English 1101: Titles That Draw You In

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Raised in a southern lower class family, the narrator unveils encounters with rape, death, abuse and violence among her as well as members of her family. The narrator discloses, "Almost always, we were raped, my cousins and I "(166). She witness her eight year old cousin committing suicide when she expresses, "My cousin, Tommy, eight years old as I was, swung in the sunlight with his face as black as his shoes-the rope around his neck...." (164). There were many deaths. Some deaths were intentionally to escape a seemingly inescapable lifestyle, but some were not. She recalls the story of coming home one day and walking in on her sister nearly beating her child to death and feels awful about it (169-170). The narrator manages to physically escape the fate that destroyed so many generations of her family.

The title "River of Names", is fitting and appropriate for the essay. The title recalls an endless procession of "bastard" children, rape, abuse, death, poverty, and violence making it impossible for the narrator to even remember the names of all the victims. One would suggest the significance of the title comes from the narrator herself as she recalls, "I've got a dust of river in my head, a river of names endlessly repeating. That dirty water rises in me, all those children screaming out their lives in my memory, as I become someone else, someone I have tried so hard not to be" (170). The narrator shows the reader this as she strives to live a different lifestyle; the overwhelming collection of painful and horrific memories of her and her family members still haunt her.

Both titles are very compelling because they present the reader with a clue for understanding the writings. In "The Stolen Party," the setting was at a party and Rosaura's innocence about social class was definitely stolen. In "River of Names," some of the names of the narrators relatives will forever run deep in her soul just like rivers run deep. The class relations and the fact that the main characters were females were two common factors in both writings, among other comparisons. Overall, these are two great writings from two great authors who use appropriate titles for their stories.

Works Cited

Allison, Dorothy. “River of Names." Identity Matters: Rhetorics of Difference. Ed.Lillian

Bridwell-Bowles. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall,1998.164-171. Print.

Heker, Liliana."The Stolen Party." Identity Matters: Rhetorics of Difference. Ed.

Lillian Bridwell-Bowles. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall,1998.97-99. Print.

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