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How does the length of the essay impact the emotional “weight” of the writing?Ĭourtney Gibbons is a recent graduate from Michigan State University.How does the title of the essay contribute to its development?.How is the concept of gravity explored in language and structure?.Her father had faith that he could cross all distances plotted on a map, but can a woman who has been broken down the middle cross the canyon that divides her? Discussion Questions This perspective is quite empowering, as it neither lends itself to veneration of science nor invalidates the importance of being able to measure things, even on rest stop maps. Gay ruefully appreciates that mentality and the knowledge her father gave her. She explores the relationship with her father, a civil engineer who believed that any distance could be traversed. Gay questions whether knowing “the science” of things is enough. This lyric essay, in its departure from methodical and linear narrative structure, makes powerful statements. It may even suggest that our priorities in measurement are often misplaced. This ending suggests that, yes, Gay has held maps and atlases, counted miles, yards, and inches, but that somehow these straightforward measurements of value are not enough.
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The essay ends with a brief but poignant depiction of her relationship with an unnamed character.
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Gay seems to be conscious of this construction and seems to challenge what society says matters. The lyricism of the essay makes it apparent that conventions of society like time and space are more constructional than factual-because, of course, the laws of time in the West and most of the world were constructed in the Western consciousness, rather than being scientific fact. This form, in my opinion, is absolutely necessary. I’m quite interested in the essay’s lyricism as well, its ability to evoke emotions in a transient way. No surveyor can draw a plan for feelings of love. I was particularly inspired by the underlying message, that quantifying things like physical distance is not enough to bring two people together-to make things tangible, or to close spatial or temporal or emotional distance. The writing is not chronological, and this begs questions about the relevancy of quantitative measurements like distance and time in one’s personal history. The work is disconcerting, conveying a complex emotional landscape without letting the reader get lost. The reader feels Gay’s own displacement as she drifts from one topic to another, all grounded in the theme of distance and space. The texture of the essay works to ground it as it glides over ineffable emotions. Emotions like these can feel unintelligible because the loss is not of something or someone that can be touched or felt, yet Gay manages to make them concrete. She bravely confronts the scenery of these emotions, grieving over events that could have been described in a more elusive way, conveying a sense of mourning the past. Gay’s work depends on realism in places that other writers might have used abstraction or symbolism to describe complicated emotions. Metaphor is present explicitly only in the overall narrative about points on a map and the sexual assault (“boys who broke right down the middle”). Gay sticks to literal descriptions for most of the essay. The gauzy canopy, “long, hot, terrible” summer, leather-bound atlas, and hot leather seats offer opportunities for readers to place themselves in the various scenes. The white canopy bed of her childhood bedroom and other images give the piece a tangible feeling and make it feel less transient. Gay uses poetic texture to engage readers in moments that repeat like a villanelle. Contrarily, the short sentences create a jarring contrast juxtaposed with the longer ones, they emphasize the jutting emotions of each movement in the essay. Her longer sentences exemplify a sense of dragging and heavy-weighted emotions. She makes decisive and well-measured choices about sentence length and form. Gay manipulates the form of the essay in order to hold emotional presence, gathering all her words into a single paragraph. Most interestingly, it considers whether representations of physical distances-such as maps and atlases-are substantive enough to describe emotional distances. The short essay “There Are Distances between Us” interrogates the meaning of distance in its various forms.