On Post: Battery Kinzie

Date: January 2, 2014

I was struck right away with the line: “At the door a stranger stood/The stranger's voice said nothing good,” and that image of someone blocking our singer from his lady love, literally barring access.

Again though, as with the entry on the 1st, I did not want to a clichéd version of that image. Thus, came the idea of the split narrative offered by the dueling journals device. This way, via the writings of our prospective (but not really) Romeo and Juliet, we got the traditional version from Elliot, albeit one that already hints that he might not be all that wholesome, and the perspective that shatters it in Gloria’s entry, the antidote if you will.

I also could not help but make the one positive male figure in the story a stepdad as it a.) subverts another trope (the wicked step parent) and b.) as a child of divorce who got very lucky with a very excellent stepmom, I feel compelled to puncture that cliché whenever possible.