Steven Millhauser’s “History of a Disturbance” has a sense of unease and tension from the beginning. Though nothing fantastic happens directly (everything strange seems to be in the narrator’s head), Millhauser’s use of language, syntax, and point-of-view provide readers with a sense of something that just isn’t quite right.
The story begins in the second-person: “You are angry, Elena. You are furious. You are desperately unhappy.” (95). At this moment, we, the readers, become Elena. We are experiencing the same things she does. This story is being told directly to us. Even when the use of “you” isn’t as prevalent, we stay connected to Elena throughout the whole story. However, the story is also told in the first-person. Not only do we try to understand things from Elena’s perspective, but we also see them playing out from the narrator’s point-of-view. We get an inside look into his thoughts as they begin to spiral out of control. It is the fact that we get both of these points-of-view at once, the fact that we are seeing through the eyes of both characters, that gives this story an overall uneasy feeling.
The narrator’s language also adds to this feeling. From the beginning, he knows things that we do not, and that keeps us on the edge of our seats; we want to know what happened. He also asks a lot of questions, and due to the point-of-view, we do not always know if they are rhetorical or if he is asking us, Elena.
Another thing that struck me was the use of exclamation points. As writers, we are typically taught not to use exclamation points at all or at least to use them sparingly. However, Millhauer uses several throughout “History of a Disturbance.” On page 101, the narrator states, “Words! Had I ever listened to them before? Words like crackles of cellophane, words like sluggish fat flies buzzing on sunny windowsills.” The use of exclamations in instances like these shows us how excitable the narrator is and even makes him seem a bit unhinged. His questions and exclamations allow us to see how his thoughts are spiraling, again adding to the uneasy tone of the entire piece.
I completely agree about the uneasy feeling. It feels like we are following this man as he is losing his mind, causing us to lose ours with him. I thought the point-of-few in this story was very interesting as well. It makes us feel like we should understand or remember what he’s talking about because we are Elena, but we don’t, making it seem like this man is just going crazy.
I agree with sense of unease and tension. I thought he was going to kill her.
I definitely agree that this story is a good way of explaining a man losing his mind, allowing us to see his point of view while he speaks to us as if we are his wife. The POV definitely made the story more interesting.