Gary Gildner's "Sleepy Time Gal"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, in Gary Gildner's "Sleepy Time Gal",
the narrator, a third-party in the story, recounts the tale through his father and mother's experiences, presenting each parent's view on the past events as well as some of his own interpretation. The author points out that the narrator's re-telling of his father's story about the Great Depression without focusing heavily on love and its loss, is indicative of a male stereotype that portrays men as somewhat devoid of romanticism. The paper states that Gary Gildner has de-emphasized a cliched love plot and instead presents it in more of a 'no nonsense' manner. The author concludes that, regardless of how the story is told, the story remains one of love and how it is lost. The paper states that readers are aware of how the narrator provides a balance to an otherwise one-sided and potentially uninteresting story.

From the Paper:

"By mentioning the parts he would like to include, the narrator seeks to complete what, in his mind, is only a partial story. By mentioning that he had already intruded too far in a story that wasn't his, the narrator displays the need to balance the story and offers an apology for straying from his stated intent of relaying the story as it was told to him. Though his mother also did not experience the events first-hand, but rather heard it from the narrator's father, her view of the romantic side of the story should be given a certain amount of weight; since the story was most likely relayed to her closer to the occurrence of the events."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Gildner, G. "Sleepy Time Gal." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing (5th ed.). Boston: Thomson Wadsworth., 2004. (Pages 46-47).

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