Week #1 Blog Post

Hi, Karen Chau here.

In "River of Names," Allison structures the story as a collection of snippets from her life. She begins the narrative with a flashback of her childhood and brings us back to the present day with Jesse throughout the story. This back and forth transition allows the reader to see the effects of Allison's past on her current perspective on life and decisions. The characters are also introduced in a disorganized fashion, which ties back to the title of story. Their names are freely flowing through her memories, almost indistinguishable from each other like a river. I especially liked the transition from Cousin Butch's story to Allison waking up in the middle of the night, screaming. This suggests to me that perhaps, all these clips of Allison's past are the dreams or rather, nightmares/thoughts that return to haunt her. Aside from the structure of the story, the use of first person strengthens the connection between the author's thoughts and actions. The vocabulary that is used in the dialogues in the story illustrates the personality of each character and of Allison. It allows the author to present the readers with her inner struggles while keeping the tone of the story neutral. When speaking about certain issues such as being honest with Jesse, Allison does express guilt and this carries on throughout the rest of the story. All of Allison's gestures, whether it is the tone, the title of the story, the plot or the subject matter, are subtle.