Sleepwalk + White

I notice with Sleepwalk, that there is a sort of fixation with objects throughout the novel. White's article writes that authors choose what to put into a narrative, and what to leave out. So why is there a fixation on things outside the actual story within Tomine's Sleepwalk? For example, In "Echo Ave." readers are watching the wife make popcorn instead of focusing on the neighbor's wild sex, in "Lunch Break" the story is fueled by a sack lunch when really it is about Shelly's loneliness without her husband, and in "Pink Frosting" we are fixated on the cake and subsequent birthday rather than the fact that the guy is being brutally beaten in the street. In taking White's theory that the author chooses what is in the story, I assume that all of these tactics are intentional. My theory is that it is natural for people to turn away from the things that bother them and to focus on something else, a cake for instance. Tomine has chosen to employ natural human reaction within his stories. In doing so, he increases the drama and emotional pull in the reader. The events are ordinary, everyday scenarios, and the characters ordinary, everyday people, this allows for the emotional drama to play out powerfully in a relatable manner.

On the same lines, I also noticed in "Dylan and Donovan" that none of the characters make eye contact with each other. There is a sort of averted gaze prevalent through the story. Again, with White in mind, why would Tomine make this choice in his narration? The turned gaze, and distant focus throughout the story seem to alienate the characters from each other. Though they are family, and spending time together, they are not close. The way they don't make eye contact sort of shows how badly they are failing to communicate with each other and also works to heighten the sense of loneliness within the story.

Throughout Sleepwalk Tomine's characters all sort of exemplify loneliness in some form. We are shown characters that are pining away for ex-girlfriends, families that don't communicate, and a man who is alienated by some kids on the bus. The way that Tomine heightens the emotional pull by averting the reader's eyes and utilizing the gutter, and the way that he repeats this sense of perpetual loneliness throughout the stories give the book a very dramatic and sometimes deeply depressing feel. I wonder what the significance of this emotion is, and what Tomine is signifying by creating this book as his art. These questions led me to two conclusions that seem contradictory but not necessarily mutually exclusive. 1) We feel this emotion because we naturally relate to the stories of others and their hardships/frustrations. Especially when they respond in a realistic manner, like Tomine depicts them. 2)The repeated theme of loneliness and the fact that we relate to it shows how common an emotion loneliness is. The characters in the book are unified in their loneliness, as we are in our 21st century urban lives. The lives of the characters are outlandish at times, but always relatable through basic emotions.