River of Names

"River of Names" by Dorothy Allison was an unfortunate story of a man's family, a family which was. By this i mean that nearly every member of his family died in some horrible accident, some intentional and some unintentional. The entirety of the story is quite simply based on the title "River of Names." After reading the story, the river is not water but composed of blood, and the names are the members of his family that are deceased. In the story the man's lover Jesse is always speaking about her family, continually noting positive aspects of each family member and funny and memorable stories. The narrator and main character is too ashamed to tell her the truth about his family, as he is forced to lie in reassuring her that he comes from a good background. "I come from an enormous family but i cannot tell half their stories."

In the story, multiple family members are described as dying in appalling ways. Kids and wives are beaten, raped, stabbed, and ruthlessly murdered, done so usually by older males. To me, dying in this case would be better than living. In many instances throughout the book, young children are raped and treated as pieces of meat. On page six it states "it wasnt funny for me in my mothers bed with my stepfather, not for my cousin Billie in the attic with my uncle, nor for Lucille in the woods with another cousin..." This list continues with many more cousins and siblings, showing the negative situation they all were forced to be in.

Due to the fact the narrator has seen so much death and heartache, he refuses to have a kid of his own. He states, "I can't have children. I never wanted children." In my opinion, this shows his kind heartedness. He is saving the child from a world of abuse, from his old family members and himself. In my opinion i feel he is scared he would hurt the child himself. Due to all the memories he has and all the pain he has incurred throughout his life, i feel the child could be an outlet to take his anger out on. This act would continue the trend in his family, continuing the appalling treatment of family and specifically children.