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Post by pjharris on Dec 16, 2013 23:49:37 GMT
Self reflective story. By that I mean you get to see this naive girl as the way that most other people see people in her situation. The man sees her that way too. Hopeless and, though full of possibilities, most likely the real outcome will be her moving on from him even though she is persistent. But it causes us to take a step back and realize how often this mindset occurs in our lives. Perhaps, what do other people see in us and think we are fooling ourselves, like the man sees her. I agree with the coming of age category, but personally I'm tired of putting so many things into that.
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Post by fionabyrne on Dec 16, 2013 23:54:55 GMT
While reading "No One's a Mystery" I felt like I was back in junior English, studying the difference between realism and romanticism. I remember writing my "Two Ways of Looking at a River" journals and finding myself making a piece romantic by making it optimistic, and realistic, pessimistic. I understand now that the styles are more complex, but still I felt like Jack and the narrator were set in place to illustrate the different writing styles, or rather different mindsets and lifestyles. This is most clear when Jack tells the narrator what baby breath really smells like. While reading, I also couldn't help but assess who would fare better in the real world, and sadly it seems that what makes jack jaded also makes him more able to handle the world.
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Post by jessicalee on Dec 17, 2013 0:05:57 GMT
I agree with Steve in that this story is one about love. I also agree that this is realistic fiction. I find it difficult, however, to label this story as a "Coming of Age" tale because the narrator does not undergo a so-called coming of age at all. By the end of the story, she remains as naive and head-over-heels in love as she was to begin with. This is particularly evident as she refuses to believe the reality that Jack proposes. Although it could be considered a love story, "No One's a Mystery" is not necessarily a romance novel because the ending is in no way happy and satisfying. Thus, I pose that the genre is a type of realistic romance. It comprises of a one-sided love in terms of the narrator, who is stuck in a very realistic situation in which the man she loves does not love her back. Thus, I think it is safe to amalgamate the two genres into one.
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Post by sheridanf on Dec 17, 2013 0:06:13 GMT
I'd like to argue something a bit different and say that "No One's a Mystery" has some elements of a horror story in it. Horrors don't necessarily have to be jump scares and monsters; it can also be more of a psychological story, or even a Kafka-like "We're all going to die anyway, haha" story without the comedy and with all of the terror that comes with growing up. It's the latter story that I can see "No One's a Mystery" fitting under. Here we see an idealistic 18-year-old who believes (this isn't just wishful thinking, she truly and actually believes) that she will continue to love and eventually get married to and have children with Jack, who represents cold, hard reality. While the narrator wistfully talks of her wonderful but naive plans of the future, Jack responds with definitive phrases such as "No, you can't" and "Not in your heart of hearts, you don't" that demonstrate exactly how sure he is of how much her plans will fail. What makes this scary is that Jack is the one controlling the success of her plans. She's all for marrying him, and they would certainly get married if Jack was 100% ready to get a divorce and marry her. Unfortunately, Jack is 100% not going to get a divorce and marry her.
Now, imagine being the main character. You have an idea in your head for the future. You are absolutely sure that this idea will make you the happiest you can be in life and are so willing to go through with it, but you encounter someone or something that tells you "No, this could never happen." Eventually you are going to realize this is true and will become one of the most miserable human beings on Earth. This is the main character's situation and is quite possibly one of the most terrifying (yet totally plausible and real) experiences we go through.
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Post by jessicapollard on Dec 17, 2013 0:20:02 GMT
Perhaps it is the concise nature of the story that makes it somewhat difficult to label, and while I agree that "No One's a Mystery" falls into the category of realistic fiction, it seems things could get more specific. Like many other posters, I hesitate to label it as a coming of age story because there is no major epiphany , not because of the hopeful nature of the narrator. In fact, her statements and conjectures are subtly dark and somewhat realistic in the context of a potential marriage with Jack. Her hypothetical first year entry states, " Jack should be home any minute now...". The next year, she writes "Jack should be home by now..." and in her final entry, she fails to even mention the man's name. It's as though the narrator knows that if she were to be with Jack, she'll inevitably end up in the same situation as his current wife. So it goes. I'm not entirely sure this works, but I'd like to call "No One's a Mystery" a satirical romance, as it explores the romantic relationship between two people with a dark, almost darkly comical, twist. The title itself speaks to this sort of obviousness in human interaction, no one is a mystery in the sense that many relationships and actions in life are depressingly predictable. The author might be using the dramatic nature of the situation (the predicting of the future, the cold way in which Jack shoves the narrator onto the floor) to point out the vicious cycles that comprise (never gonna fall for)Modern Love. (BTWs I think the Bowie song abides well to this context)
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Post by austinellerbruch on Dec 17, 2013 0:29:46 GMT
I would call this a tragic romance. Here we have two individuals with two totally different ideas of their relationship: one living in a dreamlike fantasy and the other foreseeing things realistically. Jack knows how the relationship is going to end,he'll eventually have to go back to his marriage and end this little fling that he has with the narrator. The narrator, young as she is, is still living with a fairytale perception of her and Jack's relationship. She is convinced that her relationship with Jack is destiny and completely a product of love. It will surely be a tragedy for the narrator finally opens her eyes to the pitiful reality of her relationship with Jack,
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rishi
New Member
Posts: 38
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Post by rishi on Dec 17, 2013 1:21:07 GMT
Merging reality with characteristics of an ideal love story, "No One's a Mystery" is a practical romance story. In the story, the reader is presented with the realistic contrast between optimistic expectations and practical, discouraging reality. This disparity is best demonstrated through the characters' disagreement over what Jack's unnamed partner (not his wife) will write in her diary in the future. The practical Jack explains, "In two years you'll write, 'I wonder what that old guy's name was, the one with the curly hair and the filthy dirty pickup truck and time on his hands'" (Tallent 247). Conversely, Jack's optimistic partner claims, "In a year I'll write, 'Jack should be home any minute now...I don't know if I can wait until after the trout a la Navarra to make love to him'" (Tallent 247). Ideally, both characters, at the time of the story, want to be together forever, but Jack maturely observes that this realistically will not happen. Jack's romantic desires and realistic concerns unite as he expresses how he feels about the diary entries; he says, "'I like yours,' he said, 'But I believe mine'" (Tallent 247).
