Trick.../Steph .

“The Trick is to Keep Breathing” by Janice Galloway is a novel which conveys one woman’s struggle, Joy Stone, to overcome her depression after her lover drowned. Galloway’s narrative structure helps convey Joy’s depression throughout the text, through her use of stream of consciousness narrative, scripts and flashbacks. This essay will explain why Galloway employs the technique of flashbacks and why this is so important to the reader’s appreciation of the text.
Galloway’s use of flashbacks help convey Joy’s depression after the loss of Michael and help to show the reader how serious Joy’s depression is. “I look down and his mouth is a red O. White water runs through his hair.” This shows how affected Joy is by his death, she constantly relives the nightmare and cannot forget him. The descriptive details used show how exact her memories are, she remembers every little detail about him, every moment, “ ..a red O.” These memories haunt her. By using this technique the reader gains sympathy for Joy and allows the reader to become involved in the text.
As well as conveying Joy’s depression the flashbacks also show Joy’s unstable mind. Joy could be anywhere doing anything, yet she could have a flashback. She cannot control her mind, “I don’t know where to put my clothes, how to fold them…it took three days to get him home. They had to call everyday to check. Not to me…” The jump from Joy’s normal thoughts her to her flashbacks is so abrupt and unprovoked. The reader can see from this the Joy is very unstable in her state of mind and needs serious help. Galloway has gained the reader onside with Joy and allows the reader to feel part of Joy’s mind, living every moment with her, sympathising and hoping she recovers.
Finally through the use of this technique Galloway does convey Joy’s recovery. The flashbacks calm down and become less frequent for Joy. This allows the reader to see Joy is finally taking back control of her life and feel happy for her. “His mouth touched my neck then the shadow length ended, moved into the sun…” her final flashback is easier to understand than any other, she also seems calmer conveying recovery. Galloway has taken the reader on a journey of Joy’s struggle, from breakdown to recovery gaining respect, sympathy and in some cases perhaps even relation to this character Joy Stone.
Throughout the text Galloway’s use of flashbacks keep the reader intensely interested and involved. Due to this the reader can learn a lot and partially understand what it can be like to be so lost in depression. Galloway uses this technique extremely well to enhance the reader in the text.