We were the Mulvaneys-Joyce Carol Oates

In We Were the Mulvaneys there is a sudden destruction of the family. One minute they were fine and then there was a sudden impact of despondency that they would never fully recover from. There are many examples of symbolism in the novel, one of them being the doe near the beginning of the book. The doe was innocent and alone represents Marianne in a certain way. Then a pack of wild dogs come and attack the doe just like Zachary Lundt attacked Marianne (Oates, We 22). The family company, Mulvaney Roofing, can represent Michael Sr. because it started out stable and then slowly started collapsing. When Corinne and Judd left his life, it then shut down completely. Near the end of the novel, when the kids are spreading the ashes it can symbolize them letting him go in the wind and setting him free from his miserable life. It can be interpreted as them all forgiving him for the actions that he has committed (430). Irony is especially found throughout the novel, for example, Marianne was a sweet, innocent girl who was raped. She lived a good Christian life and all it took was one slip up at a party that destroyed her whole life. Another example of irony is how Corinne and Michael suffered the most from the incident. Marianne was only hurt by her family and her brothers moved on with their lives. Corinne was trapped between the love for her husband who couldn’t move past the episode. Patrick, being the most cynical anti-Christian of the family ended up saving his sister’s rapist’s life even though he wanted revenge also exhibits irony. Despondency is found throughout the entire novel because the raping did not affect just Marianne. The whole thing resulted in a domino effect and the many problems that were in the family just took time to be displayed and then it was obvious that they were all suffering. Marianne’s feminine character was torn apart by a series of events. One being the raping that was then followed by the neglect of her family, especially her father. After that she couldn’t vision herself as a woman anymore and she struggled mentally with education and emotions. She fell apart more times than many thought she did because many people thought she was fine. They thought this because she held her pain inside of herself and didn’t let it out in public. Overall, the novel had an interesting plot that is capable of breaking anyone’s heart. There were some chapters that were redundant and didn’t relate very well to the rest of the story but it perfectly portrayed how the destruction of a woman can tear down more than just the victim herself.