<p>I didn’t get that joke either, but Howard replies to her that she should refund the money. Of course, he steals her money, so in some way maybe Munro is playing with us.</p>
<p>Did anyone else think that Howard’s wife might be having an affair?</p>
<p>In keeping with the animal analysis, Lillian Wolfe’s name stood out for me. Wolves are misunderstood creatures…they are thought of as being predators, but they are social animals who protect and defend their offspring. This dichotomy of how wolves are perceived vs. their inherent nature (not specifically attackers of humans unless provoked/rabid) is brought out in Gravel. Lillian Wolfe ends up being a nurturer to the end…it is Howard who is the threat.</p>
<p>I guessed at the ending, but I think for Munro it is more about how the characters act once the truth is known in this particular story. And as NJTM points out, she again feeds us more human flaw, but with understanding and compassion. Corrie should be outraged - she’s not. Howard is sleazy - and on it goes.</p>
<p>In an earlier post, I mentioned “Corrie” as a story I liked. Reading the discussion so far, I notice that I evidently don’t remember much more than its broadest strokes. This is not the norm for me - usually I remember all sorts of details. I don’t know why “Corrie” should be different but it is.</p>
<p>I do remember knowing early on that Howard keeps the money. I wondered when Corrie would realize it also. psychmom states it well:</p>
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<p>I’m not surprised that Corrie continues the affair after learning the truth. She isn’t outraged but rather sick at heart -mainly because she thinks that Howard is no more. She’s invested (literally) so much in this man that to do otherwise now would be heart-wrenching. I’m not surprised Howard plans to go on as though nothing as happened. Why not? I’d almost doubt they ever discuss his deception except he probably still wants - maybe needs - that extra income. Will he ask for money under another “guise” knowing full well both he and Corrie know it to be untrue? Or will she continue payments without saying a word? I feel sad for Corrie. Funny but for some reason I don’t want to know more - I’m glad that Munro stops where she does.</p>
<p>I think the joke was just lame humor about the print on the postcard being small, so he should send money to receive the companion piece – a magnifying glass. And I agree with you, the money reference is key because that’s what their relationship turned out to be about.</p>
<p>psychmom, I didn’t think Howard’s wife was having an affair, but it’s clear she had other interests and I suspect they didn’t have much in common.</p>
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<p>Maybe, but personally I don’t give him credit for any attraction besides sex on the side and money. He may have waited a while for the cash until the right opportunity presented itself, but I think it was on his mind from their first meeting, when he thought about her being snapped up by a “creepy fortune hunter.” He fills that role himself.</p>
<p>Howard not only took Corrie’s money, but also her viginity – as crassly as her piano teacher. I think that Munro wants us to draw that parallel. Because what does Howard do with his extra money?: “He was taking piano lessons, to the surprise of his wife and family” (p. 167). Later, he tells Corrie that going to the cottage with his family made him “slightly disgruntled” because he was “without his piano.”</p>
<p>Substitute “piano” with the word “mistress” and it still makes sense – Corrie is Howard’s instrument and he plays her like any con man plays his mark.</p>
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<p>I think he’ll find another way to extract the money from Corrie and she’ll go along with the ruse for the same reason she submitted to the piano teacher: “because she felt sorry for people who wanted things so badly” (p. 158). She tells Howard that she doesn’t “feel sorry for people in that way” anymore, but I think she’s kidding herself.</p>
<p>Interesting observation about the piano, and Corrie being Howard’s instrument, Mary!</p>
<p>Someone earlier commented about humor in the stories. Listening to this one on audio, the narrator brought out a lot of it. Since this is CC, here’s an example, commenting on Howard’s children:
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His children were teenagers or else in college. The girls were doing very well, the boys not quite so well as he might have wished, but that was the way of boys.<a href=“Alice%20Munro%20has%20daughters;%20I%20have%20sons.”>/quote</a></p>
<p>beunavista, I also have sons. I remember that comment and I did chuckle.</p>
<p>I didn’t reread Corrie, so I don’t really have anything to add to the comments. I am going to reread Train tonight, so it will be fresh in my mine when it comes up for discussion.</p>
<p>It wasn’t clear to me until the end why Jackson bolted after Belle told her story. It appears (unless I’m reading too much between the lines?) that Jackson was sexually abused by his stepmother. Therefore, any hint of parent-child sexual abuse dredges up the trauma and makes him want to escape. Not that Belle was abused in the same way Jackson was, but the impropriety of what happened was probably enough to trigger Jackson’s urge to flee.</p>
