We Were the Mulvaneys Literary Analysis In the passage given from We Were the Mulvaneys, the author Joyce

Carol Oats uses a combination or literary techniques including imagery, symbolism, and syntax to characterize the speaker of the novel, Judd Mulvaney, as a clever and insightful young man. One of the ways that Oats is able to portray Judd as such a conscious person is by clearly illustrating the events occurring in Judds world and entirely disclosing his thoughts. Another way that Judd is characterized is by the use syntax, most notably when he is thinking to himself and being enlightened by his own nature. Immediately in the first lines of the excerpt given it is apparent that Oats uses imagery to convey the purpose of his writing. She begins by portraying by describing Judd as straddling his bike staring down into the water, not riding his bike and quickly glancing at the water, but straddling and staring as in deep thought as he looks into the water. At this point it becomes clear that water is being used to represent life as a whole, thus implying that as Judd is staring down into the water he is taking a profound look into life. It is not just water he is staring into, but fast-flowing clear water, shallow, shale beneath, and lots of leaves, and in a sense, looking into the fast-paced, empty, superficial life that he finds himself in with little more than a few other perishable skimming over his surface.

Returning to imagery, it is then stated that the sky is the color of lead; a grayish, looming, and often depressing color; as he tries to see his reflection upon the water. Instead, he states, he was able to see but only the dark shape of a head that could be anybodys head. If water is again referenced to life it can be said that Judd realizes that as far as Life is concerned, he is but another undistinguished common folk. This idea is supported by what immediately follows which states that he was hypnotizing himself the way kids do. Lonely kids, or kids not realizing theyre lonely. Judd then goes on to describe the railing over which he was leaning, informing the reader that they were pretty damn rotten and had suggested that the two of them replace them with new planks together. At this point he is will not fully aware that just as he thinks about replacing the rails because they have outlived their useful time, he himself will also be replaced after he is past his young useful years. The water is again referenced in the first paragraph, described by Judd that it happened as it always does that the water began to flow slower and slower. Yet at this point Judd is still unaware that he too will begin to move slower and slower as he ages, and time will continue to move helplessly forward. Upon Judds initial awakening, Oats uses syntax to establish the intensity of this event in Judds life. Judd noticed his heart beating ONEtwothree ONEtwothree! which introduces a faster pace to the writing, augmenting the seriousness of what is occurring in a much more

effective way that separating the heartbeats and using a comma or hyphen between them would have. Oats then goes on to use repetition when Judd thinks about how Every heartbeat is past and gone! Every heartbeat is past and gone! that depicts the extreme feeling that comes over Judd as his life is beating away. As he thinks about this, he asks himself if, not I, but if Judd Mulvaney, could die. By using his name instead of the word I he is distancing himself from the fact that he realized that he too will die, trying to make it seem as if it was another persons problem and he would not have to deal with it although he is well aware how on a farm living things are dying, dying, dying all the time, and repeats the word dying to show the ominous could that now looms over him. After describing the brief encounter with his dad and brother, there is a single paragraph distinguished from all the other by its length and simplicity which reads, Them, too. All of them. Every heartbeat past and gone. This paragraph returns to the short, concise structure used at the opening of the passage. This reveals that Judd has accepted the idea that has flared in his mind that everyone, including his dad, brother, and himself, are subject to death.