600 Word Post Revision

The author, Mary Karr, loads this book full of heavy and moving imagery. Throughout the entire time we have been reading The Liars' Club we have been discussing imagery and the role it plays. We have blogged about different images and how they make us feel about certain characters. For example, the father is a heavy drinker and a liar, but because of the way he is described and the imagery that is used I seem to like the guy. I believe imagery plays the most important role in her writing when talking about her mother and her fits of nervousness. It shows how unstable she really is and how shocking this is to Mary. Her breakdown was what stuck with me the most after reading this assignment.

The first image of her mother in this reading section that really stood out to me was the following, "Mother turned around slow to face me like old Tony Perkins. Her face came into my head one sharp frame at a time. I finally saw in these instants that Mother's own face had been all scribbled up with that mud-colored lipstick. She was trying to scrub herself out..." (148-149). This is the part where you see how full blown crazy she really is. Before reading this I thought maybe she just struggled with occasional nervous breakdowns fueled by binge drinking. However, after this passage you can tell that she has absolutely lost her mind. Visually she strikes me as a mix between a zombie and the joker as portrayed by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. I imagine her makeup and hair is just as wild and out of control as Ledger's. I see her movements in my mind resembling that of a zombie. She slowly turns her head around and incoherently stares at her daughter. This is a really creepy image that Karr draws up and is a little frightening. I can only imagine how a little girl would react to this. I'm sure it would be extremely scary and put a person into shock. This image sets a tone for the rest of her breakdown that day as she sets things on fire and comes in with a knife.

A second passage the I found to be very powerful was, "Then a dark shape comes to occupy that light, a figure in the shadow. She has lifted her arms and broadened the stance of her feet, so her shadow turns from a long thin line to a giant X. And swooping down from one hand is the twelve-inch shine of a butcher knife..." (155). This selection shows the full extent of the mother's "nervousness." We all knew that she was crazy and was even willing to drive everyone of a bridge, but I did not think that she had it in her to savagely butcher her own young daughters. This part of the book really had me on the edge of my seat wondering how far she was going to go. The suspense and curiosity I felt was because of Karr's ability to paint a vivid image. She does this extremely well when dealing with her mother and events that seem particularly frightening or gruesome. The first part of this quote that talks about her entering the room is probably the best part. It seems as if the mother is some evil figure whose darkness is so great that she absorbs the light. Rather than saying she walked in the doorway, Karr uses this description. This portrayal is way more powerful and better at painting the picture of someone who has lost everything including their own mind. The mentioning of a knife is scary in itself, but when she introduces the knife as a shadowy outline it is way more effective.

Mary Karr does a great job of creating and utilizing powerful imagery. Without her ability to do this The Liars' Club would not be the entertaining book that it is. Karr's writing is at the top of its game when describing her family and most importantly her mother. The scene and passages retelling the breakdown show how effective strong imagery can be. I hope there is more great imagery to come in following books.