32 pages • 1 hour read
Lorrie MooreHow to Become a Writer
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Lorrie Moore
Lorrie Moore was born in Glen Falls, New York, and attended St. Lawrence University, winning Seventeen magazine’s short story contest at the age of 19. As a shy child who struggled to express herself verbally, Moore found herself able to do so through writing. Her parents’ love of theater and opera made a huge impact, exposing her early on to the shapes of stories. Spending their weekends at the theater, Moore also had an opportunity to observe the habits and idiosyncrasies of creative types: adults willing to “play” through songs, characters, and costumes. In an interview Moore stated, “I would sit there, fantastically engaged—gripped, really—while someone who was ordinarily the postman, say, or the office manager at GE, came out and danced something wild from Pajama Game” (Elizabeth Gaffney, The Paris Review, Issue 158, 2001).
After graduating from college, Moore worked as a paralegal before attending Cornell University for her MFA in creative writing, where she worked closely with Pulitzer Prize winner, Alison Lurie. After her degree, she quickly obtained a literary agent and sold her debut story collection, Self Help, published to critical acclaim. The stories in Self Help, including “How to Become a Writer,” were initially a part of her master’s thesis. Moore’s writing is often interpreted as autobiographical, and in “How to Become a Writer,” it is difficult to ignore the similarities between Moore—who majored in English at St. Lawrence and later went to graduate school for writing—and Francie, the young writer being advised in the story who does the same.
Historical Context: The Vietnam War
Although specific years are never confirmed in the story, “How to Become a Writer,” is likely set during and following the early 1970s during the Vietnam War. The protagonist’s brother is serving in Vietnam when she is a child in high school and sustains an injury. The story deals in subtle ways with the end of the war and an exploration of feminism as expressed during that time.
The narrator reveals in the first paragraph that Francie’s brother is “in Vietnam.” Although not stated directly, the narration assumes a reader’s familiarity with this real-life concern, as there were many young American men in Vietnam during this time. This is one reason her practical mother does not devote attention to her daughter’s writing habits: with a son in mortal danger, she doesn’t have the emotional capacity. After her brother comes home alive, but with a life-altering injury, Francie tries to write about the experience. This is the only topic, however, that she is unable to broach: “There are no words for this” (22), the narrator says. In addition to the injury, there is also “a permanent smirk nestled into one corner of his mouth” (19), implying his personality has changed as well. Like many young men in that era, he has returned home forever changed.
Historical Context: The Women’s Liberation Movement
During the 1960s through the 1980s, women’s liberation and feminism spread across the United States, giving women new opportunities, yet some expectations of a woman’s place in the home and workplace remained unchanged. Like much of Moore’s work, “How to Become a Writer” deals with a main character, Francie, who struggles against the expectations of womanhood in relation to her desires. She wants to be a writer, a traditionally male profession.
Numerous characters try to talk her into becoming a child psychologist, which is Francie’s first major before switching to creative writing. The idea of Francie in this more traditionally gendered role seems more palatable to her family and acquaintances. Francie herself, or the narrator speaking as her, admits that she spends a lot of time as an adult writer talking about how she almost majored in child psychology, as if it would have been a much easier path. When Francie asks her mother for a baby names book to help her find names for characters, her mother is disappointed, saying, “Francie, Francie, remember when you were going to be a child psychology major?” (29). When she has completed her manuscript, people look at it strangely. In response, the narrator tells Francie to “Scowl fiercely. Tell them you’re a walking blade” (36). This image gives a vivid sense of what a woman had to become—and how she had to act—to fill this role typically inhabited by men, forgoing her stereotypical soft, feminine side and fully embracing the hardness and sharpness in herself.
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