Parallel Voices in Braided Lives Essay -- Braided Lives

Parallel Voices in Braided Lives The parallel voice is a device which is present in Marge Piercy's novel, Braided Lives. This technique enforces the effect of Jill's past life on her future life and views. A gauge of the protagonist's growth is given by parallel voices, a technique which enables the reader to see how the protagonist has developed from teenager to adult. The parallel voices of the young and adult narrator give insight to the changes that have occurred in her life. According to one critic, "Jill is survivor, and she chooses to examine her own past out of a strong commitment to the present" (Gold 378). The novel is a memoir by the adult Jill. It shows " the beginning and the fruits of her political growth," but it leaves the events in the middle up to the reader's imagination (Schwartz 379). She writes of her past experiences and how they effected her. She describes her experiences with objectivity. In her flashback, she can examine why she acted in a certain way. The elapse of time provides her with this objectivity. Since she is looking...