Fiction Analysis on "By and by" by Amy Bloom
Sydnie Sivongxay
ENG 2000
Christy Williams
23 February 2013
"By and By" by Amy Bloom "By and By" by Amy Bloom is told through a first-person narrative from the perspective of the deceased protagonist's roommate. Though the narrator shifts in and out of past and present tense, the story is simple. Anne (the protagonist) went on a camping trip with her boyfriend Teddy, and Eugene Trask (the antagonist) suddenly appeared to murder Teddy, then he kidnapped Anne, resulting in her missing for four days. In the end, Eugene tried to rape her near Lake Pleasant, and when she tried to defend herself, it gave Eugene a reason to turn and kill her instead. Her body was found near an old mine near Speculator by two kids searching for gold and garnet. If there was a word to describe this story, it would be "death," or any word along the same context. Upon hearing that word, goosebumps pop up all over my arms, shivers run down my spine, and I get this weird taste in my mouth. Unfortunately, that word, and words like it (dead, die, killed, etc.) appeared about sixteen times, give or take a few, in the text. This forced me to take a closer look at the meaning of death and what it means to me. For some reason, I have always taken death lightly; I never questioned what would or could happen afterwards, since I am confident about where I will end up. Reading this story made me aware of how real death is and how much it can affect loved ones during its aftermath. The narrator's descriptions and thoughts about death, Anne's story, and Eugene's actions, are the aspects of the story that I will focus on to support my argument on how this story changed my perception of death. Before analyzing the main characters of this story, I should state my former perception of death. Because I am a Christian, I have always known where I will end up. Therefore, the thought of death or dying never really made me afraid. I know that Heaven is my final resting place, so I have
ENG 2000
Christy Williams
23 February 2013
"By and By" by Amy Bloom "By and By" by Amy Bloom is told through a first-person narrative from the perspective of the deceased protagonist's roommate. Though the narrator shifts in and out of past and present tense, the story is simple. Anne (the protagonist) went on a camping trip with her boyfriend Teddy, and Eugene Trask (the antagonist) suddenly appeared to murder Teddy, then he kidnapped Anne, resulting in her missing for four days. In the end, Eugene tried to rape her near Lake Pleasant, and when she tried to defend herself, it gave Eugene a reason to turn and kill her instead. Her body was found near an old mine near Speculator by two kids searching for gold and garnet. If there was a word to describe this story, it would be "death," or any word along the same context. Upon hearing that word, goosebumps pop up all over my arms, shivers run down my spine, and I get this weird taste in my mouth. Unfortunately, that word, and words like it (dead, die, killed, etc.) appeared about sixteen times, give or take a few, in the text. This forced me to take a closer look at the meaning of death and what it means to me. For some reason, I have always taken death lightly; I never questioned what would or could happen afterwards, since I am confident about where I will end up. Reading this story made me aware of how real death is and how much it can affect loved ones during its aftermath. The narrator's descriptions and thoughts about death, Anne's story, and Eugene's actions, are the aspects of the story that I will focus on to support my argument on how this story changed my perception of death. Before analyzing the main characters of this story, I should state my former perception of death. Because I am a Christian, I have always known where I will end up. Therefore, the thought of death or dying never really made me afraid. I know that Heaven is my final resting place, so I have
Cited: Meyer, Michael. Ellen Thibault. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 9th Ed. Boston, Massachusetts: St. Martin 's, 2012. Bloom, Amy. "By and By." Meyer 494-499.