Space
The author manages, in thirty eight-brief sections, to weave a dense
texture. He provides the reader the opportunity to explore paths narrated in
first or third person, to begin in medias
res, to consider the thief and his motivations, to consider in more than
one way what prompted this story, and even to take brief turns into Marilyn´s fantasies, in which she brings her dilemma to an
abrupt, unlikely halt.
In part 1 of the story the author confesses us the prior existence of
Marilyn in a previous life, we don’t know where but as he says ´´she has to
have had a life´´.
Following the thread of the first person, the author confirms to us that
no longer he is in the old office, occupying his writing-desk, since a friend
of him got his old office. In part 14, the author mentions that the secretary
is not at her desk (therefore the action takes place in a new office somewhere)
and whereas he was looking for her, a thief entered in his office for robbing
the purse and as a consequence, the thief got into his house for robbing
electronic things.
Following the paths of the third person, the characters are situated in
offices or in the corridors. Beginning the story, Marilyn was sitting at her
desk and while she was making some comments on a contract she heard some voices
which came ´´from outside the door´´ (perhaps it was the hallway).
As her secretary was missing, she had to abandon her office and her desk
in order to walk off till her secretary´s work
office, and here we have a description of the place ´´the trip outside and down
the corridor to her secretary´s work station
comprised twenty-five steps´´. ´´Marilyn by now in the hallway, halfway to her secretary´s workstation´´ (and with a picture about the
hallway) ´´ High wood dividers of dark polish separated the workstations. The
opposing walls were upholstered, padded to absorb sound as did the thick pile
carpet, the special ceiling tiles installed for their acoustic efficiency. The
padded walls, decorative as they might be, had always given Marilyn the
impression that she had entered an expensive and discreet "facility,"
an asylum nonetheless´´.
About the secretary´s place we also have a
picture, since the author informs ´´at the deserted secretarial station,
Marilyn picked up the phone´´.
We also noticed an explanation about the secretary´s
workstation ´´Desk, the high-back chair
pushing back on a worn plastic mat, the transfer of weight from the buttocks to
the feet, the shift in balance as the muscles engage and the body pulls
upright, Marilyn undergoing a transition through the stages of human
development.´´
Marilyn walked again ´´the length of the corridor in both directions´´
in order to find Sally. The space by where she passes is described as ´´ A stride length of three feet. Many steps were required. She
passed the workstation for Penkert´s assistant, Rohberg's, Klevine's, and Lachares'. No
Sally´´.
Coming back to her
office she noticed a man who came out from her office but as she stepped in his
direction he turned and hurried off. While she was sitting at her desk, she
figures out that her purse was gone and therefore she had to call the
authorities. In this part 23, the author facilitates us her address, something
that makes us to understand better the respective space, which is "Room 7897.
Extension 6021.´´ In her office there is a small wall
closet where Marilyn has a blue sweater.
When Sally
disappeared again, we don’t know where, the phone was ringing and Marilyn had
to go again in her office to pick up the phone. On the phone was the thief who
informed her that he was into her house. By means of the confirmation of the
thief we found out that she has a very pretty house, according to him ´´ it’s a
nice place, real nice. I like the flower garden out black´´. We also find out
that she has many high-school books in her den. After the end of the call she
went back into her office standing at her desk. After the security call she had
to go downstairs for a package. Within the package it was her purse and her
personal things.
About the place
where Marilyn was having lunch, in part 15, the author describes it ´´carefully
constructed and landscaped, the park had a series of paths that followed the
rise and fall of slight inclines, leading around in a tour of the grounds. The
park had comfortable wrought-iron benches, some located in the sun, others under what would be shade when the trees planted
behind the benches grew to maturity. The manicured lawns sparkled in the sun
from a watering that finished before the lunch hour began´´.
When the author
offers us a fantasy of Marilyn, she is outside her office, outside the building
perhaps because she ´´ rounded the corner´´. In that location she was waiting
the thief for giving her back the purse promised by him.
