October 28, 2016 - 17:04
Billy Beede is not the only narrator made available throughout the journey to Willa Mae’s body. By diving into different character’s minds, Parks gives her readers a more complex understanding of Billy Beede and the circumstances she finds herself in. Parks externalizes the reader’s point of view instead of providing a story based solely on Billy’s bias; by doing so, she provides an opportunity for the reader to obtain a lifelike and realistic representation version of the events. Parks specifically uses this tactic in moments that dramatize and exemplify Billy’s behavior. Using the current narrator’s ignorance, the audience is able to grasp a new angle of Billy because of the outside view in. However, it is also important to note that while this does provide another perspective, this also bars the reader from understanding what Billy may be thinking in the moment. In moments of rage or in confusion, Billy may not have narrated clearly the events occurring around her. Instead, the readers are provided a richer and fuller view of the scene through the use of another person’s perspective in contrast to an omnipresent eye. The use of a third party perspective gives the reader insight into the characterization of Billy Beede that may not have been recognizable if told from Billy’s view.
Is Billy angry, worried, or confused? The reader can only imagine what Billy is going through as she realizes that Snipes has been lying to her. Billy never tells anyone about the shame of the experience, but Parks decides to describe it through the eyes of Alberta Snipes. This narration provides another angle of Billy that further enhances the reader’s knowledge of the events taking place by allowing them to draw their own conclusions while reading through the slight actions Alberta notices. At first glance, one would expect Billy to feel hurt or saddened by the events that had unfolded before her. However, the vague description Alberta provides, as she describes how “a look comes into [Billy’s] eyes” leaves the reader curious and unknowing (Parks 69). The reader then draws their own conclusion, one that has no clear answer precisely because Billy never shares her mind with the reader. Instead, the smaller details that are included in Alberta’s perspective such as the worry appearing in the voice, the new bounce in her steps, the quick lighting and putting out of the flame, all highlight aspects of Billy that would have been lost otherwise. While the readers are deprived of what is going on in Billy’s eyes, they are instead given her physical reactions that Billy would have surely not mentioned. This view of Billy humanizes her by showing that she too displays human reactions such as worry, rage, and even impulse although her perspective depicts her as someone calculating and logical. By using Alberta’s eyes to narrate the story, we are offered more insights into how Billy acts in these stressful scenarios. Her burning of the dress is told in a much more objective fashion through Alberta’s eyes. Even though she lights the fire, “as quick as she starts it, like she done changed her mind, she stomps on the dress, putting the fire out” that provides the factual truth of the events occurring there (Parks 69). Although there are major aspects that are lost from being unable to view Billy’s mind, the outside view in these situations provides more material for the reader to use to create their own conclusions while adding onto the information they receive from Billy’s perspective.
Not only does another person’s perspective provide insights into Billy’s emotional state, it also provides another angle to how others view her. The way in which Israel Jackson describes Billy displays what is commonly thought about her. Billy is seen as a girl rough around the edges, one who has “the dress so balled up [he] think[s] she’s carrying a rag or something with her” (Parks 80). The way he describes how she places the dress on the counter “like it was nothing” and furthermore explains how he is unable so see much good in her describes how many others who around Billy might feel the same way (Parks 80). Billy is described as a young lady who does not care about much around her and the tone in which Mr. Jackson speaks displays a sense of rudeness that comes from her words. Throughout the scene, Billy is shown to be someone who is trying to get something out of the dress that she wishes to return, even though everyone in there already knows that the burnt mess can’t be taken in. The way in which Parks uses Mr. Jackson’s perspective in this scene manages to highlight how Billy looks to the other people living in her town. While the reader may feel pity for Billy after following her on the journey to Snipe’s home and back, the reader also realizes that there are other people in the novel trying to make their living. In doing so, Parks rounds out the characters, describing Billy in a way that demonstrates that she is not the only one struggling and is also not perfect at all. Billy’s desperation and stubbornness are obvious as she tells what Mr. Jackson calls “a kind of truth” (Parks 82). While obvious that Billy is lying, what she is saying has some truths to it that are able to confuse others. By using Mr. Jackson’s perspective in this scene, it becomes apparent that others know that Billy’s lies are not always clean as she would like to believe they are and yet, they also work.
When this narration is external from Billy, we are provided with multiple truths and perspectives to the story. As Parks uses this type of narration that switches from character to character, we are provided with an outlet to view who Billy Beede is through the eyes of other characters. Parks gains the freedom to not only show what Billy is thinking, but also how she displays those thoughts through her physical reactions. Her movements, tone of voice, and choice of language is all taken in not only by the readers, but also by the other characters. Their conclusions as well as the knowledge that they already know helps the reader to understand the varieties in Billy Beede.