More Real than Real Life

For my blog post this week I have decided to reflect on a particularly striking aspect of one of the short stories that we read this week. The story that had the most lasting effect on me, by far, was “Teenage Wasteland,” by Anne Tyler. The element of this story that stuck with me was the amazing reality and believability of the story. While some authors and writers feel the need to give their readers a kind of all-knowing omniscience, in this story, the reader is only allowed to know as much as the characters themselves do. In this way, Tyler depicts for the reader a situation that he or she could easily have experienced in his or her daily life. In reading the story, I was immediately struck particularly by Daisy’s situation with her son Donny. Though I am not especially fond of children and do not intend on ever having any, I could clearly see myself as feeling the same kind of confusion and bewilderment as to how to properly deal with Donny’s problems as Daisy feels. In real life, such situations where no clear path to resolution is visible are quite commonplace. Many children who run away are never found or heard from again, just as occurs with Donny in the story. When the story turned toward the relationships regarding Cal, I could clearly see in my mind the existence of exactly such a person as Cal. His character is so real that one can envision him perfectly. Another method by which Tyler makes her story real is her precise and vivid imagery. In another parallel to reality, when she introduces Donny as a character, he is first described by what is, according to Daisy, his most notable and distinguishing feature, his hair. With human beings being such visually oriented creatures, this description-before-introduction style is much the same as the way one actually comes to know someone. One first sees, then speaks, and only after this is a name supplied for the person. Tyler also does this, introducing Donny by name only after he has been described. Ultimately, the very plot of the tale is realistic. There are certainly millions of cases, nearly exactly like Donny’s, of schoolchildren the world over who are discontented with their scholastic experiences. I am certain that many mothers can comprehend Daisy, alongside many teenagers who might relate to her feelings of insecurity and inadequacy just as much as they would to Donny’s angst and hatred of school. These are all elements that Tyler has used in order to bring her story to life in a way that many writers are not able to do. The crystal-clear realism of the story makes one wonder whether the story may be told from a personal experience on Tyler’s part, as one would need an amazing level of personal understanding in order to depict the events of “Teenage Wasteland” so accurately.