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amychen
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“But the wild things cried, “Oh please don’t go—we’ll eat you up—we love you so!”
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Post by amychen on Dec 17, 2013 1:27:09 GMT
Elizabeth Tallent's "No One's a Mystery" is a postmodern version of romantic young adult literature. The typical plotline goes something like this:
John and Mary meet. John has a dark, mysterious past. Mary decides she will accept him for his past, however terrible it may be. John and Mary have adorable, perfect dates. John and Mary get into a single argument over something trivial---they both realize they were being silly. The argument brings them closer together. John and Mary have more adorable dates. John starts becoming distant. Mary starts suspecting John. John reveals that he is terrible. John is actually a jerk. Mary is heartbroken but life moves on ("How did I miss the signs?") Mary has a heart-to-heart conversation about love with her mother. John is never mentioned again. Mary gets over John and makes new friends.
In Tallent's piece, we're thrown into the middle of the relationship. The postmodern aspect of the piece is the perspective. While in typical romantic young adult literature, the focus is on narration and the emotions of the narrator, our narrator interjects little to no personal opinion through narration, excluding dialogue. By taking out the romanticized narration typically found in the genre, focusing on the facts of the situation (i.e. Jack's poor treatment of the narrator, the narrator's naive responses, and Jack's awareness of the relationship's impermanence), Tallent points out the genre's weaknesses, humanizing Jack by focusing on his back-story and self-pity---"I wonder what I ever really saw in Jack...It's true he taught me something about sex. It's true there wasn't ever much else to do in Cheyenne" (247)---while simultaneously pointing out the narrator's seemingly conscious ignorance---she ignores Jack's statement, "It must have been a fast divorce" (247)---which Jack takes full advantage of, and possibly manipulates by trying to get her to pity him.
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Post by hannahlewman on Dec 17, 2013 1:43:07 GMT
This is a genre that I like to refer to as "Truthpunch Vignette." Why have I so elegantly dubbed this genre "Truthpunch Vignettee?" Let me explain.
The vignette part of this genre is pretty easy to understand. These stories are short and paint a vivid picture through carefully selected details. The punch of truth comes around the end of the story, about when the reader says "damn. That's true." I personally find this to be one of the most masterful genres because it packs some major whoa in a very low word count. The best part about Truthpunch vignettes is that anyone can says "whoa, that's like my life." Even if the vignette doesn't fit a reader's life, the truthpunch will.
Now, movie to "No One's a Mystery," I think the vignette part is pretty obvious. The author paints a small but detailed picture that lets readers guess at what lies beyond the border. To get to the truthpunch, though, I personally said "whoa" on the line "'I like yours... But I believe mine'"(247). That's when I had two thoughts. 1. Man, yeah, life does seem to be that crappy. 2. How did I feel and think so many things in such a small word span? It was like a punch in the face of literary truth.
And there you have the Truthpunch Vignette.
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Post by avinash on Dec 17, 2013 2:14:09 GMT
"No One's a Mystery" is a challenging story to classify (for me, at least) because there are two different ways to read it. The first time I read the story, I placed myself in Jack's shoes even though the story is written from the eighteen-year old's perspective (the narrator). That's because I felt like Jack had more to lose in those story. He could lose his relationship, or what is left of it, with his wife and as time passes he realizes that the narrator will forget who he is. When I read "No One's a Mystery" from the narrator's perspective I felt that the narrator made a promise that she couldn't keep. This signifies her youth and the fact that her life is just beginning in terms of the many opportunities she will have available to her in the future. "No One's a Mystery" describes a relationship between two individuals who are on two completely opposite paths. I am not sure that there is a genre to completely describe what I have said above, but to encapsulate my perception of this story I would say it is fiction that deals with a polar relationship. If I had to classify this story, though, I would put it under psychological fiction because the story focuses on the perceptions two individuals have concerning their future. It covers what both characters feel their respective futures hold. Psychological fiction focuses on such mental aspects of characters.
