The Voyage to Rosewood
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| "The Voyage to Rosewood" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Joyce Carol Oates | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Shenandoah |
| Publication date | Spring 1967 |
"The Voyage to Rosewood" is a short story by Joyce Carol Oates originally published in Shenandoah (Spring 1967) and first collected in The Goddess and Other Women (1974) by Vanguard Press.[1]
"The Voyage to Rosewood" is presented in a first-person confessional by Marsha, the 16-year-old protagonist.
Marsha lives in a rural district and is bused to school. Her parents are working-class but impoverished, and she is acutely aware of her class inferiority with the affluent city youth who attend her high school. An awkward and sensitive girl - she only uses swear words to herself - Marsha is disaffected and wishes to break free of her tedium of her provincial existence. Her relationship with her parents is "precarious...no one must tamper with it..."[2]
She impulsively cuts school and takes a greyhound bus north, destination unknown, and spending most of her small fund of money on the fare. She gets off in the small town of Remus. Wandering about, Marsha is assumed to be a truant or runaway by her looks: she is not dressed for the winter weather. She enters a tavern to get warm. When the bartender asks her how old she is, Marsha responds with false bravado "none of your business", eliciting an amused chuckle from the clientele. She is casually accosted by a tall man in his early twenties named Ike. He is idle and unemployed. His teasing interrogation cuts through her lie that her name is "Linda" and on her way to a nearby town of Shepherd to take a job as a housekeeper. The two are ordered out of the tavern, and she accepts Ike's offer to give her a drive.
The passenger side door of his car is broken so she must enter and exit on the driver side. On the way they pick up Ike's sidekick, Henry, and the boys alter their destination to the town of Rosewood. Ike begins to bully the passive Henry, who is sitting in the middle. Punching him in the shoulder, he orders him to make friends with Marsha and kiss her. Henry demurs. Ike's predatory sexuality begins to emerge: he asks Marsh what her lipstick tastes like. She is not yet alarmed by her situation. The trio stops at a motorcycle repair shop and Ike goes in. Marsha exits the car to finds that the temperature has dropped precipitously. She wanders through an industrial district, terrified of the approaching snow storm. Suddenly Ike approaches her, running in a rage. He berates her for leaving him and slaps her face. Checking to see if anyone else is watching, Ike administers Marsha a vicious beating with his fists, tearing at her clothing and hair, then flees.
At the police station, Marsha is interrogated by the authorities as to what she was doing in town. Marsha, convinced that "men like tomboyish girls," she feigns indifference to her bloody injuries.[3] Her father is notified and arrives that evening, sickened that the police officers will disparage him for raising a wayward daughter. After Marsha gets into her father's car, he slaps her in the face and sobs plaintively "Why did you do this to us?"[4][5][6]