Article published in: Literatura in prostor : zbornik mednarodne študentske konference
primerjalne književnosti / [avtorji prispevkov Ljubica Anđelković Džambić ... [et al.] ; uvodnik
Julija Ovsec ; uredila Katarina Rakušček ; prevod Damjan Aškerc Juković ... et al.], Ljubljana :
Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, 2016 (Ljubljana : Birografika Bori), str. 87-97
Function of Toponyms and Topographic Shifts in Short Stories by Alice Munro: A
Possibility of a Novel?
Synopsis
This article brings an analysis of four stories in Alice Munro's collection of short stories “Open
Secrets”, i.e.“Carried Away”, “Open Secrets”, “Spaceships Have Landed” and “Vandals". Michael
Toolan's thesis on an inherent ambition of 'becoming a novel' in some of Munro's stories is applied
to Munro's use of common toponyms and settings in the four short stories, in order to research the
possibility of understanding them as parts of a bigger literary work, i.e. a novel.
Keywords: Alice Munro, Canadian literature, short story, novel, toponyms, chronotope, space,
Northop Frye, plot building
Summary
In the collection of short stories titled „Open Secrets“ (1994), Alice Munro reaches
the point in which she makes experiments in her writing in various ways. In her
experimental approaches we can find a narrative technique of making connections
between stories that are notably set apart, showing that they, when considered as a unit,
have an ambition of becoming a novel. Connections are made with the use of the same
topographic motives in different short stories. This article brings an analyses of four
stories in the book „Open Secrets“, i.e. „Carried Away“, „Open Secrets“, „Spaceships Have
Landed“ and „Vandals“, trying to research the possibility of understanding them as
elements of a bigger literary work, i.e. a novel. This point of view is supported by Alice
Munro's usage of the same two imaginary toponyms in the four stories: the Doud's factory
and fictional town of Cairstairs.
The article adresses the possibility of understanding the four stories as parts of a
larger whole by means of the analysis of toponyms of the Doud Factory and an attempt to
define a chronological order within their time spam (from the late 19thcentury until the
end of the 20th century) together with topographic shifts that gain their signifying
relevance once the stories are read as mutually intertwined.
Hereafter, it is shown how the topographical shifting in the setting of plots (from
the town to nature, from nature to wilderness) affects Alice Munro's creation of the main
characters and a more complex social picture of the small town of Cairstairs, including
questions related to such ethical terms as good and evil. Furthermore, this analysis refers
to Northrop Frye's notification on importance of a landscape in Canadian literature, and
shows the ways in which Alice Munro uses the landscape in her writing (as a metaphor
and as a tool for developing the plot).
1
1.
Introduction
"Open Secrets" is a collection of short stories published in 1994 in which Alice
Munro, as she herself explains1, risks more than in her previous stories by creating plots
on the verge of absurdity and fantasy with the events that sometimes seem irrational, yet
not impossible. While on the one hand these stories become even more open to diverse
interpretations and ambiguous or uncertain endings, on the other the shift takes place in
their scope as well, i.e. the stories in this collection are longer than the ones Munro
previously wrote. The stories consist of several parts, describe situations that are more
complex, characters influence each other more intensely whereas plot issues are more
developed, which allows for an opportunity to perceive them in their psychological depth,
complexity of the plots and storytelling techniques, as Michael Toolan suggests (Toolan,
p. 195), as texts with an ambition to become a novel.
This trait is also visible in the fact that stories often comprise a time spam of a
character's entire lifetime, although Munro tends to maintain typical elliptical style by
constructing storylines filled with temporal gaps. This is most evident in "Carried Away",
"Open Secrets", "Spaceships Have Landed" and "Vandals", the four short stories about
different themes but with a common link found in shared toponyms, which provide and
opportunity to establish a unique chronotope.
This paper will discuss the possibility of understanding the four stories as parts of
a larger whole by means of the analysis of toponyms of the Doud Factory and an attempt
to define a chronological order within their time spam (from the late 19thcentury until the
end of the 20th century) together with topographic shifts that gain their signifying
relevance once the stories are read as mutually intertwined.
