Floating Bridge by Alice Munro
"Floating Bridge" by Alice Munro is a poignant short story that explores themes of acceptance and the fragility of human life through the experiences of Jinny, a Canadian woman facing terminal cancer. The narrative begins with Jinny stepping away from her husband, Neal, to reflect in a bus shelter while grappling with her illness and the complexities of their relationship. As the story unfolds, Jinny interacts with various characters, including Helen, a young woman from a troubled background, and Ricky, who introduces her to the symbolic floating bridge. This bridge serves as a metaphor for the precariousness of life, highlighting moments of connection and vulnerability. The dynamic between Jinny and Neal reveals an emotional distance, underscored by his nonchalant attitude towards her suffering. Ultimately, Jinny's journey is one of finding a sense of lightness and humor amidst her struggles, showcasing Munro's ability to illuminate the intricate tapestry of human relationships and the acceptance of uncertainty. The story invites readers to reflect on the delicate balance between life's joy and sorrow.
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Floating Bridge by Alice Munro
First published: 2000
Type of plot: Domestic realism
Time of work: The 1990's
Locale: Ontario, Canada
Principal Characters:
Jinny Lockyer , a forty-two-year-old woman dying of cancerNeal , her fifty-eight-year-old husbandHelen , a girl who is going to help care for herMatt , andJune Bergson , foster parents of Helen's sisterRicky , June's son
The Story
"Floating Bridge," a story about learning to accept the tentative nature of human life, begins with an account about a time when Jinny left her husband, Neal, briefly to sit in a bus shelter near her home, reading graffiti on the wall and identifying with people who feel they have to write things down. When she returns home, she asks Neal if he would ever have come after her, and he says, "Of course. Given time." Neal's detached attitude toward Jinny and his cavalier treatment of her despite her life-threatening illness is an undercurrent that runs throughout the story.
The present time of the story begins with Jinny, who is terminally ill with cancer, leaving an appointment with her oncologist to meet Neal. He has hired a young woman named Helen who works at the Correctional Institute for Young Offenders where he teaches to help them during Jinny's illness.
Helen, who comes from an abusive family, has been brought up by foster parents. When Neal and Jinny meet her, she must go pick up her good shoes from the home of June and Matt Bergson, where her sister lives. When they arrive at the trailer park, they are invited in, but Jinny wants to stay outside. Neal says if they do not accept the invitation, it will seem as if they think they are too good for them, so he goes inside while Jinny waits in the car. She goes down to a nearby cornfield, wanting to lie down in the shade of the tall stalks until Neal comes out and calls for her. However, the rows are too close together and she gets lost. When she comes out, Matt comes out of the house and tells her a bawdy joke, which is intermingled with her recollections of her meeting with her doctor. The oncologist has told her that her tumor has shrunk and that they have cause to be cautiously optimistic.
After Matt goes back in the house, a young man named Ricky, June's son, arrives and offers to drive Jinny home. He takes a shortcut through an area where they drive on narrow bridges over shallow water. When the boy says he is going to show her something she has never seen before, she thinks that if this had happened back in her old normal life she would be frightened. When they walk out over a floating bridge, she realizes she does not have her hat on and that the boy does not mind her bald head. He slips his arm around her and kisses her mouth. As they walk back to the car, he asks her if that was the first time she had ever been on a floating bridge. She says yes and asks him if it was the first time he had ever kissed a married woman. He says yes and agrees with her that he will probably kiss a lot more of them in the years to come.
The story ends with Jinny thinking of Neal having his fortune told by June and feeling a lighthearted sort of compassion, a "swish of tender hilarity, getting the better of all her sores and hollows . . ."
Bibliography
Franzen, Jonathan. "Alice's Wonderland." The New York Times Book Review, November 14, 2004, 1, 14-16.
Howells, Coral Ann. Alice Munro. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1998.
McCulloch, Jeanne, and Mona Simpson. "The Art of Fiction CXXXVII." Paris Review 131 (Summer, 1994): 226-264.
Moore, Lorrie. "Leave Them and Love Them." The Atlantic Monthly 294, no. 5 (December, 2004): 125.
Munro, Sheila. Lives of Mothers and Daughters: Growing Up with Alice Munro. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2001.
Ross, Catherine Sheldrick. Alice Munro: A Double Life. Toronto: ECW Press, 1992.
Simpson, Mona. "A Quiet Genius." The Atlantic Monthly 288, no. 5 (December, 2001): 126.