TIME

The story starts with only one link to choose that will guide us to the first three months, June, July and August. It's an introduction to Anthony and his girlfriend, Betsey. One should notice that starting in August each month's tab will have as a title a key word related to the text. For example in August we have the key word 'toxins' which refers to Betsey's comment on the degeneration of our cells due to toxins and how it regenerates each seven years. Also in August you must choose one of the three months/paths offered. Choosing one month or the order will skip other months or perhaps add new ones. Therefore you can finish the story really quickly or read each of Anthony's experiences. Returning to August lets look at the three paths and their subplots:

1-September(1bed):

Betsey and Anthony think of moving together.

-It continues to the second option, October (St johns), and goes straight to July (1suggestions), October II (1chevron) and November II (1christians).

2-October(St johns):

Betsey and Anthony's diet and their trip on boat at Monterey Bay and Carmel.

-It includes a second part of November II omitted in the September's path, which talks about Betsey and Anthony's social life, some of which included going to the cinema and celebrating holidays such as Christmas.

3-November/July(1suggestions)

-It is the same text as seen in the July option if you follow the two previous paths. It talks about his new condition as a member of Alcoholic Anonymous and how he had a butt (cannabis) with Betsey in the afternoon. Therefore if you follow this path you'll miss their trips on the boat, going to the cinema, Christian concerts, etc.

Anyway, the three paths unify in January where Anthony's situation changes. Betsey leaves to become a nurse and he's left alone. In the second part of January, January(1questions), his name will be finally revealed by a secondary character, the wife of the man he used to work for. After this change, you'll have to choose between continuing through the next two months, March or June:

1-March (1tenlbs):

-If you choose this path you won't read June (1flowers) and the path won't unify but instead divide into three other possible options:

a) April (1gumby)

-Anthony is sad about no one remembering him anymore.

You can choose between October and September.

b) January II/September (1ends)

-The text is the same as in the September after April (1gumby). He complains about the routine now that Betsey is gone. It follows to the same October of April where he met Ginnie.

c) October III(1ginnie)

This is the October which the two first options unify. However this month allows you, unlike the other two, to choose an extra story about Ginnie and Anthony in April II(17chakra) where he compares Ginnie's and Betsey's hearts and mentions a form of enlightenment in Hinduism, the seventh chakra, that is an enlightenment that suddenly opens.

2-June (1flowers)

-It talks about a conference about flowers that he attended. Then it continues to either January(1ends) or November(1bginnie). It skips October III(1ginnie) and April II(17chakra).

The three options unify again in November II (1ginnie2) where Anthony comments how they don't talk about Ginnie's deceased boyfriend and hence he thinks that the present cannot answer the past. Here you can choose between April or February:

1-April II (17chakra)

This is the same text as offered back in October III (1ginnie). Previously in cases of November/July(1suggestions) or January II/September (1ends)  the sequence of time didn't matter but here it is a little bit weird to see the same text again, especially if you choose the path October III(1ginnie). It might look like a repetitive, routine of the couple but for the readers who followed the other paths it'll be the first time they read it. After this it'll go to the second option February(1jobs).

2-February(1jobs)

If you continue this path you won't have the second chance of reading April II (17chakra) but get to point where Ginnie breaks with Anthony too. He gets a job as a copy editor.

Both options unify in a final way at the last month, April III (1eat) where we can see how Anthony and Ginnie moved on, recovering from a hard time.

The time sequences in this story, although lineal in the whole part, it isn't specific. Anthony doesn't say in which year/years it is or the days that things occurred. Furthermore as seen in the analysis, the same events can be  seen in different months which would mean that he's not really aware of when things happened but just concerned about it happening. In the internal structure of the hypertext, I highlighted in cursive all the time expressions I could find in the text. Most of them didn't add anything to the story but some of them where key to the plot. Starting with the two woman, Betsey and Ginnie, they are dedicated special sections in the time of the story:

Betsey who became a prostitute at 14 years old almost the same time when Anthony at 12 and then at 14 started taking drugs and dropped out of school. This coincidental time where both lives were wasted can be seen in the metaphor of the two butts they had one night which looked like twins on the ground laying side by side. However, in a cold January they separated because all of a sudden Betsey recovers and leaves to become a nurse while Anthony is still recovering and trapped in a non-healthy vegetarian diet. 

The break up between them was already predicted metaphorically on a Thursday night of July (1suggestions) where Anthony comments that while he likes to watch TV, Betsey prefers to read. It is important to notice how Anthony will say the day the event occurred instead of only the month as usual. Only one more time would he specify the day, Tuesday mornings in June (1flowers) where he comments about the fiddlers that play in the School of Public Policy. Maybe this could be a metaphor that he didn't notice the clues of Betsey's coldness that Thursday considering it an extra information just like this Tuesday. 

More evidence of their relationship getting cold is seen in the extra part of November found in the path of October (St johns) where Anthony comments that after their start on the diet they stop holding hands in the movies and also Betsey spent more time in the library.

In respect to Ginnie, she met Anthony in October II (1ginnie) after he thought in September II (1ends) about how time can only be understood not in the end but when the beginning comes around again. Ginnie will be the final event to determine Anthony's story. Both their happier moment and Anthony's change in life will happen in two different Aprils. Traditionally in Spain, April is considered the month of rain. The fact that happiness arrives in the two months could be a memory of the brutal storm mentioned in August (toxins), when he felt the droplets of rain on his face that made him remember a pleasant sensation that he lost months or a year ago. In the first April, April II (17chakra), the relationship of Ginnie and Anthony is more like a father-son one and he read the seventh charka to her which is related to an enlightenment that can suddenly open in a connection with divinity. In the second April, April III (1eat), where besides commenting his success as a copy editor and Ginnie as a worker in a gift shop at Kauai, Anthony remarks his desire to see the moons of Venus eclipse. Venus again is another symbol of love and happiness. As a contrast of this positive change in Anthony, we have the very first April, April (1gumby), where he is completely depressed while carrying out his daily routine and forgotten by all the people he once knew. Going back to the brutal storm which occurred in August (toxins), we can see how the three Aprils are just a metaphor of the whole change in Anthony: The clouds forming in silence to create the storm, April (1gumby), to then let a quick and strong rain fall, April II (17chakra), and finally just a remembering of it with a bit of dew, April III (1eat).

To sum up, time sequence is vital and functions as a metaphor for Anthony's change due to meeting new and old people. Because the  time wasn't an important factor for the change, it doesn't have to be specific. Anthony didn't change because it was morning or night, Monday or Thursday but because Betsey and Ginnie appeared and disappeared over the months.

Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Carolina Cody Aldaz
cacodyal@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press