Long Distance

Forming a romantic relationship can be a challenge. It requires some guts to ask out for a date with an another person, a one of the reasons why many people are afraid to try to love. These people usually try to find an alternative solution, such as the online dating. Source: us.123rf.com

            Victor LaValle used to be a 350-pound man who used to date a fifty-year-old women named Margie by phone in his story Long Distance. For two years, LaValle kept this strange relationship with her, without ever actually meeting her once, because he enjoyed the phone sex they had together. However, when Margie's daughter's family moved in to her house, Margie had to stop calling LaValle because she couldn't risk the embarrassment of one the family members overhearing the conversation. The author uses a metaphor to show how he felt when he broke up with his girlfriend. He describes himself as an astronaut trying to reach Earth where "true couples dwelled," but the news blew him backward, "deeper into space" (LaValle 101). After that experience, the author tried to change to get a different perspective on relationships and sex. He lost about 155 pounds, started to date people for real, and had sex with a girl he really liked. LaValle was surprised by his transformation, which he describes as "my new hand, slim enough to show the wrist bones; the knuckles no longer lost in flesh" (LaValle 106). He finally was free from his self-loathing and found hope, and he most likely wrote his story to persuade other people to do the same, to take a new path and give it their best. The author probably wanted to leave a message that if he could lose weight and find a girl other than a fifty-year-old women to date with, the readers could practically achieve anything. In his story, LaValle includes a dialogue with Margie to illustrate how they were able to have phone sex. This particular part of the story seems to be the proof that he actually dated her, and all of the things he said, no matter how ridicules they sound, are his true experiences. I think that the author achieved his purpose by using humorous and creative style of writing that included slang words, metaphors, and interaction with the readers.