typography as the means of illustrating mental processes in galloway

8/10/2019 Typography as the Means of Illustrating Mental Processes in Galloway

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Typography and Form as the Means of Illustrating Mental Processes in Galloways The

Trick is to Keep Breathing

In this essay an attempt will be made to try to find out what kind of connection there may be

between form and content in Janice Galloways debut novel The Trick is to Keep Breathing !

"t the first place the main attributes of postmodernism will be discussed in order to find the

place of such e#perimental piece of literature of the second half of the $% th century! It will also

be e#amined whether or not older literary pieces used similar methods for the description of

the processes of the human mind& and e#amples will be given& and then the prevalent

techni'ues for the portrayal of mind processes will also be described! "fter this a very brief

summary of the plot of the novel will be given in order to make it clear what are the main

emotional points that are to be discussed in relation to the typographical and formal

techni'ues! "fter the summary of the plot comes the analysis of appro#imately (% pages of

the te#t )from page * to page (%+! ,ithin this short part of the novel we will see how

typography works as the symbol of the message of the novel and as the symbol of the mood

and feelings of the protagonist! The unusual narration techni'ues and the application of

strange typographical elements will be highlighted in order to find out if they can or cannot

induce emotions that are most commonly aroused in the readers by the common application of

verbal e#pressions!

Galloways novel is most definitely a postmodern piece of work& the techni'ues of which

can be traced back perhaps until the first application of the stream of consciousness techni'ue

by -aurence .terne in the /0 th century! 1or Galloway the stream of consciousness techni'ue

and the postmodern features provided the opportunity to create this fragmented& non linear&

non unitary and non continuous narration of the disheveled soul of a .cottish young woman!

,ith the techni'ue of stream of consciousness the author was able to depict the tortured soul


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of a woman who has 2ust suffered the loss of her lover& and this techni'ue provided the

background for the proper portrayal of a life fallen into pieces! The fragmented narration is

also a postmodern feature and it doubles the efficiency of the stream of consciousness3 unlike

other novels written with the stream of consciousness techni'ue& this work is not only

fragmented from the point of the linearity of the narration& that is it is not only the storyline

that is broken up into smaller fragments of stories within the story& but Galloways first novel

is also interrupted by the emotional outbursts and reminiscences of the protagonist& by

snapshots of present and flashbacks of the past& and by different kinds of typography!

"s the result of this fragmented postmodern narration the reader may receive a deep impact

on the intuitive and emotional level unlike in cases of the usual narratives in which traditional

methods are applied to e#press the emotional background of the characters! In such novels

like Tess of the 45rbervilles or Jane 6yre the tormented soul of the female protagonists

is portrayed literally and the feelings of Jane and Tess are converted into words and thus the

cognition of the protagonists mood is completely a 'uestion of cerebral activity and

understanding& while Galloways techni'ue gives a challenge to the emotions and it influences

rather the sensitivity instead of sensibility! This traditional way of depicting the human

emotions is still prevalent today& though it cannot be denied that this is not e#clusively

Galloway who applies such methods of fragmentation and typographical manipulation to

e#press the mental state of a character!

In The Trick is to Keep Breathing Galloway intended to portray the everyday life of the

protagonist& Joy& who is suffering from the loss of her lover 7ichael& having recently drowned

in water! The storyline of the novel follows the difficulties inflicted even by the infinitesimal

and otherwise unnoteworthy elements of the daily routine! The story is full of reminiscences

of the late 7ichael& the loss of whom Joy cannot get herself over& and grabbing hold of her

memories of him does not let her live her life! The permanent grief takes over Joy and she is


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unable to find her own self& she cannot define her identity after the loss of her man with whom

Joy had only an out8of8wedlock relationship! Therefore& when 7ichael dies& the smooth

machinery of legitimised institutions springs into action and operates to negate and label Joy

.tone! 9er presence must be denied! If she is not mother8wife8daughter8sister& who is she:

There is no legitimate name for her in relation to 7ichael& which means she must not e#ist! i

This identity crisis and the severe depression& and finally the recuperation of the protagonist is

portrayed in the novel in the previously mentioned fragmented postmodern way!