2.1. The status of the Doud Factory: An attempt of chronology
"Carried Away", "Open Secrets", "Spaceships Have Landed" and "Vandals" function
as a chronology of a gradual moral, economic and social collapse in three generations of
one family. The elite Doud family living in the town of Cairstairs had acquired wealth, good
reputation and power after founding a factory producing musical instruments. The very
portrayal of the status and changes in the business operation of the Doud Factory2, which
is a fictional toponym functioning as the main recurring motif that connects all the four
stories, will prove to be a metaphor not only for the downfall and various changes taking
place within a single family but also for changing social values and the society at large,
which is clearly revealed only after the reader establishes links between the four stories.
The following table presents the above-mentioned changes of the status of the
Doud Factory together with the three generations of characters from the Doud family and
their appearance in the stories:
DOUD
FAMILY
FIRST
GENERATION
Before 1917.
CHARACTERS - STORIES
A.W.DOUD
Founder
belongs to time before main
story plot
The DOUD FACTORY - MAIN
CHARACTERISTICS
DOUD ORGAN FACTORY
Factory stands „like an medieval town wall“
Patriarchal and traditional values
High moral standards, owner is a moral
arbiter in town
1
Munro according to Toolan (2013).
The name of the factory changes throughout the story depending on what was being produced. For the
sake of simplicity, the abbreviated name 'the Doud Factory' is used in the paper.
2
2
mentioned in: "CARRIED AWAY"
SECOND
GENERATION
1917. - 1950's
THIRD
GENERATION
1950's- 1980's
ARTHUR DOUD – main character
in
"CARRIED AWAY"
A.W.Doud's son
LOUISA DOUD
Arthur Doud's wife
"CARRIED AWAY" - main
character
"SPACESHIPS HAVE LANDED" –
supporting character (belongs to
time before this time plot)
BILLY DOUD – son of Arthur,
Louisa's adoptive son
"CARRIED AWAY" – supporting
character, belongs to future time
"SPACESHIPS HAVE LANDED" –
main character
BEA DOUD – Arthur's and
Louisa's daughter
"CARRIED AWAY" – supporting
character, belongs to future time
"SPACESHIPS HAVE LANDED" –
supporting character, belongs to
recent history
"VANDALS" – main character
Emotional approach to business, worker's
friend
Benefactor
Phase of growing wealth
DOUD ORGAN AND PIANO FACTORY
Struggling for keeping ethical standards
Patriarchal and traditional values – slowly
descending
Emotional approach to business, worker's
friend
Phase of growing wealth
PIANO AND OTHER SUPPLIES FACTORY
Pragmatical approach to work: „,Work is
work', she said.“, dismissals
Phase of growing wealth, with difficulties,
ups&downs (war time)
PIANO FACTORY
Indifference to the factory, Billy is state
employee, socal worker
Selling the factory/ phase of spending
money
Homosexual motifs, new social values
FACTORY IS CLOSED
Phase of spending money, Bee is a houswife
The Doud Factory is moving from the centre towards the edges of the spatial
arrangement of the narrative. Its function varies from the place where the main action
takes place to a distant topic motif. This topographic shift provides an opportunity to
create a chronological sequence for the four stories.
Thus, "Carried Away" portrays the factory's two phases of work: [1] the initial
phase of success where the Doud Factory plays a central role in the social life of the town
of Cairstairs, as the sponsor of educational and other institutions and an important factor
of economic development for the entire town. The owner, A.W. Doud, is the community's
father figure, a trustworthy person of strong moral character and a benefactor: "A
Believer in Progress, Culture, and Education. A True Friend of the Town of Carstairs and
of the Working Man“(28)3; [2] the next phase, when business situation changed, relates
to A.W. Doud's son Arthur, a successor whose character and ethics intend to follow his
father's path; however, that seems rather difficult to achieve: the local community's great
expectations exert pressure at the time of changed business circumstances due to
economic problems. Thus, Arthur Doud, „For years after his father's death, he had felt like
an impostor“(32). This point in the story hints the inception of upcoming economic and
3
All quotes taken from Munro, Alice: "Open Secrets", New York: A Division of Random House, Inc.,
1995.
