"Aria" by Donald Barthelme
“Aria”
Donald Barthelme’s short story “Aria” is similar to a stream of consciousness, as the narrator continuously and uninterruptedly shoots out her thoughts. In the beginning of the story, the sentences are short, very short, some even only one word. This style of authentic freestyle riffing creates a rapid energy that resembles a rambling. It is like beats of a song all pouring out different cohesive and non-cohesive things. The paragraphs are all very long and each consists of abundant information that has no pretense. For example, she makes bible references when she says “the salt losing its savor” and the fowls of the air” but the reader has no idea what they are connected to. Barthelme employs this structure in order to emphasize on the emotional state of the narrator versus communicating the content to the reader. It is the style of this short story, no dialogue, no explanations, no depth or detail, and no specific characters that contribute to the randomness. The narrator jumps from one idea to another which hardly makes this short story a story but into a window into the mind of the character, effortlessly thinking and reflecting. The narrator seems very out of touch with the physical world she lives in and her emotional world. She says, “Took a walk in the light-manufacturing district, where everything’s been converted” (381). It is evident that the narrator has been removed from the public. She is unaccustomed to the newness as she says she saw strange things. She talks about her kids with a particular distance as well: “Wandered away, then they wandered back” and “They’re vague, you know, they tell you things in a vague way” (381). She repeats the words “wander” and “vague” twice showing her inability to describe their actions in more ways than one. It is clear that she is out of touch with her emotions about them. These quotes are informal. She speaks to a person in specific (“you”) and doesn’t use beginnings to her sentences, making them choppy and
Donald Barthelme’s short story “Aria” is similar to a stream of consciousness, as the narrator continuously and uninterruptedly shoots out her thoughts. In the beginning of the story, the sentences are short, very short, some even only one word. This style of authentic freestyle riffing creates a rapid energy that resembles a rambling. It is like beats of a song all pouring out different cohesive and non-cohesive things. The paragraphs are all very long and each consists of abundant information that has no pretense. For example, she makes bible references when she says “the salt losing its savor” and the fowls of the air” but the reader has no idea what they are connected to. Barthelme employs this structure in order to emphasize on the emotional state of the narrator versus communicating the content to the reader. It is the style of this short story, no dialogue, no explanations, no depth or detail, and no specific characters that contribute to the randomness. The narrator jumps from one idea to another which hardly makes this short story a story but into a window into the mind of the character, effortlessly thinking and reflecting. The narrator seems very out of touch with the physical world she lives in and her emotional world. She says, “Took a walk in the light-manufacturing district, where everything’s been converted” (381). It is evident that the narrator has been removed from the public. She is unaccustomed to the newness as she says she saw strange things. She talks about her kids with a particular distance as well: “Wandered away, then they wandered back” and “They’re vague, you know, they tell you things in a vague way” (381). She repeats the words “wander” and “vague” twice showing her inability to describe their actions in more ways than one. It is clear that she is out of touch with her emotions about them. These quotes are informal. She speaks to a person in specific (“you”) and doesn’t use beginnings to her sentences, making them choppy and