1.) First the reader doesn't know if anyone is really telling the truth. Ray and Una both confess to having sex when she was 12 and he was 40, but they make it seem like it was love "never desired anyone that age again(49)". I've read that the type of person who commits this type of crime NEVER does it just once. I believe Ray is keeping a secret from the readers and from Una.
2.) This secret is like The Road because the reader is left to make judgments based on the information given. Ray mentions that he read about people who sexually abuse minors and he said they never do it just once. The girl who walks in at the end is 12, exactly 12, the exact age that Una was, way to much of a coincidence. In The Road the reader doesn't know what the disaster was, but we know there was explosions and that it took time for people to die off so in both cases the reader has to infer.
3.) Understanding this secret is important because at the end the reader doesn't know what happens next, does Una follow Ray out to confront his significant other? Does she go away relieved of her emotional burden? Is Ray's urge to abuse children revived by seeing her and now he goes on a child abuse rampage? If the reader knows exactly what Ray has been doing in the years since Una they can make better judgments.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
i completely agree that the reader does have to infer many things throughout both stories. the stories are wrote so you believe one thing, but one small comment is dropped into the mix which completely changes your outlook on everything throughout the book. i believe it is to weird that the girl at the end of blackbird is exactly 12 years old. it lets you believe that Ray is also using this 12 year old as well.
I agree the reader has to infer what is going to happen in the future or what did happen in both books. The reader has to take what the author gave them to try and figure out what will happen. For example in The Road the reader assumes that the boy went off with good people because they wrapped up his dad like he asked, let him carry his own gun, and they had other kids with them. In Blackbird there is not too much information to let the reader know what will happen. It seems like Una and Ray were in love or are still in love by the fact that they still recognized each other and were willing to get intimate again. However, when you see the other 12 year old you feel that Ray is still having romantic relationships with minors. The secrets are important because they are what make each book.
I agree that the reader is almost forced to infer what really has happened and will happen to the main characters in both texts. After reading Balckbird, I was left to make my own assumptions as to whether Ray remained a petifile since Una. Also, I question Ray's intentions with his present girlfriend's daughter who is 12 years old. In The Road,the type of disaster is never stated and the reader is left to wonder whether the little boy has found peaceful people in the end. If both stories were more specific about these details, I feel that the reading would take a different tone.
I agree from the books point of view that in the end you may believe that Ray still has illegal relations with minors but seeing the play make me feel differently. I believe that Ray is telling the truth when he says that Una is the only one that he has ever had the kind of feelings he had for her at her age. He knows that it did not look good when the little girl came in and hugged him but there was not much explaining he could do when Una has already judged him. Ray did the best thing he could, not hug the girl.
yes, 'blackbird' leaves a lot open to the readers;that is the beauty of it. the playwrite, obviously, made the girl at the end 12 on purpose. i don't think it was to give the reader an 'aha!' moment, more of to test the readers' beliefs in ray... it either makes or breaks what you think of him. i personally think the girl was put there to show that people are individual and some people can break patterns or stereotypes-- in effect ray truly loving and caring for una b/c she was/is una. the ending being so abrupt really leaves so much up to the reader. unlike 'the road,' where you makes your grounds on the future (more of a long term) 'blackbird' ends in such a way that the reader must finish the scene. it makes it much more open for conversation and debate, which i think is what makes this play great.
After watching the play I disagree with my own posting. The direction that they play took was to say that Ray truely was in love with Una.The young girl that entered at the end was 100% innocent. Is this sick, even when there is still the connection 15 years later? Well of course it is, because no 40 year old man should ever be attracted to a 12 year old girl period. But should they continue there relationship? Should Ray lose his significant other for Una? The play makes the viewer question what is wrong and what is right, obviously Una's life was permantly altered by ray and she resented him for this, but given the chance I don't dount that she would go back.
I agree with Britt's post on how the reader doesn't know if anyone is really telling the truth. I also did think that Ray was keeping the secret of having other relationships with 12 year old girls. After seeing the play, it was clear that Ray was innocent by having feelings toward other 12 year old girls and that he truly did still like Una. Now, with this, would Una ever go back to Ray if things were figured out and Ray was finished with his other girl? I feel like she would since her last 15 years have probably been miserable and he is all that she has thought about.
Post a Comment