Related to the
location of her third sexual experience, in part 30, we only know that is a
room. We deduce that is not her house but the house of her girlfriend, since
she spent the night with her girlfriend, and her brother slipped into their
room.
If we begin in medias res, part 12, we have the description of the action,
from down the hallway, which was created by the thief. In this way we find out
that the edifice has a reception station and nearly an elevator. The building
is presented as a circle and the thief had to return to the receptionist lobby.
Suddenly he was out of sight and ´´she came around the next corner in time to
see him banging on the fire door, flinging it open´´.
The author makes a
remark stating that all we need to know is that ´´Marilyn was drawn out of her
office long enough´´ and this remark ´´is all we need to know, the rest becomes
history´´. Making this statement the author tries to make us to imagine the
picture of the action, and the exactly place where Marilyn was situated when
her purse was gone.
In this part12, the author confesses us the
real reason which prompted the story. It was his grandmother who believed she
would survive and had faith in surgeons and in God. She arrived at the hospital
in order to be placed in a cold operating room while he was waiting for good
news in the corridor. ´´Outside the window children shouted, a father threw a
ball. From the angle of the window sash I saw only empty buildings when the
telephone rang.´´
Most of the story
develops in Marilyn´s office, in her secretary´s workstation and also in a park where she has
lunch. As we have seen above we have a description of the offices, of the
hallway and also of the park. Although we don’t have the exactly address of the
park, we suppose that is located near to the edifice. Nevertheless we have been
informed with the address of Marilyn´s office,
something that facilitates knowledge to us where the action is developed. Even
if the action is a static one, placed in two offices, at least we were provided
with a good description of them and with an address, as we have seen above.
On the other hand
the author relates another space which is Marilyn´s house.
We found out that is a very well neat location, with a garden, flowers and with
a book library since high-school.
In the first part,
the story is centered in a character, named Jones, who will disappear
throughout the story, but even so we were interested in knowing the location
from where he goes to be dismissed and this is Aerospace. Jones is ´´about to
laid off from a job in Aerospace that he´s held for
nearly twenty hears.´´
Related with the
reactions in part 37 and 34, we are informed that Marilyn had a relationship
and by that time she moved in with her fiancé in his apartment. Jeffrey, her
boyfriend, stayed out until three am and Marilyn went to bed around midnight.
Surprisingly her fiancé arrived accompanied by his friend and by a young girl.
They were watching television when Marilyn went downstairs. The author mentions
that ´´the apartment was one of those two-level townhouse jobs made of wood
frame and covered by plaster and lathe. The walls are thin, and shift. The bell
of a cat tinkling downstairs can be clearly heard on the second floor. The
sound of laughter from a young woman, almost twenty, makes its way upstairs,
transmitted by air and wood´´.
In the part 26, where the author speaks about Marilyn´s grandmother, the location is somewhere faraway from Mariyn´s house, since the author states that she ´´spent her summers and winters on the other coast pretending she had no time for little things´´ like gathering every year with the family in the house of her grandmother. The house was positioned close to a lake and Marilyn ´´was the last one to leave the lake and her place before the stone wall where the water lapped up high.´´
There are three
attempts to explain the psyche of the thief, presented from the compass of
three different people. In the first explanation, part 29, the thief was
watching television, in the second one, part 31, he
was gathered with some friends in a distant place from their home. In this
explanation, where the young boys were located, the room ´´was blue, on the
walls hung copies of the work of famous impressionists. The upperclassmen said
it gave the room class. I always thought the pictures a sham. Take them away
and you'd expose us for what we really were: a bunch of little boys, their
first time away from home, pretending to be adults.´´ In the third explanation
rationale of the psyche, the author speaks about a 10 year old child, whose
father killed himself and consequently the reporters came over to his house for
a possible interview with the young boy. When the reporter asked him how it
felt like, the young boy mentioned that he will go to
This analysis
gives us the opportunity to imagine the hypertext ´´If we even did anything´´.
The author described us each space and informed us about every location where
the action took place. Without these information we
would not have been able to visualize the story and to analyze it either.
Academic year
2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Tirca Mihaela
mitir@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press