The Roaring Girl

The parents warn the boy not to judge the girl for what they perceive to be her low class and lack of privilege. They assume her loud, coarse language shocks the boy, especially because the family communicates via difficult-to-read signals: quiet gestures, indirect fragments, and vague statements that the boy struggles to decipher and that the parents expect him to understand. The parents rarely fight, and when they do, the boy retreats into his closet.

When the girl joins the household, she does not try to adjust to their quiet ways. The parents fail to understand that her loudness is exactly what fascinates the boy, combined with her ability to maneuver in the world. They don’t see that the boy is in thrall of the girl’s ability to “roar.” When the girl identifies the problem at the service station—namely, the useless Ed Walsh—her bold directness amazes the boy. Yet the parents ignore her advice. They find her voice jolting and uncomfortable. The boy, on the other hand, needs to know how the girl speaks the way she does. To him, her voice reveals another way to interact with the world, especially because he is usually timid and wary of conflict.