When Tyler deals with the ever-precarious state of human safety and well-being, she shows how mysteriously disaster awaits us, whether in the genetic makeup of an infant or in the presence of a dangerous intruder. One of Tyler's best and most moving stories, "Average Waves in Unprotected Waters" (1977), confronts the problem of a mentally deficient child and follows the mother, driven to the limit of her resources, as she commits her son Arnold to the state institution. The disorder of agoraphobia is pervasive in Tyler's fiction, from the severe condition Jeremy Pauling suffers in Celestial Navigation to the somewhat lesser form of this disorder that Ira's sister, Junie, suffers in Breathing Lessons. Jeremy has not left his Baltimore street block for years; Junie will not step out of the Baltimore apartment unless she has dressed.....
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 1,083 words. This
study guide contains 11,276 words (approx. 38 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our Average Waves in Unprotected Waters Access Pass.
