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Orange Is the New Black
Piper's Voice - Thread 3
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Julianna that was quite a mouthful LOL! Well to start I'd like to comment on how outgoing I feel like Piper was when she first got into prison. She tried making conversations with the other new arrivals, even if they didn't seem to be interested in talking. "She seemed to think I was weird for talking to her" (53). Moreover, I don't know if it's just me but I think Piper adjusted to the prison life pretty quickly at first. When receiving a pair of heavy black steel toed shoed, her reaction intrigued me. "I loved them instantly. Now I was a for- real, hardened con" (54). From early on she learns to not take for granted the little things when in prison. Does anyone agree? Do you think this attitude will change?
The people Piper encounters defiantly plays a major role on her writing style. As she describes the various people she has met you can really see how nonchalant she truly is, though the fault of being in Danbury. For example, Piper describes Nina as "funny as hell." Other people she meets, such as Janet, remind her of herself however Piper states "...although she still seemed to think i was strange for being friendly" (pg. 64). This shows piper really takes in all her surroundings, excepting where she is and what she is going to face, making her time worth while. Instead of living in fear, she interacts with others and makes herself comfortable, which is what makes her writing styles enjoyable and witty. "And if you resisted finding a place in prison society, you were desperately lonely and miserable" (pg.156).
Mod
I noticed before the incarceration, Piper's tone is negative of the idea of going to prison. "Initially it was too terrible, too overwhelming, too uncertain to tell anyone what was happening" (page 25). However, her first impression of the prisoners are positive, and the tone changes on prison. A fellow prisoner "closed the door and smiled encouragingly" at Piper (page 40). Several women greeted her, asking if she was okay. "They seemed genuinely concerned" (42). Piper compares her new experience in PRISON to being a new student in a high school, confused but with helpful peers. I wouldn't have imagined how many similarities a jail as with a high school (expect Kings Park) so this comparison demonstrates shows a shift in Piper's attitude towards the prison, and like Emma said, how nonchalant she is.
I agree that Kerman's voice changes from melancholy to casual and more light-hearted. I think this alteration is due to her ability to realize that women behind bars are no different from women who've never stepped foot in a prison. Kerman expresses how things were not as serious as she had envisioned, like when she says "At first I used the politically correct term 'Latina'...but everyone, regardless of color, looked at me as if I were insane. Finally I was firmly corrected by a Dominican woman: 'We call ourselves Spanish around here, honey, Spanish mamis.'" (72) She further refers to the new girl as a Spanish mami, showing a more positive voice in her writing.
Piper, to me, seems like a person to "go with the flow," and I think that's how she got to prison in the first place. Her initial connection with Nora speaks a lot about her character. "I wanted an adventure, and Nora had one on offer." (9) Piper's willingness to jump at an adventure with Nora simply for the hell of it introduces, early on, a potential flaw in the future. Also, I noticed more in the second chapter that Piper can be both a romantic, and a realist. Looking back, she says "...I realized that Larry had been in love with me back then, and I was in love with him." (18) But she puts a comforting tone on her official relationship with Larry when she says, "In fact, it was the easiest relationship I had ever been in, by far." (19) Piper's tone allows the reader to feel relaxed when reading her story, as it is one of turmoil. But Piper's "go with the flow" attitude and syntax develops her character as one that is strong, because of what she goes through. Does anyone else feel that Piper's initial tone develops her character as we know it as such, or does that not support her character throughout the novel?
Mod
Luke I have to say I 100% agree. Her strong nature and "go with the flow attitude" gives comfort to herself as well as those she loves while dealing with her unpleasant situation. "I needed to renew my promises to my mother and Larry that I was going to make it, that I was okay" (61). This further shows her personality, which will play a important role in the way she perceives in prison.
Thanks Julianna! Submissive is a good word I hadn't thought of that... knew I could count on you.
Piper's tone and the way she memorializes her journey through crime and prison and everything in between really shook me. She writes almost like a diary entry and that allows me as the reader to feel like I am in the moment with her. At the start of chapter 4, Piper's detailed description of her surroundings in prison from "a young black woman with rough cornrows and an aggressively set jaw" (52), who Piper confidently talked to and liked. This is contrasted by her own thoughts a few paragraphs later when she meets the woman from health services. Piper describes her as "so unpleasant that I was taken aback." When it was made clear to her that the inmates medical issues were brushed off, Piper showed her side influenced by her upbringing; "I silently gave thanks that I was blessed with good health. We were fucked if we got sick," (53). Her giving thanks, probably to God, and believing she was 'blessed' with no medical problems let's us know that although she's changing and becoming more confident, she is not broken free from her strict upbringing which instilled fear in her for situations like this.
A theme i noticed that corresponded to Kerman's story telling is her family/friends. Throughout the novel they have all been unconditionally loving and supportive of her. Whether this be before her trial, during, after and before incarceration, and even during her sentence. Not only does her family visit her every week as well as her fiancé Larry, but her other friends come as well and all the way from New York and other states as well. Clearly the sentence does not affect how they feel about Piper and she feels their love as she continuously comes back to the fact that her visits were one of the only things that got her through her sentencing (61). Further support from them is shown when her friend sets up a website that gave information about when visiting hours were and other important things about her sentencing. Also, the fact that her friends and family continuously send her books every day connects back to the theme and her story telling because these books also helped her cope with her sentence and get by in prison. Sometimes because of the amount of books she had other prisoners would become intrigued by her and often request to borrow books. Again and again in Pipers story telling she comes back to her friends and family and how they impacted her sentence and process throughout the justice system.
And Luke I completely agree with you! Her original anxiety when transporting the money in Brussels follows her throughout her experiences but also shapes her into a new person. I very much related to her nervousness but then grew confident as she did. After a tiring day Piper is looking at herself in the mirror, not really recognizing the person staring back; "Standing there naked in the warden's bathroom, I could see that prison had changed me. Most of the accumulated varnish of the five unhappy years spent on pretrial was gone. Except for a decade's worth of crinkly smile lines around my eyes, I resembled the girl who had jumped off that waterfall more closely than I had in years." (192). I actually got chills when I read that part and wrote 'creepy' in my book (which makes sense because I was sleep deprived and reading at 2 a.m.), but this is really a turning point for Piper and she really reevaluates the person she's become and how far she has strayed from her roots. This was also a pivotal point for me reading because I had started to feel comfortable with Piper's confidence and new attitude and this epiphany of her's made me remember her same anxieties as a young adult carrying drug money for a kingpin, and i knew that she finally felt it too. Creepy.
Luke wrote: "Piper, to me, seems like a person to "go with the flow," and I think that's how she got to prison in the first place. Her initial connection with Nora speaks a lot about her character. "I wanted an..."You're not really answering the question. How can you address a change in tone if you're only quoting up to page 18 and make no reference to her behavior in jail.... try again.
Val wrote: "Piper's tone and the way she memorializes her journey through crime and prison and everything in between really shook me. She writes almost like a diary entry and that allows me as the reader to fe..."I read the thanks and blessed part as more of a satirical commentary... I read it as, we are.... if we get sick"
How does voice in her writing connect you to the story? (Think pathos). Do you notice any changes in tone throughout the book? For example, note the change in her tone from before her incarceration to her life in prison.
How great of an influence does her environment and the people she meets have on Piper's voice/tone in the novel?
Also- is anyone starting to notice any themes that correspond to the story Piper is telling? Brainstorm your ideas- they will be further discussed in future threads!