From: mbottorff@lshelby.com   
      
   William Vetter  wrote:   
      
   > For that matter, when am I ever trying to do anything that could be   
   > >   
   > > misunderstood?  Not only do I not know how to answer the question, I   
   > >   
   > > don't seem to even understand it.  ::rueful::   
   > >   
   > The following passage is from a literary fiction novel _Tending to   
   > Virginia_, by Jill McCorkle.  Virginia is the POV character.  She is   
   > pregnant.   
   >   
   > And she hates yellow.  She wishes there was absolutely nothing yellow in   
   > the entire world.  "Yellow is perfect for a nursery because it can go   
   > either way--boy or girl, yellow," the tennis guy's wife had said.  Screw   
   > her, impregnate her, paint her life yellow.   
   >   
   > Did you understand that?   
      
   As a general rule I don't understand literary novels.  That is, they   
   don't confuse me, they just seem like an utterly pointless waste of   
   time.   
      
   I can tell that the character here is emotionally overwrought.  I   
   suspect it has to do with her pregnancy.   
      
   But why do I need to "understand" that she is in a state because of her   
   pregnancy?  How does that move the plot along?   
      
   --   
   Michelle Bottorff -> Chelle B. -> Shelby   
   L. Shelby, Writer  http://www.lshelby.com/   
   Livejournal http://lavenderbard.livejournal.com/   
   rec.arts.sf.composition FAQ http://www.lshelby.com/rasfcFAQ.html   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)