<p>I think Jackson’s transient life all connects back to his stepmother, with his impotency being a result of child sexual abuse. Poor Ileane Bishop was collateral damage. I understood why Jackson didn’t want to see her when he heard her voice. What would be the point?</p>
<p>Okay Corrie. I felt sort of dunce about Corrie. Even rereading it I’m not positive what was going on. It never occurred to me that Howard was stealing the money, and I still wasn’t sure at the end. Rereading I can see it’s there right at the start. Howard’s poor opinion of her coupled by his thought “Of course, there was money, and to some men that never became tiresome.” But I assumed he was better than that. And I guess I should have figured out why it had to be bills not checks. But really, why does she wake up so sure Howard is pocketing the money? Yes Lillian seems to have been beloved by her community, but lots of people in this story are leading double lives, why not Lillian as well?</p>
<p>Our friend Charles May makes a great observation about why Munro has that twist at the end:</p>
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<p>Howard keeps a secret from his wife and from Corrie, Corrie keeps a secret from Howard, Munro keeps a secret from us. Here is May’s “Corrie” blog, but if you read it, don’t be confused: He refers to the Lillian character as Sadie because that was the original name when the story was published in The New Yorker. I’m assuming she changed it for Dear Life so as not to confuse her with the other character named Sadie in “The Eye.” Why Munro liked the name Sadie so much, I can’t say! [Reading</a> the Short Story: Alice Munro’s “Corrie”: Secrecy and Point of View](<a href=“http://may-on-the-short-story.blogspot.com/2010/10/alice-munros-corrie-secrecy-and-point.html]Reading”>Reading the Short Story: Alice Munro's "Corrie": Secrecy and Point of View)</p>
<p>Re: Train, We know that Jackson is an avoider, but as Mary said, the reasons don’t become apparent until we watch him flee after Belle tells her incestuous story. Munro gives us a helping of irony - the more Jackson tries to hide, the more his past catches up with him.</p>
<p>It was interesting that Jackson felt shunned by the Mennonite boys until Belle explained that it is their way. Perhaps it is an allusion to his feeling shamed by his boyhood? We also learn that the girls (and their parents) feel “safe” with him.</p>
<p>Ileane is another one of Munro’s female characters who chooses a flawed man. I thought Jackson was quite judgmental of her when she reappears in his life…she seemed like a nice person, not fitting the spoiled picture he then paints of her. Is he trying to alleviate his own guilt about abandoning her?</p>
<p>Another theme that is repeated by Munro is the failure of maternal protection. Jackson’s mother dies (and is not there for him). He is left with the abusive stepmother.</p>
<p>^^^ Good post, psychmom. I almost cross-posted but caught it just in time. I want to add that neither Belle’s mother nor Ileane’s mother are “present” to support their daughters. Belle takes care of her mother (ill health) rather than vice versa. As for Ileane: </p>
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<p>I like “Train.” I would describe the characters as damaged, with the women in the story seemingly more resilient than Jackson. Of course, Jackson’s issues come across as more complex; he has the right to be less resilient (though not the right to damage others). The women paired themselves (once again) with a man unable to “pair” back. I am mightily pleased that Munro provides readers with a reason behind Jackson’s actions rather than leaving things as she did with Dr. Fox in “Amundsen.” “Train” is the short story in which I could never tell what was coming.</p>
<p>I agree with Mary’s analysis of Jackson.</p>
<p>Back to “Corrie” - I found the multiple endings interesting. Even Munro seems conflicted as to how Corrie (or Sadie) should handle her new knowledge.</p>
<p>NJTM and mathmom: Howard’s lifestyle clued me in that he pocketed the money - his cottage and family trips. If I hadn’t read the story in a collection of Munro stories, I probably would not have noticed. At that point, though, I expected and had some fun trying to figure out coming twist. It just seemed obvious.</p>
<p>I don’t think it is one thing that suddenly makes Corrie aware of Howard’s betrayal. The little things build up: she never saw the blackmail letter; she knew that Lillian would not say certain things (e.g., “the silver-fox collar”); the money is in cash; the amount never increases (Howard would not want to risk Corrie getting fed up); Lillian’s reputation is impeccable; the timing of the last drop-off/pick-up just doesn’t seem to jibe quite right with Lillian’s terminal illness, etc. It all bubbles up to the surface at once, no doubt prompted by the funeral lunch, where all the talk of Lillian makes her re-think what has been going on.</p>
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<p>With Ileane Bishop, it goes a step further than not being present – she has actually lost her daughter. She cannot find her, she is searching, “on the edge of exhaustion” – echoes of Greta in “To Reach Japan,” and also of Leah and Caro’s mother, who lose their children as well (in different ways).</p>