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Post by abbylyons on Dec 17, 2013 2:24:01 GMT
The genre is realistic fiction. I don’t believe it’s a coming-of-age story because I don’t believe that trying to steal someone else’s spouse is part of growing up. I don’t find the narrator to be a sympathetic youth who is lost herself in love, because I refuse to accept that being attracted to someone means that you lose your moral compass and you lose control over your ability to do the right thing. 18-year-olds are not children and are quite capable of controlling their behavior, whatever their feelings might be.
Jack’s behavior in taking advantage of a young woman looking for a husband is realistic, but I would not go so far as to call it inevitable. He is as much in control of his actions as the narrator is, so he is equally to blame for their reprehensible behavior.
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Post by amysohlberg on Dec 17, 2013 2:54:23 GMT
I classify this as a paradise-lost story. The theme that composes the main backbone to the text is the conflict between the way the narrator idealizes what she's going to write in her diary and the cold reality that Jack presents. His words, "'I like yours,' he said. 'But I believe mine.'" point to his fall from innocence, his transition into the "adult world" where fairytales don't come true. This idea is further emphasized by the contrast between old, married, smoking, drinking, bleached-pants Jack and the naivety of the diary-keeping narrator. She's trying to hold onto the innocence and simplicity of her youth, but it's slipping through her fingers: "'It doesn't matter. I believe mine.' 'Not in your heart of hearts, you don't.'" This story shows the impact of the fall of the narrator, as she gives in to her temptation and loses her innocence. I would even say that it's not just any paradise being lost here, but that this story embodies the biblical fall of man.
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Post by rubyking on Dec 17, 2013 3:16:19 GMT
Hmmm... Stage 3 Lovers fiction? I call it so after my own thoughts on the journey between two lovers. Stage 1 is culmination of passion, perhaps a little hesitant at first. Stage 2 is probably the best stage, because you wear your best underwear and the sex is great and nothing can get in your way. But Stage 3, things start to go downhill because the recognition of what you're doing is potentially wrong comes into play. 1000 thread Egyptian cotton sheets are traded for cheap motel rooms, and keeping the discrete nature to your relations becomes sloppy. There's still a component of romance present, but it's a bit tragic. You rely on your time together in an unhealthy manner. You know where it's headed. But you're almost too lazy to get out, and there's the one fluttering ribbon of gleaming optimism floating around in your heart that says you'll make it out without a broken heart.
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Post by shannonfender on Dec 17, 2013 3:26:25 GMT
If you take " No One's a Mystery" at face value, the young girl offers an idyllic (and perhaps naive) vision of life, whereas the older gentlemen offers a more realistic vision through his own experience. I hesitate to say this, but I would *generally* agree with this archetype. Younger people do tend to romanticize how their lives will turn out when we all know that life is rarely perfect. Jack, by contrast, has discovered the inevitability of disappointment. Thus, No Ones A Mystery fits into your classic coming-of-age short story.
But after I finished reading, I couldn't ignore the feeling that this story isn't entirely one-sided. There is an equally important aspect to "No Ones a Mystery" that is evident through the juxtaposition of the two characters. It reveals the foolishness of thinking life is going to be good and dandy, while it also reveals a profound sadness for when a person believes there is nothing to hope for. Dumbledore once said that "It does not do well to dwell on dreams", but "No Ones a Mystery" also reveals that it does not do well to be hardened from all the joys of life. Therefore, this short story can best be classified as "juxtaposed realism" (pretend that's a thing) because it offers two very absolute (but also very very real) expectations to create balanced vision of reality.
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Post by natalieskowlund on Dec 17, 2013 3:29:15 GMT
I would classify "No One's a Mystery" as a "Snapshot" story. What I mean by "Snapshot" is the notion of capturing one instance, one memory, in words and vividly describing it. Thus, in doing so, the author reveals truths smaller yet just as eternal as those relayed in more plot-driven stories and novels.
I imagine this story in particular is a snapshot of a young woman hesitantly gazing beyond the confines of a car--her childish "bubble"--out at the constantly changing and quite harsh reality of adulthood. At the age--18 years old-symbolic of the definitive transition from childhood to adulthood, this girl seems trapped in a dangerous paradox: her sense of idealism vs. her sense of logic. When Jack shoves her down in the truck to hide her from his wife, the girl narrates, "...I inhaled the musk of his cigarettes in the dashboard ashtray and sang along with Rosanne Cash on the tape deck" (Tallent 246). The contrast of the girl crouching on "the dirty floor of the pickup" (Tallent 246) and her singing along with a song is intense but telling. The girl is being forced to hide in a dingy truck, smelling cigarette smoke, yet she continues to sing as if nothing is abnormal. The girl seems more to refuse than deny her circumstances, acknowledging them but still insisting on being optimistic.
The entire story is very much a collection of these sensory details and ambiguous dialogue. More than a straightforward story, "No One's a Mystery" is a still-life depicting an extremely specific but universal conflict associated with maturation: finding the balance between rosy daydreams and the misfortunes of some aspects of reality. Perhaps ultimately, Tallent is trying to say that becoming an adult has "kind of a bittersweet smell," a transition both freeing and frightening.
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