About the SPACE______________________________________________________
This
is a work based on the space of this hypertext. The main purpose is to analyse
the vast majority of places where the story takes place. But as it is a short
story we don’t have much information to analyse but we can work with every
detail as we can from the space we found.
The
entire story is located in the same city without moving from there. In one
side, there is the main location, West Virginia (USA), at the campus of a
university. But there is not more information about this place (just that it’s
there where Charmin was born). On the other side, the next space that it is
showed is the inner office of professor Blat, where the main story takes place
and Charmin describes the most. Moreover, at these lines, it is possible to
notice that this is going to be the most important space in the story. Once at
the office, Charmaine, waiting for Blat, is describing the surroundings outer the office.
Moreover, at professor Blat’s office is where all the
story starts and what give the plot of the story to the main characters.
Despite we don’t have so much space information, but this is what Charmin
describes the most with all the situations and the feelings both of them have.
Whereas Charmin is describing what she is
feeling about Blat’s intention, he is looking at her chest and thinking
that she is feeling the same for him; as he describes her staring at him with the same eyes.
The situation here is so different because he keeps describing her body and
dress and the way she look at him, but also, how his mind went blank thinking
about laying his head on her thigh; so there is one situation and the same
place with two different stories at the same time.
In
the second link (2ºpage) she
makes a little mention of two more places. One is the court, where she plays
basketball, and describes with emphasis; so we can notice that this is the
place where Charmin feels more comfortable, because she loves basketball and
that remains to her father. The other place mention here is the classroom,
where she feels: “like an alien” (line 9) and the main reason is because she is
always thinking about the game, despite the fact that she has good marks being
always a great student. Another place in the story is the hospital where Blat
is after the accident at his office. We don’t have many descriptions about this
place, but the main issue here is to describe the situation in what Blat is,
like: “an oxygen
mask strapped over his face, tubes dripping fluids taped into both arms”(line
2-3). Then we know that there is a lounge at the end of a long corridor,
because Blat’s wife is talking to reporters.
Moreover
there are secondary places too, which have less mention than the others, like
the office where the teachers are after the incident, talking between them
about what to do with Charmaine. Furthermore there are other places around the
campus, where the students are talking about Charmin and Blat and telling all
the rumours floating in the campus life. This is because the author does not
say clear what did actually happened and people from the campus are talking
about their theories based on the everyday life, even talking about things that
never happened, like saying that she is a
lesbian or that he has died!
Finally
we could say that despite the fact that there is not much information about all
the places in the story, it is completely easy to imagine the story in each
place and the reader don’t get lost through the story, because the descriptions
all well explained and you can follow it without problems.
Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Carmina Campos García
macamga3@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press