Goodbye Jenny

By James Cox, Student

Techniques used

An essay hosted at LiteratureClassics.com

""Goodbyen Jenny"" is an unusual short story by Penelope Wallace. The unique nature of this story exists in the structure of the narrative, Wallace has used many techniques to great effect. These techniques create meaning for the reader.

The stopry is divided neatly into two sections. The first consists of diorect sppeech between the characters, showing their external position. The second section consists of a number of paragraphs of different character's intrernal monologues. This shows us the characters inside thoughts and feelings. The three main characters in the sotyr are John, the father, Donna, the mother, and Ian, the child.

The main meaning of the story is that things may not be what they seem. The interior monlogue in the second section shows us the character's real thoughts and feelings.
John - ""I shopuld hide my disappointment.""
Donna - ""Ian;'s such a dull child.""
Ian - "" Ireally hat schoool. I wiush they iunderstood.""
On the outside, they appear to be an ordinary, happy family. Their thouhgts show us that this is not the case. Both parents dislike their child and are both having affairs as well.
AT the end of the story we heasr the interior monmologue of a policeman atn the crash site of ytjhe car of the characters, he is thinking to himself:
""Taking the bok back to school by the look of the trunk. Just an ordinary, happy family.""
This view of an outsider is exactly the view that we would take if we saw them in real life, and serves to back up the meaning. From the inetrior monologues before, we know that the policeman's view is not the case. We also get some knowledge from this by the fiurst section. One clue as top the emotions the family members have for one another are illustrated in the following quotes:
Donna - ""Iam, have you got your galsses.""
Jonh - ""Donna, don't fo0rget your seat belt.""
- ""get in the car, Ian.""
WHile they may seem to be normal, mundane indstructions, the real meaniong lies behnind the facxt that these are practically the only words they speaik to one another.

Penelope Wallce ises two techniwques to dsisplayn this mmeaning: struycture and Irony. The structure techniques is obviously the arrangement of direct soeech and interior monologue, anmd the iuorny is used througholut the story in statements like:
DOnna - ""WItty, wonmdeful Bruce. I'll see hijm this evening.""
- ""I'll miss my train...""
Jonh. - ""Dear, sweet, warm Jenny,. And in a few hours she'llbe in my arms.""
The irony draws our attention to the parent's independent, private lives, both having affairs. This helps to highlight the double nature of things.

The second meaning present in the text is that all chuildren deserve love, care and attention. Penelope Wallace uses the example of a 'loser' to make thre reader feel pity and symnpathy for this poor kid whop doesn't even get anything from hios parents. The child is good for nothing, weedy, wears galsses, and gets bullied.
Ian - ""I really do hate school.""
- ""He'll laught at me and say that Father writes trash.""
- ""I don;'t even do well at lessons. And I get bullied...""
All of these quotes emphasise further the maeaning as stated beforee.
Ian idolises his 'perfect' parents amd wants to make them proud., but thew most his father cna manage is some masculine sympathy and crticial analysis, and his mother is downribhyt cold. The only person whom he really likes is Henny, the nanny.

The main technique ise dto create this second meanming the the praragraohs of internal monologue. Penelope Walllase makjes the character of Ian so ub3elievably poor: good at nothing., a failure, parents who are idolised by him aren't to happy the way he is turneing otu. The create this paryticular meaning, Penelope Wallace has done perhaps the easiedst trhing possible: make the characetr so that charcters feel every ounce of pit, empathy, and they sympathiuse whi him.Every person may perhaps realate to one of the resapons he is pitied and this makes him both a 'real' character and enhances the meaning.

In such a short story, (53 lines) Penelope Wallace has done a good job of creeating a lot of ideas and meaning. Partt of this is becuase of the interesting text structure, and the irony in the tale also plays a role. As a result, the story becomes more interesting tot the reader and makes this story a unique piece of literatuire.