Narrative Analysis

By Genevieve M. Nangit
February 27, 2024

Narrative Analysis of “City of Sand”: Della as the mother

Della was the mother to Gladys. The one that instilled the values when Gladys was a child, and
the one that questions Gladys’ values when she was an adult.

Sentences
My God, she’d forgotten about Della. Her own mother, Della Monroe. She’d allowed Della to
become vulnerable to harm, having pushed her out of her thought. (Page 48)

Gladys hadn’t been able to love Della in recent years, loving was exhausting and required too
much strength, but she’d assumed that Della, being Della, would outlive her. Della would outlive
the orphan daughter Norma Jeane who was her charge. Gladys hadn’t love Della because she
was frightened of the old woman’s judgment. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. No
mother can abandon her babies without being required to pay. Or, if she’d loved Della, it was a
squabbling sort of love inadequate to protect her mother from harm.
For that is what love is. A protection from harm.
If there is harm, there was inadequate love. (Page 48)

Analysis
Della and Gladys relationship was tough love. Della had instilled the values in Gladys giving her
the capacity to reason and be firm with her decision, in other word, stubbornness.

Reference
“Blonde” by Joyce Carol Oates. 2000. 4th Estate: London, UK