A Slipping-Down Life by Anne Tyler
"A Slipping-Down Life" by Anne Tyler is a coming-of-age novel that chronicles the journey of Evie Decker, a socially awkward seventeen-year-old girl from the small town of Farinia, North Carolina. Struggling with feelings of loneliness and dissatisfaction, Evie's life takes a turn when she hears the voice of local musician Drum Casey, which inspires her to seek out a more vibrant existence. Her quest for change leads her to attend rock-and-roll shows, culminating in a drastic act to capture Drum's attention by carving his name into her forehead. Although her actions initially bring her closer to Drum, their relationship is complicated by his immaturity and their financial struggles.
As the story unfolds, Evie's character evolves through various challenges, including an unplanned pregnancy and the death of her father. The novel ultimately highlights themes of identity and self-worth, portraying Evie's growth as she learns to assert her needs and desires. While not presenting a conventional happy ending, Tyler's narrative offers a realistic insight into adolescence and the quest for personal fulfillment, marking it as an important work in young adult literature. The novel's ability to resonate with the complexities of youth makes it a significant precursor to the more contemporary explorations of teenage identity found in later works.
Subject Terms
A Slipping-Down Life by Anne Tyler
First published: 1970
Subjects: Arts, coming-of-age, family, and love and romance
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Domestic realism
Time of work: The late 1960’s
Recommended Ages: 15-18
Locale: A small town in North Carolina
Principal Characters:
Evie Decker , a nondescript seventeen-year-old trying to gain attention through a sudden, shocking actBertram (Drum) Casey , a nineteen-year-old local singer and the object of Evie’s affectionsDavid Elliot , Drum Casey’s drummer and the person through whom Evie and Drum come togetherViolet Hayes , Evie’s only friendClotelia , the Deckers’ maid and a mother figure to EvieSam Decker , Evie’s father
Form and Content
A Slipping-Down Life is a realistic tale of the awkward and sometimes painful movement of a teenager, socially handicapped by the stigmas of shyness and obesity, to a moment of decision to end her obscurity, which ultimately leads her on a true journey to maturity and a strong sense of self-worth.
From the moment that Evie Decker, a seventeen-year-old from the small town of Farinia, North Carolina, hears the disembodied voice of nineteen-year-old local musician Drum Casey sounding his need to get out of Farinia for good, Evie is called to action. After years of endlessly waiting for her colorless existence to be touched by drama, Evie hears something in the voice of this stranger on her radio that inspires her to seek him out in the hope of finding the answer to changing her life. Author Anne Tyler has created a situation that could easily occur in any town or city across the United States: A teenager, unsatisfied with her life, searches for someone to show her a better way of surviving. While Tyler’s protagonist, as with many heroines of realistic young adult literature, does not live “happily ever after,” the novel is ultimately positive because Evie survives her journey through adolescence and learns much along the way.
The story of the novel, while dealing with the complex feelings and unpredictable actions of adolescence, is straightforward and easy to follow. Evie has no mother, an amiable but distant father, and only one friend. She is lonely and interested in changing her life, but she takes no concrete steps to do so. One day, however, when she hears an interview with a local musician, she decides to attend a rock-and-roll show—an act much out of character for her—in order to see him in person. This sudden fascination sets in motion the rest of the action of the novel.
After the first show, Evie begins to frequent the Unicorn, a local nightclub where the musician, Drum Casey, plays every Saturday night. Drum takes little notice of Evie, and, in a moment of rashness, Evie decides to get his attention in a shocking way—by slashing the name “Casey” backward across her forehead with manicure scissors in the restroom of the club. The slashing does nothing but annoy Drum, who does not want to feel responsible for Evie’s actions. Evie achieves her goal of closeness to Drum, however, when his manager, David Elliot, asks Evie to come to all of Drum’s sets and sit in front of the stage, with the scars visible to the other audience members.
This situation continues for weeks until Drum achieves some small success and drops Evie from the show, thinking that publicity no longer needed. When things go badly wrong and Drum loses his job and his home, he turns to Evie for help and companionship. They drift into marriage, Drum looking for domesticity and Evie searching for identity and love. Their union is matter-of-fact and plagued by financial problems and Drum’s immaturity. The marriage and the novel ultimately end with the sudden death of Evie’s father and Evie’s unplanned pregnancy, which forces her to give Drum an ultimatum: He must “get organized,” moving into the house left to her by her father and making a decent life for the baby, or they must part. Although Drum maintains that he wants them to stay together, he refuses her demands and Evie leaves him.
Critical Context
Although lacking the grittier bleakness of realism that Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War (1974) would soon usher into young adult fiction, A Slipping-Down Life does avoid the pitfalls of the overly simplistic juvenile story, with its easy answers, that was the norm at its time of publication. While Anne Tyler’s later works are generally intended for an older audience, her books overwhelmingly explore the female search for identity, and her juvenile heroine clears the way for the strong young heroines of later 1970’s young adult fiction, such as those of Judy Blume. While not choosing to remain a writer in today’s realistic juvenile literature, Tyler can be said to be a pioneer in the movement.
Bibliography
Bail, Paul. Anne Tyler: A Critical Companion. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998.
Croft, Robert W. An Anne Tyler Companion. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998.
Evans, Elizabeth. Anne Tyler. New York: Twayne, 1993.
Kissel, Susan S. Moving On: The Heroines of Shirley Ann Grau, Anne Tyler, and Gail Godwin. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1996.
Petry, Alice Hall. Critical Essays on Anne Tyler. New York: G. K. Hall, 1992.
Petry, Alice Hall. Understanding Anne Tyler. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1990.
Salwak, Dale. Anne Tyler as Novelist. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1994.
Stephens, C. Ralph. The Fiction of Anne Tyler. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1990.
Sweeney, Susan Elizabeth. “Anne Tyler.” In The History of Southern Women’s Literature, edited by Carolyn Perry and Mary Louise Weaks. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002.