Summary Of Selway By Pam Houston

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The relationship between Jack and the narrator in Pam Houston’s “Selway” is an unusual relationship. The narrator talks about how they fight all the time and the only thing they have going for each other is the sex. The reader can also make the assumption that she doesn’t like normal relationships or normal partners because she states “My mother says I thrive on chaos, and I guess that’s true (Houston 25).” Jack likes to be free and be able to do as he pleases which includes his dangerous adventures. The reader knows this because the narrator states how she lets him go out and doesn’t try to keep him home like his old girlfriends did and that may be one of the reasons why they stay with each other through all of the arguing. The short story …show more content…

This is where they thrive because the sexual attraction is there. She describes how the water made her feel horny and crazy and happy. She is turned on by exciting things like the strong current of the river. She also stated how she couldn’t take her eyes off Jack when they were boating. “I’ve always been afraid to stop and think too hard about what great sex and hard times might mean (Houston 25).” From this statement the reader can assume that she is scared to leave the security of relying on sex to keep things from falling completely apart. She believes that it has something to do with timing because there was a balance of being “absolutely powerful and absolutely helpless (Houston 25)” that they only found when they were in bed. This balance must be the foundation that gets them through all the fighting they do when they aren’t having …show more content…

But it is evident that the narrator gets more of a thrill than Jack because she states “I wanted to tell him how the water made me feel, how horny and crazy and happy I felt riding on top of water that couldn’t hold itself in, but he was scared, for the first time since I’d known him (Houston 27).” Because he was scared she kept her thoughts to herself. He may be oblivious to how attracted she is to him because he never seems to notice small things like this. He almost avoids the whole thought of getting married and having a family. The reader may make this assumption because he’s very withdrawn when the subject comes