Blog Post #2: "The Most Girl Part of You" and "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities"

The two stories that I am considering using for my essay are "The Most Girl Part of You" by Amy Hempel and "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities" by Delmore Schwartz. From "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities," I already mentioned three moments that I thought were appropriate for closer analysis. One of the moments, the dialogue towards the end, is the passage I'd use if I were to choose this story over the other.

1. the moment when the usher drags the narrator out of the movie theater and gives him a sort of reality check
As I mentioned in my last post, this moment marks the transition between the narrator's dream and real life. It connects back to the title: in dreams begin responsibilities. Through the dream, the narrator has realized some sort of responsibility that he has. The usher warns the narrator that he will be sorry if he doesn't do what he's supposed to do. It seems as though the responsibility the narrator has relates to his parents, as his responsibility was realized during the dream of his parents. It could also be a metaphor. His parents' relationship could symbolize something else, his own relationship, perhaps, that he has a responsibility to fix.

I really like this moment in the story and I think that there are so many possible interpretations of not only this moment, but of the entire story. Another possibility instead of "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities," however, is "The Most Girl Part of You."

1. the moment when the girl sees that Big Guy has sewn her name into his skin
This moment was both mysterious and creepy. Until now in the story, we haven't really seen Big Guy actively show how much the girl really means to him. Clearly she is important to him if when he gets in the mood to sew, he sews her name into his thumb. It must have been painful, and so it matches with the recurring theme in this story of self-inflicted pain. In the beginning, the girl and Big Guy were going to become blood brothers by sticking themselves with needles. Big Guy also chips his own tooth, and sews into his skin. Towards the end, Big Guy cuts into the girl's skin with a razor to stop her bug bites from itching. It would be interesting to analyze this moment when Big Guy sews the girls' name into his skin and to connect it to a possible recurring theme, which probably says more about the characters than is obvious.

2. the moment when the girl notices that Big Guy has written a series of questions in his notebook, and she thinks that they are meant for her to find
At first, it seems like Big Guy has written these questions in response to his mother's death. He is wondering what could have stopped her from killing herself. When the girl notices this, she reasons that Big Guy wanted her to see these questions. Why would she just assume that? What does the girl have to do with his mother's suicide? This moment is a little but confusing, but let's be honest, I only picked it because I didn't read carefully enough. In fact, just reading it now clears up the nonexistent confusion. I think.