Hi Howya Doin Joyce Oates Analysis

The jogger is described as a well-built man with the body of an athlete. Joyce also puts in quite some energy in describing the people who the cheerful jogger goes around greeting and from their vivid description it is clear the different feelings and moods. The final bit is brought out very clearly as Joyce describes the actions, and the characters vividly as if to say this part is the most important in the story. She describes the violence that the cheerful jogger is subjected to when he greets a man who shoots him dead and later answers, “That’s how I’m doing. ” Other than the violence that is clearly evident in the story, the author also elicits instances of bullying and intimidation throughout the story, which would be interesting to explore.

The greeting can never be the issue here and neither can the voice. The issue comes in when the voice serves to bring people who are seriously in deep meditation back to reality. Clearly, all the joggers had issues of their own that they had to deal with and would thus appreciate some time on their own and meditate. The fitness itself was an issue that required so much concentration before one could actually achieve it. The cheerful jogger was, therefore, coercing the other joggers to be cheerful even without reason. The bully met a bully who had the keys to the dreaded abyss and sent him there, never to spread his cheer to the people again (Oates). The most important lesson extractable from this piece is the variation in moods that different people may have.