The powerful strategy of Galloway to induce feelings and to convey the subliminal

emotional message at the first place lies in the basic duality of the te#t8types3 one of te#ts

written in italics the other written in normal font )the other font8types and typographical

techni'ues will be discussed later+! The te#t written in the normal font shows the everyday life

agonies of the protagonist3 how she is not able to fit into the society and the real world! These

parts of the novel are written in the present tense and the events of them take place at the time

of narration& though at some places the first8person narrator switches to past tense when Joy

thinks of memories that she can think of as past and perfect events& for e#ample the

conversations with 7arianne on page /;! By the way& the page number of this page is

missing& and this is not for the reason why it sometimes happens in other books& that is

because it is the end of the chapter! In the case of Galloways book the reason is rather in

connection with the strategy of portraying the mental state of the protagonist3 this is rather a

means to illustrate the desperateness and insecure e#istence of Joy!

The fragmented narrative style is best perceived when the author switches to another kind of

memories& that is the memories written in italics! These memories are the remembrances of

Joys last occasion with her partner& 7ichael& and in these fragments of te#t Joy recalls her

memories of the accidental drowning of her lover! 4espite the fact that the italici


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the events as if they were happening to her at that very moment! This psychological

phenomenon is 'uite fre'uent among those who were shocked by such tragedies that struck

Joy and 7ichael! "fter the frustration of such an upsetting event people are not able to

process the happenings and fall into the state of regression and memories become a kind of

constant present vision& and hence the application of the present tense by Galloway! This is

also significant that these memories are recalled mostly when Joy is at home alone and does

not have any stimulus to get her out of her depressed mental state!

That Joy is at a loss and she is severely depressed can be felt by the lack of chapter titles!

Just like the recurring lack of page numbers the triple os as the heads of certain sections of

the novel are 'uite perple#ing& leaving the reader in a pu


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this division the author might have wanted to illustrate the uncontinuous mental processes and

the divided self of the depressed soul of Joy! Galloway also fre'uently uses the techni'ue of

dramatic plays to act out conversations! Ane of these dialogues takes place on pages $/ and

$ & between the 96"-T9 CI.ITA> and the D"TI6ET! This dialogue also backs up the

supposition that something is not right with Joy& for in the conversation it is herself she views

from an outside perspective& and it is herself whom she refers to as D"TI6ET! This application

of the dramatic scene also stands for the vagueness and perple#ity of Joys personality& that

she at some points seems to try to overcome& especially when she goes out& but most of the

times she cannot handle her emotions!

.elf definition is a great deal of problem for Joy& and already at the beginning of the novel

she tries to give some kind of definition of herself3 This is my workplace!

It tells me what I am!

"nd a couple of lines below3 I am the problem )Galloway& /$+! These

sentences are written separately breaking the narration and thus showing the distinctive

importance of the matter! This may also seem like a desperate attempt to regain her former

self! That she concludes herself be the problem seems to be a revolutionary revelation but

soon it turns out that she is not able to solve her problems!

.he cannot control herself especially when she is home alone& and tries to do things she is

supposed to& for e#ample reading maga


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grieving because she misses her man& as the unfinished sentence I miss )Galloway& $@+

suggests!

There are some other symbolic typographical patterns that may be relevant in understanding

the emotional background of Joy! "t one place floating word occur by itself& like 9ello

)Galloway& /%+& at another place there is 9"9 )Galloway& $%+ turn up as an illustration of

her mental state! An page $% there is a speech bubble used in cartoons& and it may mean that

Joy perceives the discussion with the health visitor surrealistic and fairy8tale like! An page //

and / there are signs 2ust as they e#ist in reality! The reason why these signs are there in their

original form is that people suffering from nervous breakdown cannot perceive reality as it is&

but there are some fragments of which their eyes and brains take a snapshot!

"ccording to the analysis above we may draw the conclusion that Galloways e#perimental

techni'ues concerning the typology and the fragmented narration is sufficient enough to

replace the e#clusively verbal way of communicating the mental state! Galloway was thus

successful in transferring the emphasis from a purely verbal and cognitive way of e#pression

to a more intuitive and emotional method of writing!


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,orks cited3

Janice Galloway! The Trick is to Keep Breathing 7inerva& /F0F!

http3 www!te#tualities!net writers features8a8g galloway2%$!php

http3 www!galloway!/to/!org 7akhota!html
http://www.textualities.net/writers/features-a-g/gallowayj02.phphttp://www.galloway.1to1.org/Makhota.htmlhttp://www.textualities.net/writers/features-a-g/gallowayj02.phphttp://www.galloway.1to1.org/Makhota.html


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typography as the means of illustrating mental processes in galloway

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