An Assessment of Literary Devices in “Magic Words” by Jill McCorkle

 By: Emily Bewer and Becky Kemnitz
About the Author:
Jill McCorkle is a professor in the MFA in Creative Writing program at North Carolina State. She has taught at UNC-Chapel Hill, Tufts University and Brandeis. She has published five novels, and three collections of short stories. McCorkle has been receiving recognition for her writing for a number of years. While a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she was the recipient of the Jesse Rehder Prize, the University's most prestigious writing award. She was only 26 years old when she made publishing history in 1984, having her first two novels published simultaneously.
Five of her eight novels have been named New York Times notable books. Her stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Ploughshares, Oxford American, Southern Review and Bomb Magazine, among others. Two of her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories and several have been collected in New Stories from the South. McCorkle has won many distinguished awards including; the New England Book Award, The John Dos Passos Prize for Excellence in Literature and the North Carolina Award for Literature.

Meaning in the Title “Magic Words”:
When teaching little children to ask for what they want, typically a parent or authority figure will tell the child to use the magic word of “please” to get what they desire. McCorkle presents stereotypical characters from seemingly different backgrounds with their own flaws that ultimately all have similar desires for acceptance from others around them. If the characters would ask for what they want, McCorkle implies they would all have been much happier with their lives.

Plot Summary:
The story spans the course of an evening in the lives of four major characters. The housewife taxis her children around town, while a retired teacher reminisces about her past. The bully terrorizes the town, deciding that the teacher will be his next target to impress the troubled teen. The troubled teen hitches a ride with the housewife. Meanwhile, the bully frightens the teacher, who is so scared by the bully that she has a heart attack and dies before she can reconcile with her son. The boy slinks off, panicked that he might have actually killed someone. The housewife returns home, content with her life and not willing to go through with a contemplated affair.

Characters:
There are four main characters in the story. Paula serves as the protagonist of the story, as her actions influence others. An example is her driving Lauren home, which keeps the plot moving forward. Lauren serves as another protagonist, where her decision to decide to run away from the leader influences the progression of the rest of the story. Agnes and the “leader” serve as foils for each other, as seen in their differences in values, when the “leader” says, “Loafers! Neckties! An F in fucking math!” Agnes values the family-based, suburban upbringing that she gave her son, but the leader values the darker, criminal life that gives him the sense of power over others.
Initially, all of the characters fit the very stereotypical impressions of their archetypes; the housewife (Paula), the retired teacher (Agnes), the troubled teen (Lauren), and the bully (the “leader”). Paula seems to change the most. When she is first introduced, she is clearly unhappy with the life that she has, seeking out the thrill of an affair. In the denouement, however, Paula accepts her life situation, as she ultimately returns to her children and husband. Agnes dies but presumably was on her way to change when she picked up the phone to call her son. Lauren is in a similar position. She has the opportunity to change, as Paula has shown her the love and compassion that she’s desired for so long. The “leader’s” change is very subtle. He is first introduced as a domineering petty criminal. He shows remorse in the final section. Rather than bragging about killing Agnes, he wants to tell Lauren that all he did was frighten Agnes.
Characterization is mostly done indirectly. Paula’s characterization is done through her physical dress and appearance, through her interactions with her children, and how she perceives and is perceived by Lauren. Agnes’ characterization is predominantly stated through her history about her husband, her son, and her old-fashioned viewpoints through her interaction with her daughter-in-law and the “leader’s” memories of her as a teacher. Similarly, the “leader” is characterized by Agnes through both her memories and present perceptions of “his complexion blotched and infected, hair long and oily… his arms all inked.” Lauren is characterized by physical appearance and history with her ex-boyfriend. She is also indirectly characterized through her thoughts about her parents’ love and her fear of the leader.

Structure:
There are a few different conflicts throughout the story, and all of the characters are involved in at least one. We have the conflict of Paula vs. husband, and Paula vs. society. Another conflict is Lauren vs. authority. This conflict is somewhat resolved in the end, but we are left wondering what has happened with Lauren, and how her character will end up. We see the conflicts of Agnes vs. son, and Agnes vs. the “leader.” These conflicts are never resolved since Agnes dies, but the conflict between Agnes and the “leader” plays a large role in his decisions throughout the story.
The climax comes when Paula picks up Lauren and drives her around town. This is also the point in the story where the characters get what they have been looking for throughout the story. They find acceptance and understanding. We see this as a plot twist within this story. Both characters set out earlier in the evening with other intentions, and by chance met. Another plot twist is the “leader’s” response to Agnes’ death. Based on his character development, we didn’t expect him to show remorse. His panic over her death was unexpected.
The ending of each character’s story is different. Agnes’s ending is unhappy because she does not survive the entire story. The “leader’s” ending is unhappy because he never has a chance to tell Agnes how much she negatively affected his sense of self. He is left without any sort of closure. Lauren’s problems are neither resolved nor unresolved. We are left with a hope that Lauren is able to reconnect with her family. Paula’s ending is somewhat indifferent. She had changed her plans for the evening, but there is no way for the reader to tell if she will reschedule with her coworker. We are left with an “I will deal with it later” attitude from Paula.

