The Social Force in Oates' Black Water

     The most compelling force taken from Joyce Carol Oates' work Black Water was the belief that this could actually happen.  As a matter of fact, it did.  The reader does not find identical characters, but instead the fictitious disclaimer found at the end of credits plays in the reader's mind.   For this reason, Black Water should not be considered a Romantic novella.  The situation that plays out in this work is executed by social forces that most Americans are familiar with, defining the work as Realist.
     In Oates' essay, "On Fiction in Fact,” she says, “Language by its very nature tends to distort experience. With the best of intentions, in recalling the past, if even a dream of the previous night, we are already altering—one might say violating—the original experience, which may have been wordless and was certainly improvised” (77). With this in mind, Oates develops a realistic experience in her writing.  The language in this work is conveyed to an audience who will inevitably place it to be categorized, felt and experienced.  Humans define society through language and actions, understanding that in many scenarios language carries more weight than actions.  This weight conveys a reality to us.  Events become fictitious once identical sentences are altered in any way.  The reader does not know what exactly happened to the passenger in Senator Kennedy's car that night; however, through Oates' writing, the audience becomes privy to a possible realm of realistic thoughts and reflections.
     Social forces are present in this novel.  The reader of this novella would be somewhat familiar with the Chappaquiddick incident.  Thus, having a history or some kind of background knowledge brings a societal and cultural awareness prior to the reading.  This societal and cultural awareness stems from what the reader hears and reads in the media.  However, this idea of reflection theory merges the social into the literary.  Social forces are what drive this novel.  A mirror of America is held to the reader's face as he or she reads this novel.  Its reflection is very familiar.  Society knows the characters portrayed in this story.  Americans especially are familiar with the events that take place on that fateful July 4th.  The events that transpire are not only somewhat ordinary, but of tales heard woven in local folklore, of rumors, and fodder for the media. The alcohol-induced decisions, the desire to be loved, the dismissal of the right choice, the misconception of truth, and the plot that only thickens all conspire to give this book its rightful place as a Realist work.
     The character the reader becomes most familiar with - Kelly Kelleher - wants to be the ideal and real American girl.  Kelly’s entire life carried the goal of being the perfect American girl.  As Kelly is reflecting on her life, she takes the reader down a road of memories from the corrective eye surgery to her final day on earth, all in the quest to be that perfect American girl.  These events define her and possibly convince herself of this title.  In Oates’ final repetition of the lines, “You love the life you’ve lived, you’re an American girl” (152), as if it were her epitaph on Kelly’s underwater tomb.
     Societal forces are what defined Kelly.  They are what defined the Senator, and they are what defined the events that unfolded on that final day of Kelly's life.  Thus, societal force gives the appellation of realism to this particular novel. As tragic as this work is, the reader is all too familiar with the premise of this novella.