The Vision of Tim Gautreaux

             Some of the most interesting things in Gautreaux's book, Same Place, Same Things, are the relationships within the many families. I didn't feel his stories were necessarily unpleasant, but most of them are without a stereotypical "happy family." There are husbands and wives that have empty relationships. In other situations you see the lack of a part of a family entirely, which causes what is left of the "family" to be less than whole. Finally there are families that seem to be complete, although they have social and economical situations that lead them to fall apart.
             In the first short story, "Same Place, Same Things," you learn of Ada, a woman who is marring over and over again, but seems to never actually be experiencing a loving relationship. You find out that Ada is making a habit of killing off her former husbands and is continuing this trend with the most recent one. Ada continues to go through several marriages. She seems to have every opportunity to begin her own family, but she apparently has no interest in that. Ada's character is clearly a corrupt person because of the fact that she kills off several prior husbands. We also see this in the fact that she clearly never loves any of her former husbands and completely disregards the sanctity of marriage.
             Another story that shows problems with a husband and wife is "Waiting for the Evening News". In this story Jessie does not seem to know his wife at all until he sees her on the news. He is often away from her and never really has much of a relationship. It isn't until he is about to turn himself in that he calls Lurleen, his wife, and suddenly realizes how much he is neglecting this person that apparently cares about him so much. You see that Jessie lives most of his life in a marriage he knows so little about.
             Other stories a husband and wife seem fine,
             ...

More Essays:

APA     MLA     Chicago
The Vision of Tim Gautreaux. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 21:25, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/15059.html