First Views of the Enemy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "First Views of the Enemy" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Joyce Carol Oates | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Prairie Schooner |
| Publication date | Spring 1964 |
"First Views of the Enemy" is a short story by Joyce Carol Oates originally published in Prairie Schooner (Spring 1964) and first collected in Upon the Sweeping Flood and Other Stories (1966) by Vanguard Press.[1]
"First Views of the Enemy" is written from a third-person point-of-view with Annette as the focal character.
Annette and her husband have bought a home in a semi-rural area. Both are just out of college, and the husband had thought it a more secure and healthy place to raise their six-year-old son, Timmy, than a city. Their home is adjacent to an agricultural district, and 15 miles from the small town and school.
The story opens as Annette and Timmy return from shopping. A bus that carries Mexican migrant agricultural workers to the fields is broken down on the side of the road. Men, women, and children are milling around. They greet the late model station wagon with mocking grins and jeers, yelling "Cadillac!"[2] The encounter is disconcerting to Annette, and terrifying to Timmy. She lowers her window and asks to be let through, and finally sounds her horn. The pedestrians move aside, but a little boy throws a clod of dirt at the car. Annette is gratified to see a woman reprimand the child.
Troubled by the incident, Annette arrives home and reflects on her postpartum depression after Timmy's birth and her often anxious husband. She regrets abandoning her urban existence. Suddenly her home seems extremely vulnerable to assault. She locks the windows and doors. Rather than let her beautiful rose bushes be stripped by imaginary vandals, she takes a pair of shears and cuts dozens of the flowers, arranging them in vases indoors. The home is now more a fortress than a country home. Annette and Timmy make common cause and share a meal, united in their isolation.[3][4]