The Babysitter by Tom Petitjean - Coursework Example

Analysis of the Babysitter Tom Petitjean makes several excellent observations about “The Babysitter” by Coover, especially that there are many possible ways to read it and many possible realities within the story. This is right in line with the theory of Rosenblatt that reading which we read not for information, but for experience is different each time any reader, even the same reader, reads it, because the reader is different and brings something different to the story each time. When I first read this article I agreed with the idea that Petitjean seems to favor, since it is the only one he fully describes, that the various stories are all imaginings of the babysitter. However, after reading the story several times and trying to separate all the different possible realities, I noticed that many of these other imaginings are not something the babysitter would even think, and not from any viewpoint that she could take. She is fifteen, I think, and a young girl during a past time when people behaved differently, at least in public. For example, though teen-age girls did think about sex, and many did have sex, this girl is the type of girl who was raised to say no. She might imagine being desired and even raped, but she would imagine it from a female point of view. Now all of these various scenes which we imagine as rape are from that point of view. Her point of view would be that she is so desirable that they cannot help themselves, but some of these see her as “wanting it”, which is typical of a male thought. For example, as the boys play pinball, it is worded like a sexual experience, and the babysitter would never figure that out. "He can feel her warming up under his hands, the flippers suddenly come alive.” Three other lines concerning the rape scene and the scene where it is planned also show distinctly male points of view: 1. Pity washes through him, giving him a sudden hard-on. Mark laughs at it, pointing. 2. Her hand is in his pants, pulling it out, pulling it toward her, pulling it hard. 3. "Listen, you know where to do it if we get her pinned?" "No, don;t you?" Theyve got her over the hassock, skirt up and pants down....feeling her come alive. Even if the babysitter read some really smutty male pornography, which is unlikely when we consider her social status and that no mention is made of her family or brothers, she would not daydream from that point of view. Her logical point of view is shown in the scenes where the boys are watching her. The babysitter might also imagine that Mr. Tucker fanaticizes about having sex with her and catches her in the bath she evidently never actually took, him sitting behind her in the tub is not something she would think about. Think about the scene from the TV where the two dancers are whirling around, and we see that she would be more likely to daydream that he picks her up and carries her to the bedroom, or she might daydream that he is totally lame and unable to do anything. Because of these inconsistencies in imagery and viewpoint, I think that we not only have many different stories, but also different narrators. I think the time parallels in all the different realities and viewpoints and that each of several characters is imagining what is happening at the time when the actual action is what is stated with the times. We do not have only one unreliable narrator, but several, probably the babysitter predominately with pieces by Jack and the parents of the children, mostly the father. That this story is a set of Chinese boxes is a very nice metaphor, but Mr. Petitjean misses that it is not only one narrative leading to another infinitely, but also an infinity of different minds and imaginings. It is true that there are many different ways to read this, but there are certain clues to the actual reality in the text. The last scene is a really strong clue. The scene is a mix of all the worst possible outcomes of the different imaginings of all the different narrators, as if all the different movies on all the different TV channels, four just like my estimate of the total narrators. It seems to say we are not just seeing imaginary stories and compressing time as on TV, but we are flipping channels (viewpoints) too. THE BABYSITTER Introduction This paper revolves on the story of The Babysitter written by Robert Coover. Most of his works are history fictions. Coover was a play writer and he fused his stylish innovations with the evolutions of the technological civilization and fairy tales were parts of his works that were recomposed by the television medium. In the short story The Babysitter he implements his imagination and makes the story as if it happened in real life and is related to the real world. Though the whole story and characters were completely fictitious Coover imbibes the things that were happening in the daily life. The story revolves around the main character that was a babysitter and in the whole fictional stories that were created by her or possibly by other characters: her boyfriend Jack, his friend Mark and the Tuckers and their children. As you begin reading the story you will be presented with bits and pieces of scenes and situations that the author made and applied, for instance, the descriptive statements of events happening in the house, and then as well as other things such as the following quoted text implied “Her tummy. Under her arms. And her feet. Those are the best places. She’ll spank him, she says sometimes. Let her.” (Coover 335). This is about tickling, but it could be read differently, maybe in a sexual way. Coover breaks the rule that the plot for a story must be in a logical manner and much précised and well illustrated as the story goes on. But in the story, the imagination of the author went beyond the limits of the actual story and that makes the readings more difficult to understand because the story is not told in an organized manner. The readers have to reorganize the actions into cohesion and in linear manner in order to understand the plot. The characterization and the manner in which the story was written surpass the limits of the ordinary story telling conventions. The story tests the reader’s imaginative skills and takes them to the extreme limits. SUMMARY OF THE STORY The babysitter arid as the Tuckers who were gearing up to attend a party. Though the babysitter arrives at 7:40 pm a full ten minutes there was no rush since the Tuckers weren’t ready yet. The babysitter usually calls her boyfriend Jack when parents of the children were not present. Though she loves the idea of having passionate experience it