Garrison Junction vs. Ice Angels For my final paper, I decided to take a look at Maile Meloy’s Half in Love: “Garrison Junction” and Jean Thompson’s Who do you Love: “Ice Angels”. I choose these two stories because even though they are by two different authors, I instantly noticed several strikingly similar themes and concepts. In this explication I will compare and contrast the overall plot, occurrences, ambiguity, and the different endings of each story. In “Garrison Junction”, we follow a young pregnant woman by the name of Gina and her boyfriend Chase. The two are driving on a restricted road due to snow and ice. They get stopped by the police a little ways down the mountain because a semi-truck got into a wreck and blocked the road.
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On their way, they hit a rough snowstorm, and they end up in a ditch along the highway. A police officer, that the girls name “Trooper Joe” comes to the rescue and takes them out to eat at a truck stop. On the way to the truck stop, Holly falls asleep and Jeanine is stuck talking to Trooper Joe about religion and the girls’ plans for Chicago. Jeanine tells Joe their cover-up story that they are going to cosmetology school and staying with a friend. When they get to the truck stop, Holly wakes up and goes to the restroom with Jeanine where she tells Jeanine that she does not want to go through with the plan anymore. This bothers Jeanine because she is always trying to control Holly. Holly then goes back out to eat with Trooper Joe and the two seem to hit it off pretty well. Jeanine is disgusted by the two, so she gets up and walks out into the snowstorm. While she’s walking she sees lights in the sky that she calls “Ice …show more content…
The story of “Garrison Junction” closes with the trucker walking off into the snow to the point that Gina can no longer see him. There is no explanation of why he did it or what happen to him. It is vague and open to analysis as to what ultimately happen to him; is it an attempted suicide? Is he just trying to get away crowd of people? It is all a mystery. “Ice Angels” isn’t quite as ambiguous at the end because it ends with Jeanine finding faith and glory in the Ice Angles (which is more than likely the Aurora Borealis) in the middle of the storm. However it is still unclear what exactly happens to both girls in the end. Did Jeanine leave Holly outside of Centralia to go on to Chicago? Did Jeanine become a prostitute? Did Holly hook up with Trooper Joe? For the most part though, “Ice Angels” has an upbeat ending for the negative
On their way, they hit a rough snowstorm, and they end up in a ditch along the highway. A police officer, that the girls name “Trooper Joe” comes to the rescue and takes them out to eat at a truck stop. On the way to the truck stop, Holly falls asleep and Jeanine is stuck talking to Trooper Joe about religion and the girls’ plans for Chicago. Jeanine tells Joe their cover-up story that they are going to cosmetology school and staying with a friend. When they get to the truck stop, Holly wakes up and goes to the restroom with Jeanine where she tells Jeanine that she does not want to go through with the plan anymore. This bothers Jeanine because she is always trying to control Holly. Holly then goes back out to eat with Trooper Joe and the two seem to hit it off pretty well. Jeanine is disgusted by the two, so she gets up and walks out into the snowstorm. While she’s walking she sees lights in the sky that she calls “Ice …show more content…
The story of “Garrison Junction” closes with the trucker walking off into the snow to the point that Gina can no longer see him. There is no explanation of why he did it or what happen to him. It is vague and open to analysis as to what ultimately happen to him; is it an attempted suicide? Is he just trying to get away crowd of people? It is all a mystery. “Ice Angels” isn’t quite as ambiguous at the end because it ends with Jeanine finding faith and glory in the Ice Angles (which is more than likely the Aurora Borealis) in the middle of the storm. However it is still unclear what exactly happens to both girls in the end. Did Jeanine leave Holly outside of Centralia to go on to Chicago? Did Jeanine become a prostitute? Did Holly hook up with Trooper Joe? For the most part though, “Ice Angels” has an upbeat ending for the negative