Porter's "The Fig Tree" was interesting to me because of the point of view. Miranda is this naive little girl who seems to have so much more insight than the adults who "know so much more than her." I love how Miranda questions the adults (for instance, when they are about to leave, and the father threatens to leave without them. She becomes very upset, and he says, "Baby, you know we wouldn't leave you for anything" and she wants to reply, "Then why did you say so?" (356).) I am always intrigued when a story is told from a child's perspective because it is one that I am not so used to thinking from, but when I finally do, I realize how interesting the world really is, and yet how confusing it is at the same time. This story probably would not have been interesting at all if told from an adult's point of view because there would be no story to tell. "Oh my grand-niece thought there were noises coming from the ground, but I told her they were the tree frogs and everything was fine." Not interesting at all.
It makes me wonder how Porter's "He" would have been different if it had been told from His perspective. I wonder if he would have thought that his parents were neglectful, I wonder if he really was cold all the time, or if he was scared of the bull and sow. I wish I were more creative and could write a story from His perspective that would do Him some justice. Perhaps that's what makes this story so intriguing. We have no idea what He thinks, and yet we wish we did. Obviously he has feelings, and obviously he has to be thinking. I remember a short story I read in another class called "The Letter A" by Christy Brown (which was also made into a movie that I should watch). It's about Christy Brown himself, who seemed utterly incapable of thought or speech when he was born. But his mother knows that his brain isn't dead, just that his body doesn't work as well. So she spends time teaching him, and after many years he learns to write with his left foot. This story is an autobiography of Christy Brown, and the excerpt I have read is amazing. I plan on reading the entire book someday, but I lack time when I'm in school. Anyway, I couldn't get Christy Brown out of my head as I was reading "He" because I knew there was another side to the story, and I was yearning to get it.
I wish to know why others think she wrote from the perspective that she did. Is it that she herself couldn't get into the mindset of a disable person? Did she think that no one would care if it were from that perspective? Did she think that we would learn more from looking at the situation from the mother's point of view? Did she just write it without thinking about that? (No, I don't believe she did such a thing, though it could be possible). Any opinions?
Tags: Chelsea Oaks, He, Perspective, Porter, reflective, The Fig Tree
The story could have been written another way, but it wasn’t. Porter wrote it from the family (the mother, really) to (presumably) highlight the human nature of misperceiving the emotions of those who aren’t forward with their thoughts and feelings. We couldn’t have got that same, “Oh crap! He feels so much more than we thought!” feeling if we were in His head the whole time. That’s not to say a story from His point of view wouldn’t be interesting, but it would not have done the same work, the work I presume Katherine Anne Porter wanted to do.
(The Fig Tree is the same situation, more or less.)
P.S. Sorry I keep deleting my comments. I write them without thinking and then realize there are massive errors in thought process or comprehension or... something. Then I edit and re-post. :)