was not possible because she has to involve with her boyfriend and at the same time she has to watch the doors to check whether the children’s parents weren’t giving any surprise visit. No parent wants his or her child’s babysitter to be involved with her boyfriend during duty time. She has probably never had sex, but she imagines a lot, and, at one point, while watching a western shoot-out on TV, she is probably pleasuring herself. Jack wanders around the town and jumps to the house where his girlfriend would be babysitting, sometimes he sticks to the television while she’s babysitting and it’s the only chance he gets to make his advancements towards her. Then there was a time that Jack and his friend Mark were playing pinball and were involved in a discussion that revolved around Jack’s girlfriend. Mark’s comments on Jack’s girlfriend irk Jack and he thinks of avoiding him if he makes any untoward advancement towards her. At 8:00 pm it was Bitsy’s bath time. As every other kid Bitsy is a little naughty and demands for the babysitter to let them watch television first. The babysitter tells her after finishing the bath she would let her watch television while her brother bathed. Babysitter was expecting to watch the 8:30 pm program so she was very much eager to finish Bitsy’s bath. On the other hand, Mark’s comments were annoying Jack on his girlfriend. He calls her and asks whether to come to Tuckers house, but she says no. This makes Jack gets frustrated and his anger increases, fuelled by Mark’s comments. He decides to teach her a lesson. Jack and his friend decide to rape her. When the reader goes in depth of the story finds it to be the imagination of the babysitter. She imagines of having a three-way sexual intervention and also imagines of Mr. Tucker having a secret desire for her. Other segments include a scene where Mrs. Tucker is quite embarrassed halfway in and halfway out of her too tight girdle. (This is a really good clue to the time period, probably the 1950-60s) Some of the imaginings of Mr. Tucker may be those of the babysitter, but some seem to actually be his. The story ends with totally far out scene in which all the worst things for everyone have happened, much like a messy mix of the TV show plots which are inserted throughout the story. Summary of Tom Petitjean’s Analysis of The Babysitter Tom Petitjean begins his essay by saying that the "The Babysitter" is multiple fictions, each one containing characters and action. He says is is not possible for the reader to make a cohesive whole of the story and also that this is not desirable. "The Babysitter" goes far beyond the limits of linear plot, time and space. The story for each reading “exists in it is limited only by the imagination of the reader.” It is the reader who really writes the story from the different parts that Coover gives us according to what the reader brings to the story. “The situation of the story is simple and suburban: a schoolgirl comes to babysit for a couple, who go to a party. The main characters include the babysitter; the Tuckers, Harry and Dolly; the Tucker children, Jimmy, Bitsy, and the baby; the babysitters boyfriend, Jack; and Jacks friend, Mark. The reader can be certain only that the babysitter arrives at the Tucker home, that the Tuckers leave their home for a party, and that Jack and Mark play pinball. The rest of the story or stories amounts to an indefinite number of situations that are all based on these givens.” Petitjean continues to point out the various parts of the various stories and suggests that the way to read the story is to follow the timeline given in actual numbers: 7:40, the babysitter arrives; 8:00 the babysitter gives Bitsy a bath; 8:30, time for Jimmys bath; 9:00, the babysitter has cleaned the kitchen and is watching TV while Jimmy goes to bed. At 10:00, she falls asleep. The reader might think that these times and actions are the only real reality. He says that the reality centers at the Tucker home and the rest outside may be only in the babysitter’s mind, because she knows, or can imagine, all the rest. However, Petitjean says that this is only one of many possible readings, and that “Coovers tale is like a set of Chinese boxes; one narrative thread leads to one narrative universe, which opens upon another narrative thread, which leads to another narrative universe, and another, ad infinitum.” Conclusion (I would leave this out) The author has written the story in such a way that the reader should understand the whole story on his or her perception. The reader is forced to understand the plot in whatever way he or she does. The alternate description of the events makes the story bit more complicated for the reader. The author describes the central character, the babysitter imagining of being having sex with multiple partners. Thus the story is not only just a fiction but also contains characters imaginations. At times the reader would not be able identify whether the event is of the story or the character’s imagination. The author left this to the reader’s ability to understand the plot. The story is a combination of real story and the central character the babysitter’s imagination. Sometimes the reader would get confused about the imaginations of the babysitter as if it is real story. The ability of the author makes the story go beyond the limits of normal human perception. The babysitter imagines as if she was involved in a three-way sexual intervention and was raped. She also imagines as if Mr. Tucker was having a secret desire to have sex with her and finds the babysitter much more fascinating than his older wife, because she was not in possession of a young and firm body as that of the babysitter. The story revolves around every character involved in the story. It takes the reader to an imaginary world that sometimes confuses the reader about the plot. The story was described in bits and pieces, the story moves in alternate paragraphs. The style of the author is to describe the events happening at Tucker’s house, as an introduction prior to the nest paragraph that describes the event occurring at the party. In that way the story is narrated alternately. As the events are happening, like in television serial or in a movie. Work Cited Coover, Robert. "The Babysitter." The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction. Ed. R. V. Cassill. New York: Norton, 1988. Petitjean, Tom. Coover’s The Babysitter. The Explicator, Fall 1995 v54 n1 p 49 (3). Rosenblatt, Louise M., 1994; The Reader the Text the Poem: The Transactional Theory of the Literary Work ;Southern Illinois University Press, reprint edition Read More

