to experience every moment of the novel with Joy. Galloway wants the reader to experience Joy’s pain and recovery for themselves in order to understand how upset, mystified and desperate Joy has become. Throughout the novel, Joy’s thoughts are interrupted with a visual stimulus in which Galloway uses these interruptions to show Joy’s unstable mind which occasionally present us with a different narrative.
Galloway uses flashbacks which are written in the present tense to illustrate Joys recurring memory of Michael’s death. Galloway has used the present tense to show Joy is constantly reliving the memory and remembers it exceptionally well. The flashbacks are chronological, yet broken up which takes the reader along time to piece together which reflects Joy’s frame of mind. These flashbacks are subconscious interruptions which sometimes overlap to build on top of one another. In the opening flashback: ‘‘Now I remember everything all the time. You never know what you might need to recollect later, when the significance of the moment might appear.’’ demonstrates that before her husband died Joy couldn’t retain the good things in her life but now that Michael has died she’s committed to her memory and remembers everything because it is more important to her as if an element of her is missing. This shows her pain and grief as she remembers everything because of what she has lost. Additionally ‘‘A little boy, five or six, stands with a piece of shirt in one brown fist. Tugging. … signor you husband is dead.’’ highlights Joys pain and shows that her memory is very clear of what happened to Michael. ‘‘I look back at the child. His eyes bloom.’’ illustrates that the boys eyes shrivel and that Joy just seems to fade at this heart breaking news. These flashbacks are essential to the accomplishment of the text as without these the reader would not be able to relate to Joy and what happened to her previously so therefore this allows the reader to be trapped into Joy’s mind and experience her pain.
Galloway uses script to help support Joy’s feelings of being dissociated from events as well as a way for her to describe a conversation without using direct speech. This shows the reader at the beginning of the novel that Joy does not want to open up to the health visitor or doctor. Script helps Joy feels as though she is in control and suggests an idea of putting on an act which creates a sense of defamiliarisation as if anyone could take on either role. Galloway uses script when introducing the health visitor because Joy knows what the health visitor is going to ask her so she’s not herself again reinforcing the idea of putting on an act. This reflects her need for order and routine as it’s a schedule were she has puts on act several times before. ‘‘There’s a lot to do before she comes but it’s a set routine so I don’t need think.’’ This also shows that Joy feels as though she is separate from her physical being: ‘‘It just uses my body and runs itself…’’ As Joy watches the health visitor eating biscuits she feels intimidated and annoyed because she doesn’t want the health visitor to be there and the health visitor knows this : ‘‘This is the forth time we have played this fucking game.’’ showing that Joy is disgusted by it. When Joy says ‘‘You Always Expect To Much’’ emphasises that she thinks that the health visitor expects too much of her and makes her feel guilty because the health visitor seems disappointed and bothered as Joy is not giving the correct answers so she feels trapped by the health visitor . Script in the novel also helps to introduce the theme of identity. Joy is a drama teacher; sense of putting on an act. Drama teachers read scripts so Joy uses these to disguise her true identity. In the scripts Joy does not refer to herself but to: patient, Harridan, Me, Impatient and Employee showing that she does not identify with herself. Her only form of identity is her job so conversations are therefore written in script.
In conclusion narrative structure is vital to the success of the text as without this structure the reader would not understand and be able to relate to the protagonist Joy stone. In the novel the self-help book presents us with different steps of Joy’s grieving process which the reader sees her go through all the way throughout. This can rearrange the narrative of the novel to actually follow the chapters of the self-help book and adds to my appreciation of the text as it shows the reader exactly how Joy sees her life and in her particular order.