Summary Of Lorrie Moore's Anagrams

Anagrams Response An anagram in the traditional sense is a word that can be scrambled into another word. What Lorrie Moore’s Anagrams does is put a narrative inside a narrative, which places the characters in different scenarios as the time jumps forward. There isn’t a perfect way to put another story within a story, which is demonstrated by Moore’s use of literal imaginative characters when Benna is confronted about her fake daughter (Moore, 201). The overall meaning of the novel is somewhat confused by the end, though the use of Benna’s imagination is a clever way to explain the struggles of a lonely, envious, and lustful adult woman. Moore’s use of comedic tangents is one of the saving graces of the novel, and perhaps demonstrates the

The effectiveness of the

When it comes to marriage, most novels wouldn’t gloss over it with a wall of text spanning a page and a half, but Moore uses it to describe how Benna met a lawyer, dated, fell in love, and then casually ended (Moore, 74-76). One could argue that this is Benna’s stream of consciousness, and thus adds more clarity to the novel than meandering around with specific events. However, it demonstrates the absurdity of Benna suddenly marrying someone, having internal dialogues with herself (and Eleanor), while also leaving time to complain about Gerard for the millionth time. Moreover, the descriptions that choose to focus on developing a story often use extended poetry like “The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s. O that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth […]” to lead up to Benna’s eventual relationship with a student, whom she describes better in “Our laughs grow louder and hazy. Soon we are kissing. Soon we are unbuttoning […]” (Moore, 82; 125). The effect of this is that Benna’s narrative is shaped by whether or not she has a great interest in the story that is going on. When it comes to her husband, apparently, it’s only as relevant as glossing over, even though she becomes Ms. Carpenter as opposed to keeping her maiden name. Meanwhile, a lustful inclination towards sleeping with students is treated as more important to the