Larrys Party
LARRY’S PARTY NOTES · Shields uses her heros unusual profession both to illuminate the defining role that work can play in an individuals life and to provide her story with a controlling metaphor. ... They also become a metaphor for Shields own looping narrative, a narrative that repeatedly folds back on itself to gradually disclose more and more details about Larrys past. ... · Larrys life unfolds before him as a series of mistakes and coincidences. ... Ø When his date to a Halloween party wears an unappealing pirate costume, Larrys eye wanders and falls upon a cute Martian named Dorrie. ... · " Mazes become not only Larrys passion and lifes work, but also a mirror for Carol Shieldss winding, looping narrative and the episodic structure of Larrys Party. ... · Thats the operative metaphor for ``Larrys Party, and when it isnt feeling self-consciously clever, the maze emblemizes the greater excursions of life. Larrys own treks take him through the dark emptiness of the end of his marriage to Dorrie, and on to a respected career in maze design in Chicago and Toronto.