<p>I forgot about Ileane’s daughter. In addition to the dysfunctional mother-daughter dynamic, that girl too seems to be looking for love in all the wrong places. And I quote: “The boyfriend was a jerk.”</p>
<p>I think there are other reasons that Jackson bolted after Belle told her story, apart from it perhaps bringing up memories of his own (postulated) sexual abuse.</p>
<p>Belle changed in the hospital, becoming more open. It seemed that she was suddenly requiring much more, emotionally. Because of her illness, this seemed likely to increase. I think it made Jackson feel crowded and imposed upon. </p>
<p>I was shocked at first that he would leave her, even considering that he might have eventually inherited her property. But if he had stayed with her to the end, he would have been drawn further into a web of connections that would also have involved other people, and it was too much for him.</p>
<p>When the story mentioned the obituary that Jackson saw for Belle, what was written in the newspaper implied that prior to her death there had been a close connection with her previously-mentioned friend Robin. I think this is important. Although we were not specifically told about it earlier, perhaps Jackson would have known that Robin might step in and help Belle. If so, that helps exonerate him from leaving her.</p>
<p>One thing bothered me a little in the story. Why did the owner of the building who hired Jackson trust him…a passing stranger…so quickly?</p>
<p>I think I liked Train the best of the bunch. </p>
<p>That doesn’t mean I understood it that well! One thing had me curious - practically the first thing Belle says to Jackson after she’s dealt with the cow, is “I’m a royalist.” Why is it so important for her to get that out of the way? It’s obviously a sign of some sort of conservatism and wish for stability, but I’m not enough up on Canadian politics about what else it might imply.</p>
<p>I liked both characters. It seemed to me that they were at heart nurturers taking care of people who needed help. (Belle of her mother, Jackson of Belle, but with limitations). And there were some funny lines like:</p>
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<p>I think Jackson doesn’t know how to deal with people, so while he fixes Belle’s house he doesn’t really know how to have a relationship. They might be gay, or they may just be damaged by their previous experiences with sex. I tend to think both. It’s funny that the towns people assume after a few years that they are brother and sister. </p>
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<p>Jackson sees himself as growing up while Belle remains stuck in childhood. When she gets sick, I think her childishness gets more painful for him. It’s taken him long enough, but I think he needs to move on. Belle’s telling the story of her father, her long denial of what it all meant, somehow provides the catalyst for him to move on. Maybe it hits too close to home with his own experiences.</p>
<p>But like so many of other Munro characters, moving on means doing pretty much the same thing he’s done before, jumping off the train and fixing up houses taking care of other needy people. I don’t know why the building owner trusted Jackson, or Belle either. Apparently he exudes trustworthiness!</p>
<p>It’s funny that he becomes the caretaker for a building where people don’t run away. </p>
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<p>The structure of the story is curious. The mystery not-encounter with Ileana before the final flashback where we finally learn Jackson’s back story and what may have motivated that original jump from the train.</p>
<p>Ileane is a little like Belle, keeping house in a haphazard manner for her father. Jackson acquiesces to her romantic overtures, but seems to have no real interest in her, she’s just a vehicle for him to escape his own unsatisfactory family. But Ileana becomes too capable for him, too sarcastic, too scary, maybe too much like the stepmother. He feels he’s been railroaded into a relationship that doesn’t work and the only solution is to jump off the train. He stayed with Belle so long, because as far as we know she kept the relationship at a level he could deal with, until the hospital opened her tongue.</p>
<p>I feel like I should be mad at him for treating both women badly, and yet, I think he’s right, the were both resourceful. They will figure it out and move on, better than he will. But I closed the book with the hope that with his final move to the lumbering town, he will finally find the peace he needs and the ability to really get on with life.</p>
<p>How long was Jackson living with Belle? Their trip to the hospital was in 1962, and in the beginning he was coming home after the war, so it sounds like they lived together for 17 years.</p>
<p>I just kept wondering what Belle thought when after all that time he never showed up again or contacted her, and how she managed. He says “See you tomorrow” as she’s going to sleep and then just disappears. How awful to be in the hospital alone and then have to go on, never knowing what happened.</p>
<p>If he’s a rolling stone, he’s rolling pretty slowly! </p>
<p>Belle, just seemed so relentlessly cheery that I felt like she’d be fine, even though most people surely would be devastated to lose someone who’d been part of their life so long. For some reason, I felt like she would understand.</p>