56 MARCH 2020 http://www.writers-online.co.uk
what sort of facility? And why is she
taking such pains to get there? We
have to wait for the answers.
Alice Munro starts to drip-feed
us some clues though. There is
obviously a tragic secret in Doree’s
past that we are told her work
colleagues are unaware of. Since
the tragic event she has lost weight,
cut her hair, changed her name and
moved away from her home. We also
discover that this is the third time
she has made this journey, the other
two times being abortive when the
object of the visit refused to see her.
Notice how Doree’s mood
changes as the journey progresses.
On the first bus she is calm enough
to look out at the scenery. By the
second bus journey she is more
jittery, thinking ahead to her
destination. By the third bus she
is actively looking for diversion
techniques to control her nerves.
As she travels, more of her back
story is revealed: the presence of a
controlling man; the three children
she had; the visits to Mrs Sands who
wants her to ‘move on’. As the story
progresses, we get various strands
woven together: Doree’s bus journey;
some flashbacks to how she met and
married her husband, Lloyd; her
meetings with Mrs Sands, who turns
out to be a counsellor. Note how,
slowly, different aspects of the story
are divulged.
There are warning signs about the
impending tragedy in the back story.
Lloyd is very controlling. He won’t
let Doree wear make up, he refers
to the children as ‘his’ only later
correcting it to ‘ours’, he insists on
the children being home schooled.
Ultimately he loses control of
himself over a dented tin can.
But however limited Doree’s life is
by Lloyd’s behaviour, she is able to
escape by taking small journeys with
her friend Maggie who is another
home-schooling mum. Maggie
has a minivan, so this opens up
opportunities that would not have
been there otherwise. Together they
go shopping, or get takeaway coffees
and take the children to the park.
This extra freedom comes with a price
though, and soon Maggie becomes
a bone of contention between Lloyd
and Doree. He imagines that two
women in a car together must beone with some upsetting content.
At the beginning of the story we
hear that Doree is undertaking a long
and complex journey. She is travelling
by bus, but not just one bus. She has
to take three buses, interspersed by
waits at depots, in order to reach her
destination. We also find out quite
early on that her destination is not a
happy one.
The word ‘facility’ is used to
describe where Doree is going. ButI
n this month’s story, Dimension
by Alice Munro, we join our main
character, Doree, as she takes a long
and emotionally trying journey.
As the story unfolds, we find out
where she is going and why. We’re
going to look at the importance of
journeys in this story, and as usual
you’ll get the most out of the master
class if you read the story for yourself:
https://writ.rs/dimension. I should
warn you though that it is quite a sadTravel
tales
Helen M Walters explores a short story by
Alice Munro to look at the possibilities of
taking your character on a journey