Words and pictures, are they the same thing?

In the short story ‘Getting Closer’ Steven Millhauser uses imagery to enhance the theme of trying to preserve time, he does this through a character called Jimmy who’s very hesitant to go into the river, the moment which he had actually been looking forward to for weeks. The question now is, how does Jimmy’s behavior change on trying to preserve time as the day goes on?

Although the story starts at the river, it also explains how Jimmy felt before he went and only knew he was going. As Jimmy knew that he was going to go to the river with his family and he was very keen to do so, thinking about it each day, raising his expectations for the day that is bound to come. At this point in the story the tone is still very neutral, there isn’t much excitement, but the reader can sense that he is looking forward to this day. I used the image above to show how Jimmy usually feels and acts in his normal environment of a student with homework.

At this early point in the story, he arrived, he started setting up all of the equipment whilst his sister already ran into the distance to the river, at this point in the story his excitement grows even more, this can be seen in the way Jimmy acts, he becomes hesitant, shy and stands there with his ‘skinny tall, shoulder blades pushing out like things inside a paper bag’. He thinks about the fact that this is the moment he has been waiting for, he tries to preserve as much time as possible, take as long as he can to savor the moment, and then simply stand next to the picnic table thinking to himself that he still has a long road ahead of him before his day really begins. This is what he is trying to accomplish throughout the story, letting small events build up to one forgettable moment. This can be seen by the picture above, the tone is now starting to become slightly more exciting having arrived at the destination, he’s now taking his time, getting ready, he tries to make it take a long time to the river, like in the picture the road ahead is still long.

At this point in the story he is now walking down towards the river. I have decided to represent this with a picture of gates opening, this is meant to symbolise opening up to the outer world, going through the gates into freedom, doing what one likes, not being afraid to take risks, achieving goals and for Jimmy that is to finally get into the river and start his day. For Jimmy, this is the long walk up to the river, taking a lot of care of where he steps, still being hesitant but bit by bit moving on towards his goal.

The picture above shows that Jimmy has made his long way to the river, he is now standing there as if he froze, his sister is already far out of sight, he is waiting, gathering up all his thoughts he had over the week about what it would be like. He stops and is hesitant to continue, simply standing there. This is when the excitement grows as can clearly be seen by the tone used in the short story, the point when “he’s there, he’s made it; standing on the patch of orangey sandy dirt that’s to small to be a beach”. His long walk into the insecure, with a grey sky; his long walk to the river is still ahead of him.

Jimmy now has his toes in the water, slowly advancing, after all this time he still isn’t fully in the water, he is still trying to preserve time, trying to make memories, thinking about it being what he had dreamt of. This photo shows very un-deep water, it’s almost toe level, this is where Jimmy stops, and keeps on thinking whilst his sister is urging him to finally get a move on and get into the water however Jimmy doesn’t yet want his day to start, but he realizes it soon has to. At this point in the story the excitement level reaches its peak, Jimmy is soon going to begin his day. The tone of this image also shows that this is a more exciting moment for Jimmy as he is slowly getting into the water, the sky is grey, showing that Jimmy is slightly frightened and anxious about not being able to preserve time anymore.

This is the end of the story when the excitement drops, at the moment when Julia shouts ‘Ahoy, matey’, “and with a wild cry that tears through his throat he steps over the line and begins his day’. Jimmy is now in the water, swimming with his sister, this is the point when the day really starts. I have chosen to represent this with a picture that shows water ranging into the distance with grey clouds, again showing that Jimmy has to take a leap into being able to finally starting his day, he has to move past his fright and enter the water to begin his day.

Throughout Jimmy’s day, he became more and more hesitant, trying to preserve the moment to the best of his abilities, but there comes a point when not only he, but everyone has to realize even though you might want to cling onto a moment, time itself has to keep moving and experiences to, memories have to build and this is the point when Jimmy changes his behavior completely, his appearance changed and the way he acts changes from extremely shy to alive and full of energy, he now fully enjoys the moment, even though it means that the moment will fly by.

#English