October 28, 2016 - 14:53
Suzan-Lori Parks’ novel, Getting Mother’s Body follows the travels of Billy Beede, a 16-year-old girl searching for money to use to get an abortion. Every chapter of the book is from a different character’s perspective and shows a continual progression of the story. One of the most commonly seen narrators is Billy and even when Billy is not speaking, many of the other characters speak about her. As all of these different characters get their chance to express their ideas and move the story along, the question arises about whether they are all individualized characters, or if Parks is the only real narrator. Even though the author speaks for all of the different characters, they all have unique voices, ideas, and perspectives on life that are equally valued and thoughtfully expressed.
As Billy’s travels progress, she is forced to answer many important questions about her own life while challenging her own beliefs. At the same time, many other characters do not always agree with her decisions, especially regarding the future for her baby. Throughout most of the novel, Billy is very set on getting jewelry from her dead mother that she can exchange for money and use to get an abortion, but June is very against this and she proposes other options. Billy and June are two main characters created by the same author, but they portray very different personality traits, giving them individuality. They have their own ideas, therefore, they don’t express Parks’ personal ideas. June starts a conversation, “’Having children is a blessing,’ I says. Billy rolls her eyes at me and looks away…’I ain’t having this baby,’ Billy says. ‘Don’t talk like that,’ I says…’I could raise it,’ I says. ‘I wouldn’t mind.’” (Parks 131). In this situation, June is trying to make Billy understand the value of having a baby. The fact that June tells Billy that she would take the baby and raise it shows a higher level of maturity. June is willing to act as a parent figure for a baby that is not hers because she believes that it should not die. It could also be inferred that June wants a baby and has had trouble having one on her own. This resolution would free Billy from the baby and fulfill this hole in June’s life. However, Billy is very direct and stubborn and since she has already made up her mind, she is not ready to reconsider her options. She wants to get rid of the baby because she thinks that not having the baby will make her forget Snipes for forever. She believes that Snipes is the root of all of her problems and that if she has his baby, it is like she is keeping a part of him in her life forever. June tries to help Billy understand that there is more to having the baby than she may realize, but Billy is not open to her ideas. These completely different views about Billy’s baby show how these two characters have very different personalities and beliefs. They have their own individual voices; they do not just mimic the ideas of the author. Parks provides the reader with two equal sides to the same situation and leaves the rest up for interpretation, allowing the reader to expand their thoughts and perspectives on life as well.
Many of the characters speak using different dialects, showing another side of their individuality. In one of Roosevelt’s narratives he has a conversation with June, “’He wants to run this filling station,’ I says. ‘We’ll be back in plenty of time,’ she says. ‘Gonzales wanna run a filling station he gonna have to run one someplace else.’” (Parks 123). This is a very direct example of small things said in different ways. Roosevelt says “wants to” while June says “wanna.” This passage says a lot about the differing identities of Roosevelt and June. One main observation is their difference in education levels. Roosevelt has a higher level of education and this is evident through his grammar which is clearly better than June’s grammar. These different styles of speaking are very clear to the reader because they are exaggerated and show their personalities. Parks does not say that any of these different ways of speaking are correct or incorrect. She uses her wide variety of characters to express these differences and accept them in each character.
It could be argued that Parks’ characters do not have unique voices because all of their language is formed by the same author. This is not true because all of the characters are very extreme and have so many different beliefs. As the story progresses, it is evident that Billy is the main character. A lot of the chapters are from her perspective and when another character is speaking, most of the time they are talking about Billy’s life. At the same time, there are many minor characters that are just as developed as Billy’s character. It is evident that Parks took the time to make all characters equal, even though their levels of purpose vary a lot. An example of a character that does not get to have her voice heard often is Birdie. She still has a complete and well depicted personality that is shown in her one narration. She says, “Co-inky-dinky. I read about it in my National Geographic. A car pulls up. Fancy. Same kind that was here before but not. That’s whatcha call a co-inky-dinky” (Parks 206). Birdie is a very quirky and outgoing character that is not heard from very much. However, when she gets her chance, the reader learns about her whole personality, just as the reader has learned about another character like Billy. This character equality is very important to Parks so she puts everything she can into developing them individually.
It is evident that all of the characters in Getting Mother’s Body, have their own personalities, styles of speaking, and identities. Parks does not use her created characters to express her own beliefs and ideas, rather the characters help her explore new personas. Her wide range of characters are all seen as equal, even though they do not express Parks’ specific ideas. The characters are exploring their own beliefs and ideas about life, through the words of Parks.
References
Parks, Suzan-Lori. Getting Mother's Body: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2003. Print.