The Empty Closet

I don't want to write about The Memory of Running. I don't want to write about The Great Gatsby. I want to write about the empty closet. It used be filled to the brim with clothes, clothes that would cause  hundreds of fights over who could borrow what. I remember how cool I used to feel when I had permission to go into that closet and wear something of hers, knowing my outfit had to be on point because it belonged to my big sister. Every piece of clothing told its own story, from the numerous outfits we would parade around the neighborhood in, looking for out next "photo shoot worthy" spot, to the ratty old clothes we would wear when mom made us play "cinderella" and clean the whole house  for "fun". It was always filled with life, filled with colors, filled with memories. Now whenever I walk by the closet, all I feel is emptiness. Like a shell of what it used to be. While it wouldn't make sense to say the closest was my hero (though it did save me from many bad outfit days), looking back, my big sister always has been. I've always looked up to her from her smart-ass comments that made everyone nearly pee their pants laughing at the dinner table, to her uncontrollable dance moves at all the Uni dances I will never live up to. Maybe looking up to someone doesn't  make them a hero, maybe I just miss her and the second she comes home I will delete this post and think "why did I write this again?" But for now, I'm counting down the days until the closet will be full and again my big sister along with it.  

Dear Smithy, please stop obsessing over boobs. -Love, every women who has read this book.

Most readers of "The Memory of Running" can say Smithy's journey has definitely changed his life for the better, and like Isaak said, he essentially saves him from himself which I believe is very noble. However throughout the novel, I've never really been able to completely trust Smithy. What I'm struggling with Smithy is mainly how he views and judges women on their appearance.

Both present and past Smithy are constantly judging women on their physical appearance and it's really starting to creep me out. Throughout the novel, McLarty has made the reader feel close to Smithy, and that they can trust him because of his honesty. He is constantly making negative comments about himself and has truly told us his entire story, even the parts he told us he wanted to leave out. However I think McLarty might have gone too far by telling Smithy's thoughts about the female body. Ever time we encounter a female character, the first thing Smithy tells the reader is her breast size. Some may argue giving us these personal details makes Smithy seem like a more reliable narrator, and while it does make us feel more close to what Smithy was thinking, for me it is a little too far and makes me not like Smithy as much as a person. Smithy is always so self conscious about people judging him by his outside appearance because he is insecure about his weight. However ever time he encounters a female character, the first thing he thinks is a comment about her body and I think its a little hypocritical.

While I am very proud of Smithy for all the progress he has made both internally and physically, he needs to stop constantly obsessing over women's bodies.      

Bike, Smithy, Bike!

There are many similarities between the book "Memory of Running" and the movie "Forrest Gump," both being known as social outcasts, Vietnam War survivors, childhood friends as romantic interests, and of course their distinct journeys from Smithy's biking and Forest's running that starts off as nothing and ends in self discovery. While the parallels between the two unconventional hero stories are interesting, their difference in the way each story is told is especially significant.
Both Smithy and Forest's stories are told in such a way that it sounds like a conversation. The tone is informal, however it still feels like you connect and trust with narrators from their small, personal details. Forest's story is told by Forest nararating his life in chronological order to people he encounters while sitting at the bus stop. Smithy's story, on the other hand, depicts present day Smithy and flash backs to his childhood that help the reader uncover what happened that made his life spiral out of control.
From comparing the two stories, it makes me wonder how different Smithy's story would be if like Forest, he told it in chronological order. What makes "The Memory of Running" so special is the mystery behind how Smithy went from being a boy with so much opportunity, but somehow lost himself along the way. If the story was told chronologically, I don't think it would be as nearly as interesting and I think its clever the author chose to tell the story this way.
Though there are parallels between the two stories of such unconventional heroes, the way the two stories are told are so fundamentally different, they wouldn't make sense if the way they were narrated way switched and would leave a completely different message.