Jazz Song Pg. 44

Page 44:

“The tune was low and dark and sad. Then all at once, as Frankie listened, the horn danced into a wild jazz spangle that zigzagged upward. At the end of the jazz spangle the music rattled thin and far away. Then the tune returned to the first blues song, and it was like the telling of that long season of trouble. She stood there on the dark sidewalk and the drawn tightness of her heart made her knees lock and her throat feel stiffened. Then, without warning, the thing happened that at first Frankie could not believe. Just at the time when the tune should be laid, the music finished, the horn broke off. All of a sudden the horn stopped playing. For a moment Frankie could not take it in, she felt so lost.”

The term consonance has two denotations. The first definition applies to music, meaning a harmonious sounding combination of notes. The second definition refers to an agreement between actions or opinions. In this passage, neither are achieved when the tune of the horn is suddenly cut off, leaving Frankie feeling incomplete--she waits for the ending of the song to come, but it is left unresolved. This passage demonstrates her dissatisfaction about being on the brink between childhood and adulthood, as well as her anticipation of moving on to the next segment of her life (hence the “drawn tightness”).

In reaction to this, Frankie begins to hit herself on the head and talk aloud, without paying attention to her own words. One gets the sense that not only is she incapable of communicating her feelings, but she is not always aware of what those feelings are herself. Discussion: do you agree or disagree with the notion that communication (which can be seen as an adulteration of thought and unconscious desire) is futile?