3
moral decline of the family. The organ factory will first turn into the piano factory and in
the following decades, after Arthur's death, Louise will be in charge. We also learn that
during the 1930s and WWII the factory managed to survive by producing pianos or
anything else simply to make some money. Social changes are also visible in the fact that
a woman took over the leadership at the factory. However, although the status of women
was changed on the outside, in the community's consciousness that was not the case – as
opposed to her husband and his father, Louisa is not a person whom the inhabitants of
Cairstairs trust. Her role is no longer an advisory one and her business approach is
professional, pragmatic and unemotional,4 which can be interpreted as one of the
properties of the new time. In this story we also learn that in the following decades Arthur
Doud's daughter Bea more or less (p. 45) runs the household "after a fashion" (p. 47) so
she does not take part in the business operations of the family factory while his son Billy
– "he has some excuse to go off in the middle of every afternoon" (p. 47). It is also an
introduction to the final collapse of the factory as a family-run business and decline of the
family Doud's honourable reputation portrayed in the stories "Spaceships Have Landed"
and "Vandals".
"Spaceships Have Landed" is a chronological continuation of "Carried Away" with
Louise's son Billy as the main character. The story encompasses two phases of the
factory's work: [1] continuation of the war and post-war phase (from 1950 to Louise's
death); although in this phase Louise does not appear as a character, we learn about her
indirectly from other characters' discussions. Thus, we learn about her status in Cairstairs
where they started calling her the Tatar (p. 240), because of strictness and stubbornness.
Also, she is described as a lady with a short fuse (p. 258). When something happens she is
not the one to call for help – nevertheless, everybody tries to avoid any contact with.5 The
last phase of work [2], before the factory was sold and after Louise's death: Billy,
portrayed as a rich young man seeing people either as rich or poor, "a putty" (p. 241) with
mellow voice and self-consumed gestures with some hints of homosexual tendencies6,
showing complete disinterest7 in running the factory. Although he is still being invited as
an arbiter in situations when something needs to be resolved in the town, he does not
have the ability to react as maturely as his predecessors.8 His lack of interest for managing
the factory finally leads to a decision to sell it and later on we learn that new owners also
want to sell the factory. Finally, the factory is closed: "There were no more pianos made
in Carstairs." (p.260)
"Vandals" is a story that mostly takes place during the last two decades of the 20th
century, after closing of the Doud Factory and at the time of Bea's old age. At the point
where the story goes back to Bea’s youth and the time when the factory was still in
business, the factory is not in the focus since Bea was destined to deal with household
4
When asked if the factory office is a big change in comparison with the library, she replies: "Work is
work." (p. 47)
5
''He had worked in Douds when he was young, and remembered how Mr.Doud, Billy's father,was
always sent for in an emergency."He's dead," said Eunie's mother. "What if you get her?" (p. 258) Louise's
name is not even mentioned here, instead, a personal pronoun is used.
6
Billy Doud's homosexual tendencies are merely insinuated in the portrayal of his Platonic relationship
with Rhea and falling in love with androgenic Eunie. All conclusions about his latent homosexuality are made
indirectly and it can be understood as yet another sign of termination of patriarchal relations in the family and
society at large.
7
This has already been suggested in the previous short story titled "Carried Away".
8
When Eunie's returns home after being missing without any explanation he is asked to judge the veracity
of her version of disappearance. Not only that he does not provide any rational judgement but he has an excessive
emotional reaction and eventually falls in love with her.
