Techniques Incorporated

            In the novel, Monkeys, Susan Minot adopts the approach of using a narrative strategy to tell her story on the Vincent’s family. Augustus Paine Vincent (Gus Snr.) is the head of the family and the husband to Rose Marie (Rosie), with whom they had seven children (Minnie, Chicky, Sherman, Gus Jnr., Delilah, Sophie, and Caitlin), and these members are the major characters in the novel. The main theme of the novel is the testament to the power that parents often exercise within families specifically linked with issues of wealth, unique relationship among siblings, and depression. To bring out this theme, Minot uses a narrative strategy to tell the issues revolving around alcoholism and infidelity tearing apart the Vincent’s family. Minot’s use of narrative technique is the key to the minimalist approach that renders a greater scope of family saga to be drawn into a much finer scale.

The use of narration brings out the behaviors and interaction amongst the Vincent’s family members and it dominates the readers’ mind from the point of view limited to the third-person. The novel’s episodes are predominantly narrated by the third-person who is not involved in the Vincent’s family events and chooses to relatively remain distant from the individual consciousness of the characters in the novel. The use of third-person narrative technique in portraying the novel’s theme has led to the character not getting their voices to tell their own stories. A typical example relates to Gus Snr., though he is the main character, he never gets a voice in the novel because the third party narrator assumes a complete control in telling the book’s story. In this paper, since the writing of my story will be based on telling of an event within the novel, the technique that I incorporated is “narration,” similar to that used by Susan Minot in her writing.   

Narration of the Auto Accident Event

The auto accident involving Rosie leading her death is a traumatic event that aggravates the subsequent outcomes experienced by the Vincent family. The main issues that the novel chiefly focuses on are the alcoholism and infidelity. It is, therefore, important to understand how these issues might have been the genesis associated with the death of Rosie in the car accident and the aftermath of this event. Rosie is a good mother who has devoted maximum efforts to coddling her children and raising them well, as a Catholic, in the doctrines of Christianity. However, it is undeniable that Rosie’s problems have emanated from the undesirable behaviors exhibited by her husband, Gus Snr. Gus Snr. is an alcohol addict and he routinely drinks bourbon every time he returns from work to their large home on the North Shore of Boston. His drinking behaviors becomes the genesis of the Vincent family’s downfall. He is not committed to his work and sustains his lavish lifestyle on his father’s inheritance, but never works hard to acquire his self-earned possession.

Gus Snr.’s has a pathetic work ethic and whenever he goes to family store to run the business errands, the only outcome is his bottles of alcohol getting incrementally larger. In this regard, the pillar to Vincent family’s sustained success is Rosie. In spite of her commitment to maintain the family elite status, Rosie is also committed to not exposing her family’s problems to the outsiders, and even hides her husband’s alcoholism from her family. However, despite Rosie’s effort to keep the family together and successful by managing the family’s store and Gus Snr.’s inherited wealth well, she realizes that Gus Snr. is not only continuing with the unpleasant behavior of drinking but also engaging in infidelity. On confronting Gus Snr. to discuss the matter, a fit of rage ensues and the Gus Snr. tells Rosie some extremely hurtful words such “go get another husband too,” “you can shoot yourself if you can’t live with it.”

Rose, having been a good wife to Gus Snr. and a caring mother to their children, is extremely tormented by how her husband treats her with disrespect. Gus Snr. disregards the efforts Rosie has shown in managing the family’s wealth sparingly and raising the children well. Though Rosie remains to the heart of the family, the constant mistreatment that Gus Snr. subjects her to even in front of their children torments her, and she decides to pursue a revenge. The whole family takes a shift to the negative direction with the mother who has been the bedrock of its solid foundation now taking a wrong turn of giving up on protecting and helping her husband and reducing her level of dedication to nurture the children. Gus Snr. become increasingly engrained in alcohol and drug addictions leading to emotional struggles and mental illnesses that make him develop abusive and violent behaviors.

The children, upon realization that both their father and mother are having some irreconcilable differences, they are assured that their protections of childhood is not guaranteed. The children resort to developing a strong bond them with each of the siblings. They regard this sibling relationship as the only way to survive the aftermath of any unlikely turbulence that might arise, and their prediction comes true as the family indeed becomes torn apart eventually. The tearing apart of Vincent’s family is triggered by Gus Snr. becoming a distant alcoholic, probably spending most of his time with the other lady he was having an extra marital affair. As a result, with the husband never having time to spend with the family, Rosie turns to a friend, William Kittredge, for comfort. The connection between Rosie and Kittredge grows and the two consequently engage in an affair that leaves Rosie with a child, Miranda.

The gulf between Rosie and Gus Snr., though still legally married despite both of them engaging in infidelity affairs, widens and they finally become separated in intent, but not permanent residence. After the separation, Rosie is reported killed in a car accident having been struck by a train while driving home. Sherman, one of Rosie’s children, brings the idea that he suspects the car accident was a suicide. The thinking that Rosie’s death must have been a suicide is fueled by the idea that she must have felt disappointed with her infidelity actions having been a woman of moral character who held Christian doctrines. Therefore, it is highly probable that Rosie must have suffered from the guilt of failing her children by doing contrary to the values she instilled in them. The children subsequently hold the same conspiracy theory that their mother’s death had everything to do with their father’s perpetual involvement in heavy alcohol drinking and stating the infidelity behaviors.

The children come to understand the extent to which their father’s misdoings made their mother feel unhappy in the marriage and acutely depressed. These situations might have presented the possibility of compelling Rosie to contemplate a suicidal car accident. With the loss of their mother and nowhere to go, the children resolve to confront their father about his alcoholism problem in an effort to help him stop drinking, but this attempt fails. The failure to grip with their identities coupled with the absence of their mother to guide them make the children to start drinking as well following the precedence set by Gus Snr. Worse of all, the children become clawed in the addictions using hard drugs and bhang. It is, therefore, justifiable to deduce that the case of Vincent’s family is a reflection of typical wealthy American families struggling to understand acceptance and love, which subjects both the parents and children to unending cycle of mental and emotional sufferings.

Work Cited

Minot, Susan. Monkeys. Open Road Media, 2010.

Writing a Story in Susan Minot’s Novel, “Monkeys”