I think the time parallels in all the different realities and viewpoints and that each of several characters is imagining what is happening at the time when the actual action is what is stated with the times. We do not have only one unreliable narrator, but several, probably the babysitter predominately with pieces by Jack and the parents of the children, mostly the father. That this story is a set of Chinese boxes is a very nice metaphor, but Mr. Petitjean misses that it is not only one narrative leading to another infinitely, but also an infinity of different minds and imaginings.

It is true that there are many different ways to read this, but there are certain clues to the actual reality in the text. The last scene is a really strong clue. The scene is a mix of all the worst possible outcomes of the different imaginings of all the different narrators, as if all the different movies on all the different TV channels, four just like my estimate of the total narrators. It seems to say we are not just seeing imaginary stories and compressing time as on TV, but we are flipping channels (viewpoints) too.

THE BABYSITTER Introduction This paper revolves on the story of The Babysitter written by Robert Coover. Most of his works are history fictions. Coover was a play writer and he fused his stylish innovations with the evolutions of the technological civilization and fairy tales were parts of his works that were recomposed by the television medium. In the short story The Babysitter he implements his imagination and makes the story as if it happened in real life and is related to the real world.

Though the whole story and characters were completely fictitious Coover imbibes the things that were happening in the daily life. The story revolves around the main character that was a babysitter and in the whole fictional stories that were created by her or possibly by other characters: her boyfriend Jack, his friend Mark and the Tuckers and their children. As you begin reading the story you will be presented with bits and pieces of scenes and situations that the author made and applied, for instance, the descriptive statements of events happening in the house, and then as well as other things such as the following quoted text implied “Her tummy.

Under her arms. And her feet. Those are the best places. She’ll spank him, she says sometimes. Let her.” (Coover 335). This is about tickling, but it could be read differently, maybe in a sexual way. Coover breaks the rule that the plot for a story must be in a logical manner and much précised and well illustrated as the story goes on. But in the story, the imagination of the author went beyond the limits of the actual story and that makes the readings more difficult to understand because the story is not told in an organized manner.

The readers have to reorganize the actions into cohesion and in linear manner in order to understand the plot. The characterization and the manner in which the story was written surpass the limits of the ordinary story telling conventions. The story tests the reader’s imaginative skills and takes them to the extreme limits. SUMMARY OF THE STORY The babysitter arid as the Tuckers who were gearing up to attend a party. Though the babysitter arrives at 7:40 pm a full ten minutes there was no rush since the Tuckers weren’t ready yet.

The babysitter usually calls her boyfriend Jack when parents of the children were not present. Though she loves the idea of having passionate experience it was not possible because she has to involve with her boyfriend and at the same time she has to watch the doors to check whether the children’s parents weren’t giving any surprise visit. No parent wants his or her child’s babysitter to be involved with her boyfriend during duty time. She has probably never had sex, but she imagines a lot, and, at one point, while watching a western shoot-out on TV, she is probably pleasuring herself.

Jack wanders around the town and jumps to the house where his girlfriend would be babysitting, sometimes he sticks to the television while she’s babysitting and it’s the only chance he gets to make his advancements towards her.

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