Taking Care by Joy Williams
"Taking Care" by Joy Williams is a poignant narrative centered around a preacher named Jones, who grapples with the weight of caring for the women in his life during a challenging time. The story unfolds as Jones sits by his wife’s hospital bed, anxiously awaiting test results that may reveal the cause of her illness. Alongside his ailing spouse, he is also tasked with looking after their granddaughter and her German shepherd, as his daughter has fled to Mexico amid personal turmoil. The narrative is marked by a series of flashbacks that explore the origins of his wife’s sickness and the emerging struggles of their daughter, providing depth to the characters' emotional landscapes.
Throughout the story, Jones embodies the roles of husband, father, and caretaker, reflecting on the complexities of love and its perceived efficacy in the face of adversity. Key moments include Jones delivering a sermon, baptizing the baby, and preparing for his wife’s return home for Christmas. The overall tone resonates with themes of duty, love, and the often overwhelming nature of caregiving, inviting readers to contemplate the intricate dynamics within familial relationships. As Jones navigates these responsibilities, the narrative explores whether his love can truly provide solace or healing.
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Taking Care by Joy Williams
First published: 1972
Type of plot: Psychological
Time of work: The 1960's-1970's
Locale: A small town in the northeastern United States
Principal Characters:
Jones , a Protestant ministerHis wife , who is seriously illTheir married daughter , who has run away to MexicoHer infant daughter , who has been left with Jones
The Story
Jones, a preacher, has been in love all his life, yet his love has apparently not helped anyone. When the story opens, he is sitting beside his wife's bed in a hospital fifteen miles from their home, waiting for the results of blood tests that the doctors hope will make possible a diagnosis of her illness. In addition to his sick wife, Jones is responsible for their daughter's six-month-old baby girl and her German shepherd, for the daughter has left her husband and run away to Mexico (where she will soon have a nervous breakdown). Little happens in the story proper—Jones will probably visit other parishioners in the hospital, he writes a cheery card to his daughter in response to a letter from her, and each day he brings a yellow rose to his sick wife—but much happens in flashbacks, which reveal how the wife first fell ill and the early signs of their daughter's problems. In the present, the overwhelmed Jones plays his multiple roles of husband, father, and mother as best he can.
In the seventh section of this eleven-part story, Jones delivers a sermon from the pulpit of his church, baptizes the baby, and serves communion, but all his actions seem to happen in slow motion, as if in a dream. In the next section, his wife is operated on to remove a large tumor as Jones takes care of the baby and cleans the house. His wife will be coming home for Christmas, and Jones puts up a tree but waits for her to help him decorate it. In the last section of the story, Jones picks up his wife at the hospital. They drive home with the baby, and together "they enter the shining rooms."