Story Board

Page 1 Paragraphes

1. A couple driving to a party in the summer night.
   1. Tommy wouldn’t drink.
2. When Tommy didn’t drink, Sarah talked and talked.
   1. …not an act of revenge
3. When Tommy didn’t drink,  Sarah felt cold.
4. …on the night of the accident
   1. …words between them
   2. undercurrent of sexuality
      1. Sarah could hear it
   3. feeling guilty
   4. talked of divorce
   5. flavor in the talks of divorce
      1. scent
      2. hot
   6. burning from too much drinking
5. girl on the bed
6. someone’s daughter, overweight, skin, eyes
7. Tommy assured
8. Condors…blushed, smiled, wished
9. no food, three drinks
   1. light then dark
   2. end of summer – bewildering, unnatural
10. driving late to dinner
    1. Dodsons gin in the freezer
    2. Greys imported Southerners – another punch
    3. Hollands – wine
    4. Salt – high-strung, quarrel, medication, tension, doll house
       1. pretty eyes
       2. end of summer

World Building

Marriage in a small village away from large city where husband worked.  Weekend parties with wealthy couples with drinking and flirting.  Driving between the familiar locations with multiple events in different sequence.  Each place had significant items which meant something to the wife Sarah.

Sarah becomes the protagnoist in paragraph 3 when the phrasing When Tommy didn’t drink, Sarah.

Characters

1. Sarah
   1. driving, talking, must have been drinking
   2. story: terrible, sad, grief, “not an act of revenge”
   3. cold (when Tommy didn’t drink), tanned
   4. words between them, sexuality
   5. elated, jealous, stubbornly resigned, guilty
   6. modest, embarrassed
   7. self conscious
   8. drinking
      1. 2 or 3 at Perrys’
2. Tommy
   1. not drinking
   2. disciplined
   3. smokes
   4. likes young plump girls with beautiful skin – different than his wife

• Protagonist
• Antagonist
• Other

5 Big Scenes

1. Opening
   1. dark August night
   2. couple attending multiple parties
   3. driving through New England village near coast
   4. drinking, talking, accident, guilty, make things nice, divorce
   5. flavor, scent, sound, hot
2. two
3. three
4. four
5. Climax

Poetics

When Tommy didn’t drink, Sarah…

She had gone through her elated stage, her jealous stage, her stubbornly resigned stage and now she felt guilty.

Techniques

1. Style
   1. short simple sentences
   2. repetition
      1. When Tommy
      2. end of summer
2. Tone
   1. matter-of-fact
3. Mood
   1. foreboding
   2. memories
4. Diction
   1. common
   2. interjecting precision
5. Point of View
   1. third person intimate
6. Narrative presence
   1. personal – Sarah remembering
7. Narrative Attitude
   1. earnest
   2. sarcasm
   3. critical
8. Time frame
   1. contemporary over short period of years
9. Time Management
   1. near now
10. Place
    1. New England in August
11. Motif: stuff that happens again and again; Paragraphs:
    1. dark night, long black avenue;  He did it, He did it; drinking
    2. She was telling him, She was telling him; When Tommy wouldn’t/didn’t drink
    3. When Tommy didn’t drink; thin
    4. she felt guilty, she felt guiltyflashbacks to a particular event and a single problem;  drinking; divorce
    5. divorce; seen Tommy, seen him; sitting on bed
    6. hurt; overweight, skin, eyes
    7. hurt
    8. sitting on bed
    9. drink, drank; end of summer
    10. pretty eyes, closed eyes; end of summer; gin, punch, whiskey, wine
12. Theme
    1. alcoholic excess touches others and does not forget them
13. Irony
    1. dramatic
14. Rhythm
    1. simple and direct
15. Pace
    1. no hurry
16. Expectation
    1. some work
17. Character
    1. woman, wife, mother, alcoholic
18. Instructions on how to read a novel
    1. not sure