Joy William’s, “The Blue Men”, is a story about a woman who struggles to face and accept her past while trying not to let it consume her. May, our main character, her son has been executed for the murder of a deputy and his drug dog, and is left to care for his son, Bomber. May is all alone, aside from her grandson, and these photos and postcards she carries with her in her purse. She is gradually becoming unseen to everyone around her, even herself. One night, on her way home, her purse was stolen from her, but later returned to her. The purse disappeared again, but this time by Mays doing, but again it came back to her. It is these moments, when the purse returns to her again and again, that show that May is haunted by this purse, her past.
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People came here only if they wanted to. You couldn’t find this place by accident. The town seemed to be a place to visit and most people didn’t stay on. There were some, of course, who had stayed on.( p.105)”, is suggesting that May does not even want to escape her own past, one side of her struggle between holding on and letting go. The town is cut off, like May from the rest of the world, but this suggests that she intentionally cuts herself off. In the same scene, it talks about May has taken up lying, as some sort of hobby, “She had taken up lying rather late in life, but with enthusiasm. Bomber didn’t seem to notice, even though he had, in May’s opinion, a hurtful obsession with the truth (p.105)”. More than likely, she has taken to lying, in some way to create this life that, she thought, her son inspired to have, and one that was different from the one she had now. For instance, she lies to the women at church about seeing the blue men, which we know from the postcards, her son wished to see them in his travels, “May held one close to her eyes. Men in blue burnooses lounged against their camels, the desert wilderness behind them. On the back was written, The blue men! We wanted so much to see them, but we never did. (p. 103)” It is also suggested that “Bombers hurtful obsession with the truth” is a problem for May because he is not only a reminder of her son, but he does not try to lie of pretend that this hasn’t happened to them, he rather talks about it openly and freely, unlike
People came here only if they wanted to. You couldn’t find this place by accident. The town seemed to be a place to visit and most people didn’t stay on. There were some, of course, who had stayed on.( p.105)”, is suggesting that May does not even want to escape her own past, one side of her struggle between holding on and letting go. The town is cut off, like May from the rest of the world, but this suggests that she intentionally cuts herself off. In the same scene, it talks about May has taken up lying, as some sort of hobby, “She had taken up lying rather late in life, but with enthusiasm. Bomber didn’t seem to notice, even though he had, in May’s opinion, a hurtful obsession with the truth (p.105)”. More than likely, she has taken to lying, in some way to create this life that, she thought, her son inspired to have, and one that was different from the one she had now. For instance, she lies to the women at church about seeing the blue men, which we know from the postcards, her son wished to see them in his travels, “May held one close to her eyes. Men in blue burnooses lounged against their camels, the desert wilderness behind them. On the back was written, The blue men! We wanted so much to see them, but we never did. (p. 103)” It is also suggested that “Bombers hurtful obsession with the truth” is a problem for May because he is not only a reminder of her son, but he does not try to lie of pretend that this hasn’t happened to them, he rather talks about it openly and freely, unlike