Segments
type: CreativeWork
description: Segments is fictionalized memoir structured as eight short stories, or segments of the central character's life. These autobiographical incidents begin in Redding, California, in 1947, when the central character leaves the family farm on her first day of school only to return to face the loss of her innocence. I find it ironic that boys and girls sexually abused by a parent or other family member are not considered incest victims, but incest survivors. Even if one survives the effects of incest, all subsequent perspectives and decisions are colored by loss of trust. "Praise Raleigh" is told by a third person narrator for several reasons. First, the experiences of early childhood can be too painful to remember first-hand, necessitating assignation to another person, in this case Sarah Cunningham. Second, the voice of a six year old needs a narrator with some degree of maturity and perspective, but without the emotional charge of reflection and authorial voice. The ·technique of magical realism in the incest scene was chosen for the same reason I think the German and South American originators chose it -because some things, like war, are too painful to look at straight on. The death of Sarah’s innocence is a result of an unjust war between father and daughter. ''New Kid," set in San Francisco in 1957, shows the same character, now sixteen years old, trying to figure out how to fit in with her peers at a new high school. The first person narrator tells the story from a very close, immediate perspective, in present tense. She is insecure, calculating, manipulative, but somewhat successful in what she considers to be important - to make friends as quickly as possible in order to fit in and feel normal. "Dear Mark" is in epistolary form as an amends to a child the mother gave up for adoption at birth. Here the main character addresses the now young man directly, showing a progression in maturity from the previous two stories. Although the action of this story takes place …
abstract: Segments is fictionalized memoir structured as eight short stories, or segments of the central character's life. These autobiographical incidents begin in Redding, California, in 1947, when the central character leaves the family farm on her first day of school only to return to face the loss of her innocence. I find it ironic that boys and girls sexually abused by a parent or other family member are not considered incest victims, but incest survivors. Even if one survives the effects of incest, all subsequent perspectives and decisions are colored by loss of trust. "Praise Raleigh" is told by a third person narrator for several reasons. First, the experiences of early childhood can be too painful to remember first-hand, necessitating assignation to another person, in this case Sarah Cunningham. Second, the voice of a six year old needs a narrator with some degree of maturity and perspective, but without the emotional charge of reflection and authorial voice. The ·technique of magical realism in the incest scene was chosen for the same reason I think the German and South American originators chose it -because some things, like war, are too painful to look at straight on. The death of Sarah’s innocence is a result of an unjust war between father and daughter. ''New Kid," set in San Francisco in 1957, shows the same character, now sixteen years old, trying to figure out how to fit in with her peers at a new high school. The first person narrator tells the story from a very close, immediate perspective, in present tense. She is insecure, calculating, manipulative, but somewhat successful in what she considers to be important - to make friends as quickly as possible in order to fit in and feel normal. "Dear Mark" is in epistolary form as an amends to a child the mother gave up for adoption at birth. Here the main character addresses the now young man directly, showing a progression in maturity from the previous two stories. Although the action of this story takes place …
author: Coggin, Carol
keywords: Fiction
date published: 2001-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:43:17Z
provider: University of San Francisco
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of San Francisco