The Girl on the Plane by Mary Gaitskill
"The Girl on the Plane" by Mary Gaitskill explores a complex and unsettling conversation between John Morton and a woman named Loraine during a flight. The narrative unfolds as Morton reflects on his past while engaging with Loraine, who shares her own difficult college experiences. Their dialogue touches on themes of personal responsibility, memory, and the consequences of past actions, particularly surrounding a troubling incident from Morton's college days involving a non-consensual sexual encounter. As the conversation progresses, Morton’s attempts to connect with Loraine become increasingly uncomfortable, culminating in a revelation of his past actions that leads to her acute withdrawal. The story delves into the nuances of empathy, complicity, and the struggle to articulate painful truths, ultimately highlighting the emotional distance that can arise from such revelations. This narrative invites readers to reflect on serious issues surrounding consent, the complexities of human interaction, and the weight of unexamined past actions.
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The Girl on the Plane by Mary Gaitskill
First published: 1992
Type of plot: Psychological
Time of work: The 1970's and the early 1990's
Locale: A jet plane; Choate, Minnesota
Principal Characters:
John Morton , a salespersonLoraine , a woman he meets on the planePatty LaForge , a woman John knew in college
The Story
"The Girl on the Plane" concerns a chance meeting between John Morton and a woman seated next to him on the airplane. Their conversation and the memories it brings up for Morton raise issues of responsibility and complicity and reveal their shared lack of empathy.
The story opens with Morton taking his seat on the plane. He is still angry over his interaction with the airline clerk from whom he collected his ticket. Soon a woman whom Morton finds attractive sits down next to him. As he studies her appearance while she leafs through a magazine, he tries to recall the person of whom she reminds him. Soon she strikes up a conversation with Morton, and after a moment, he realizes that this woman, named Loraine, reminds him of a woman he knew back in college, Patty LaForge.
Patty, an attractive woman, was beginning community college as Morton was finishing, and they worked together in the cafeteria. Morton recalls college as the best time of his life. As Morton talks to Loraine, he is surprised to learn that she, too, had gone to a nearby community college in Minnesota. As they speak, he thinks back to his college days and Patty, who had had a crush on him.
Loraine tells Morton that her own college experience was a bad time in her life. She tells him she was an alcoholic then, a piece of self-revelation that also reminds Morton of the early Patty. He recalls a pair of sexual passes Patty had made toward him, particularly one in which she had noticeably had too much to drink and had staggered away as Morton's male friends laughed.
Morton asks Loraine why she is revealing such personal information to a stranger. He is repelled by the large numbers of people who reveal personal problems on television talk shows and recalls how Patty used to brag about her sexual skills.
Morton thinks back to a conversation he once had with his wife about how he had participated in group sex back in college, assuring her that the woman was a willing participant and was not being raped. Then he recalls the particular event, a party, in which a friend called him to a bedroom. There he found Patty on the bed, having sex. Though he worried as he watched her with a second man, he decided that she had agreed to this, even after the second man poured his beer all over her face. Morton watched her having sex and talked with other men in the room, but when one man decided to pour maple syrup over Patty, Morton stopped him and climbed onto the bed himself. They had sex, which he saw as a tender moment, but she did not appear to really know what was happening.
On the plane, Morton continues to flirt with Loraine. He asks her about why she felt her college experience was so bad. She explains that she was doing what other people expected of her. Loraine tells of a time her father asked her what she felt were her worst mistakes in life. To connect with her, Morton tells her he has made mistakes too, and he tells her he has raped someone. She immediately recoils from him. Though he tries to explain, saying she does not understand, she refuses to speak to him.
Finally, as they disembark from the plane, Morton once again tries to explain himself. Loraine turns and walks away from him. He follows and tries to apologize, but she is gone.