4
work.9 "Open Secrets" is a story that represents divergence from the other three stories
since the Doud Factory has been mentioned here merely as a background motif portraying
life of a small town and its owners are not main characters. Although irrelevant for the
plot, Munro does not forget the factory aware of the fact that she has to include it at least
as scenery in order to depict Cairstairs realistically. Therefore, despite the fact it is done
only indirectly, this toponym hints silhouettes of a chronology.10
2.2. Topographic shifts as an image of social and ethical change
After analysing the four short stories in a chronological sequence, it is possible to
notice yet another topographic shift. Having in mind that the factory is ceasing to function
and loosing its central position, the scene is gradually being transferred from the town in
the direction of the suburbs and/or wilderness. As a small town, Cairstairs still remains
the focal point to which all characters return but the action is shifted towards the
outskirts. Shifted scenes together with the author's choice of main characters or
protagonists symbolize not only a decline of authority and changed status of characters
but also comprehensive changes of social values. Gradually eliminated traditional
conventions and disappearance of patriarchy, as a social norm with clearly defined values
and strong hierarchy, are followed by a portrayal of ethical and moral decline and
relativized relationship between good and evil, which leads to a situation where
unambiguous depiction of ethical values introduced by the new age, with looser and more
transitory rules, fades away to transfer into individual particularized (un)ethic.
Scenes where the action takes place are thus formed in four spaces or spatial
relations:
1. Town: "Carried Away" takes place in Cairstairs, and the society is represented in main
characters from the top of the social ladder who are ethical and industrious; they are
well intentioned characters believing in traditional values based on patriarchal
structures.
2. Suburbs: "Spaceships Have Landed" takes us to the suburbs of Cairstairs, split in two
areas: 1. the one on the edge between what is morally acceptable or intolerable – the
hill where the illegal Monk's tavern is located, and 2. flooded land that was abandoned
after initial settlements because of safety reasons; it is inhabited by the lowest class or
the poorest citizens alongside with those who refused to accept the change, a kind of
Cairstairs' outcasts.
3. Town – nature: short story titled "Open Secrets" introduces a town-nature relation as
a kind of opposition to otherwise safe nature11 where evil things happen like Heather
Bell's disappearance during the field trip. In opposition to nature relatively protected
from harm, in the eyes of its residents the town is a safe place but this is only an
9
We learn this in the story "Carried Away".
"Open Secrets" take place during later decades of the factory’s business activity, probably since the 1950s,
which can be concluded from the fact that one of the characters, Mr Siddicup, was dismissed after the introduction
of electronic piano tuning. Dismissing workers is mostly mentioned in the period when Louisa Doud was managing
the factory. However, since all factory workers were looking for a missing girl, for which reason the factory was
closed during the search, one might conclude that that was the period when factory started doing better after the
war years and it started employing more residents. Moreover, since the arbiter was no longer the factory owner
but the next esteemed person in the town, the lawyer, it can be presumed that Louise was running the factory at
the time. Another character is linked to the factory, i.e. devout Mary Johnstone who used to work at the factory in
her youth as a bookkeeper.
11
It is a field trip destination.
10
5
illusion, which Munro exposes after introducing the motif of sexual abuse in the family
and the character of the esteemed lawyer Stephens.12
4. Wilderness: in "Vandals", the storyline is mostly transferred to the wilderness or the
broader urban area called Stratton Township. Cairstairs is only a distant point where
indirect actions take place. In this context, the wilderness becomes the place
dominated by characters' obscure instinctual passions, evil intentions and absence of
human values.
2.3. Landscape as a metaphor and a function of storytelling
Introduction of ethical concepts of good and evil in the context of nature brings us
to one of the main characteristics of Canadian literature with "imagination nurtured on
the prairies"13 and that is the relevance of depicting landscapes in their unrelenting
harshness, analysed by Frye14, but also found in Alice Munro's stories. Depicting
landscapes is a constituent factor in Munro's writing, and in the four stories analysed here
landscape is used in the two key manners: besides the utilitarian use of landscape [1],
apparent in, for example, sudden storm over Cairstairs (in "Carried Away"), where this
severe weather condition is used as an external trigger for an unexpected plot twist,
Munro uses the depiction of nature to develop her characters and provide connotative
baseline [2]. The best example for this can be found in "Vandals", where nature, depicted
as dark and ruthless realm for the realization of the lowest human passions, becomes a
metaphor for human cruelty and insanity, sexual deviation and weakness of character.