Point-of-View:
Point-of-view is another indication of the characters’ influence on the story. The rotating point-of-view is written in third-person limited with the shift of each character’s section. The narrators, except for the “leader”, seem reliable, predominantly because they admit their faults and their deepest desires. This point-of-view allows us to openly see the characters’ wants and needs, breaking down the stereotypes we may hold from our initial introduction to the characters. When the narrator tells too little, the point-of-view shifts and fills in the blanks that another character has left. This shifting point-of-view is consistent throughout the text.

Tone and How It Relates to the Setting:
The tones that best describes the story are both urgent and mundane. For Agnes and the “leader”, the sense of mundane is focused on Agnes’ going to the grocery store and recognizing the boy bagging groceries. The mundane for Paula and Lauren is seen when Paula chauffeurs her kids around and Lauren returns to her parents’ house. The urgency for Agnes and the “leader” can be seen when Agnes is panicked by the noises outside her house, and the “leader” is panicked that Agnes has died when all he wanted to do was to scare her. For Paula and Lauren, the urgency is seen when Paula is rushing to meet her lover without keeping him waiting, and Lauren is running away from the “leader.” Ultimately, the development of the characters and the story’s rotating and revealing point-of-view tie into the meaning of the piece. Everyone has similar wants for acceptance, which is seen by breaking down the initial stereotypes that we have about the character archetypes that are presented to us.

Language and Allusion:
The key words of the text seem to be “please” and “thank you,” which indicates the message of the text. There are old views and suburban assumptions about how things are, but using the magic word, people can ask for what they want. Agnes and Paula, as older authority figures, use the words “please” and “thank you” as a sign of politeness and respect. The “leader” uses the words sarcastically and spitefully, as if the words signify his oppression by authority. Lauren, on the other hand, doesn’t say these words but rather keeps what she wants hidden inside. These words are key because they are needed to get the characters what they ultimately want.
Allusions in the story relate to the book Helter Skelter, a young adult book with a thriller type genre. The allusion helps to show the characters’ less educated, more juvenile interests and establishes a contemporary historical setting. Other allusions that help to establish historical setting are the Audi that Paula drives or the cell phone the “buzzes” on her hip. Allusions in Agnes’s house do the same thing; her phone is a land-line and her son has an answering machine, placing the story in the early 2000s, as most recently land-lines are phasing out, but also characterizes Agnes’s old-fashioned views and lifestyle.
The main descriptive imagery uses the sense of hearing, with the noises outside Agnes’s house and the “gravel crunching… jiggling knobs” that the “leader” does sneaking around the dark. This is also seen in the end, with Paula listening for the cat and hearing, “a distant siren, the wind in the trees, and the pounding bass of a passing car.” Imagery focuses on auditory sensations, rather than visual images or physical descriptions.

Symbolism:
There are a few different symbols throughout the story which all fit in with the stereotyping theme. The setting accentuates the “All American” state of mind that the characters have. The animals that Paula’s husband warns the neighborhood about could also be considered a symbol. Paula’s husband has been spending more and more time working on his community work with the coyotes. As nocturnal animals, coyotes symbolize the “leader’s” predatory night-time activities. Another symbol within the story is the cell phone. This symbolizes the influence of others on our decisions. This may be a positive or negative influence throughout the story, but it’s still a distraction from our own needs when we make decisions.

Theme:
In the beginning we are unaware that all the characters are linked together somehow. Paula and Lauren have a very strong non-verbal connection and appreciated each other’s support. All of the characters are connected in their similar human condition and shared emotions. The theme of stereotyping is also used within the text. We have very stereotypical character descriptions, as well as an “All American” setting. The characters include the housewife, the retired teacher, the troubled teen, and the bully. These character descriptions help us to understand the characters better. Since they are stereotypical, they are easy for us to relate to.

Evaluation of “Magic Words”:
When assessing this story, we would give it a grade of a B+. Our decision on this evaluation is based on what worked for the story and its meaning. For this story, the structure, point-of-view, and character ultimately worked together to help portray the meaning of the story. The structure was effective because it helped us follow the progression of the plot as told through the four characters, particularly through paragraph breaks to clearly delineate the sections. This was furthered through the rotating point-of-view that McCorkle seemed to use to help break-down the initial stereotypes perceived by the reader to help establish the theme of a universal set of human desires. Character development was another strength of the story, as McCorkle used the structure and point-of-view to establish well-rounded characters from the presumably flat archetypes from the reader’s previous assumptions. The weaker aspects of the story were setting and language. Although the lack of focus on setting could be related to the stereotypes by creating an “all-American” town, the actual setting didn’t seem significant to the meaning of the story. It could have taken place in almost any time period or region, with only minor changes to the allusions like an Audi or a text message. Furthermore, language didn’t play a large part in the progression of the story, as it wasn’t overdone or underdone.