Three of Julia Armfield’s stories in a row have been about showcasing how fragile relationships can be: “Granite,” in which Maggie falls too hard for a man and he turns to stone; “Smack,” in which Nicola hides out in her husband’s beach house and contemplates their marriage; and “Cassandra After,” in which the narrator reminisces about her relationship with her girlfriend, Cassandra. All of these relationships ended in death or the woman ending up alone.
One thing the three women all have in common is that they were told not to love who they ended up loving. Maggie in “Granite” was warned not to love a man because they were too fragile. Nicola is told by her sister she can’t be alone because she needs someone to take car of her, and the narrator in “Cassandra After” tells herself she won’t love Cassandra. In the end, though, all three women face the consequences. Maggie turns her boyfriend to stone; Nicola eventually leaves the beach house after the divorce; and the narrator looses Cassandra.
What I found interesting was the difference in characterization between “Granite” and “Smack” and “Cassandra After.” Maggie and Nicola are more bothered by their situations than any other minor character is, while Cassandra’s girlfriend tells the story very flippantly. Every other character in “Cassandra After” is obviously upset that this woman died, but the narrator just finishes the story by telling us she can’t message a woman on a dating app back, because she is sweeping up her dead girlfriend’s bones. Everything described in this story is described nonchalantly. This is interesting because it’s one of the more fantastic of the three. Was this meant to simply be eerie, or is there a deeper message of “forget the past and move on” to this tone?
You bring up an interesting point about the nonchalant tone of “Cassandra After,” and it seems to be a staple of most of the fantastic fiction we have read this semester; the more casually fantastic events are treated in a story, the more unsettling it makes them seem, and the more it causes us to question the world of the story.
I really like how you were able to incorporate the three stories together. I disagree with your statement saying that “Cassandra After” is more fantastic. I feel as if the difference with “Cassandra After” is that it had less of a fantastic component, and, the main character struggles with death rather than emotional loss of someone which I feel as if it can be emotionally harder to wrap your head around and the main character just completely avoiding her feelings towards the death of her girlfriend.