Depictions of nature in "Vandals" at first function as a simple parallel to Ladner
who is harsh as the nature he is taming, with animal sex urge and fierce as an untamed
wild animal. However, depictions of the landscape have a more complex meaning once
the wilderness is used as the place of the sexual assault on a child. This is something that
Munro introduces gradually in the story, i.e. in the depiction of Ladner's farm some bizarre
details are slowly introduced signalizing the absence of any possibility to have an
idealistic image of life in untouched nature. Alongside live animals there are also mounted
ones, inserted in the nature – the author lists them as an introductory motif at the
beginning of the story without any sinister suggestions; the idea that this place hides
certain secrets is more evident in the change of nature's character during a scene when
Liza and Warren travel to the Ladners' house. The description begins with almost idyllic
landscape covered in snow: "In the morning, the weather was clear, and they set off on
the snowmobile [...] All over the river there were animal tracks in straight lines and loops
12
Having in mind that disappearance of Heather Bell during the field trip is only an exception to the rule,
the nature is depicted as temporarily insecure place. However, in the context of interrelating the four novels, this
episode can be interpreted as a kind of introduction to the depiction of nature (wilderness) as a place where darkest
personal secrets, those hidden from the public eye are revealed.
13
In "The Bush Garden", Northrop Frye describes the Canadian landscape as different from the European
landscape reflecting a civilized life and introduces a thesis on how it influences the artist: "Its landscape does not
have, as that of Europe has, that indefinable quality which shows that it has been lived in by civilized human beings
for millennia. Its villages do not 'nestle'; they
sprawl awkwardly into rectangular lines along roads and
railways. Its buildings do not melt into their backgrounds; they stand out with a garish and tasteless defiance. It is
full of human and natural ruins, of abandoned buildings and despoiled country sides, such as are found only with
the vigorous wastefulness of young countries. And, above all, it is a country in which nature makes a direct
impression on the artist's mind, an impression of its primeval lawlessness and moral nihilism, its indifference to
the supreme value placed on life within human society, its faceless, mindless unconsciousness, which fosters life
without
benevolence
and
destroys
it
without
malice."
Web:
http://northropfryethebushgarden.blogspot.hr/2009/02/narrative-tradition-in-english-canadian.html. Accessed on 31 March 2015.
14
Ibid.
6
and circles [...] drifts curled like waves stopped, like huge lappings of cream" (p. 277). Next
paragraph brings a different description: in contrast to the whiteness and purity of snow
more and more dark tones, black colour and Gothic motifs appear, suggesting Liza’s
traumatic coming to turns with the past: "The swamp was black from a distance, a long
smudge[...]it too was choked with snow. Black trunks against the snow flashed by in a
repetition that was faintly sickening [...] The change of noise for silence and speed for
stillness made it seem as if they had dropped out of streaming clouds into something solid.
They were stuck in the solid middle of the winter day" (p. 277).15 The name of the swamp,
"Lesser Dismal" (p. 277), suggests the story about Kenny and Liza’s childhood when they
used to spend time at the Ladner’s farm, a description that intertwines child play with
brutal motifs such as dead and skinned animals, peeled skin, cleaning of a squirrel’s skull
and pressing of eye apples, where nature is disclosed as a place of a paedophile attack on
Liza. At this point in the story, the nature gets dark in character and has a multiple
function: Munro uses descriptions to interpret the inner state of the characters, change
the course of the plot and reveal the key subject of the story, at the same time adding new
and unexpected connotations to the landscape she is depicting.
3. Conclusion
Although each story among the selected four functions as a separate unit with
specific peculiarities and its own theme independently from the context of other stories
problematizes different issues through the protagonists who are developing their own
microcosm (in other stories outside of the matrix story they appear like meteors without
influencing the storyline), their mutual intertwinement is apparent in toponyms,
chronological sequence, characters and treatment of the landscape, which allows the
reader to think about the intention to interrelate them in a much larger whole and to
interpret them as constituent parts of a family saga with an elliptical structure, that tends
to become a bigger literary work, i.e. a novel.
Ljubica Anđelković Džambić
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15
The notions are highlighted by the author of the text.
7
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