Jo Lloyd´s ”Because It Is Running By”

Times go by, whether you like it or not. A fact is that some things remain while others die. It is an unwritten law about living, but the changes can still be a shock to many people who thought they had their lives planned. It is simply because time is running by. “Because It Is Running By” is written by Jo Lloyd in 2009 and the story deals with the young man, Wil who has to realize that the times are changing and the bubble he has lived in has burst. The story has a 3rd person narrator who has a limited omniscient point of view with focus on the main character Wil and only describes his thoughts. The narrator knows the whole story of Wil and the other characters and what they have been doing earlier on. We do not get inside of their heads in connection with deep feelings and thoughts, instead the narrator makes comments and uses many flashbacks to build up the story. This gives the reader an opportunity to think about the direct and indirect information which is given instead of just letting it past though. The novel consists of many dialogs which float in with the text, because they are not put in quotation marks.

This almost makes the whole novel one big conversation with the narrator as the mouthpiece. Despite of the many flashbacks the story is told in chronological order and starts in medias res, on the arrival of Edie and ends with her leaving when the summer is over. The scene is set in a small, isolated, rural society far out on the country in England where Wil and his mother live in great poverty, through time their property has been decreased, and at the time when the story takes place their home is reduced only to the kitchen area, and their further possessions only comprise a caravan and a couple of muddy fields. The story begins with Edie who just has arrived to help Wil and his mother for the summer at their farmstead, where they drive a bed and breakfast. Ever since the family have lost the father to throat cancer, which kind of makes smoking a big subjekt in the novel, it has slowly been going more and more downwards at the farm and as a last opportunity the mother and Wil has turned the farm into a bed and breakfast, so the mother hires Edie for the summer to clean, make up the rooms and to help her out with the breakfast cooking.

The mother is convinced that the bed and breakfast is the only way to save their economic and says to Wil: “The B&B’s the only thing making money” (p. 1, l. 8). Wil has taken over the agriculture after his father and has a dream of getting successful with it. Therefore he thinks that it is stupid to hire Edie as a maid at the B&B with the little money they have. He frowns at the girl when he sees her in the beginning of the novel(p. 1, l. 2), but after getting to know the girl he quickly begins to like her. He even begins to hang out with her at the caravans in the evenings, which he kind of lies about, perhaps because of his feelings for her and/or because he has no clue about how to be around girls, and tells her it is becouse he is run out of money and therefore can´t go out so he is kind of stuck with her. The story moves around the relationship between Edie and Wil. Through their actions and dialogue the reader forms an idea of the character’s personality and their dreams and defeats.

In their approaches to each other they seem to go great lengths not to seem like they are interested in one another. (p. 4, l. 1 – 3) “Some mates of mine are playing a gig in town. Want to come? As if it didn´t matter what she said. Sure, she said. As if it didn´t matter“ But it is obvious towards the ending that Wil definitely has grown feelings for Edie: ”She smelled of soap and gorse flowers, of sunlight and bracken and earth, things living, things dying, things continuing in the same way”. These are the lines which end “Because It Is Running By” written by Jo Lloyd in 2009. In few words the last part of the extract summits the situation of the main character Wil and what the author wishes to criticize. While times go by and things live and die, his social background ties him to the spot where he was born, and he is forced to be the onlooker as things continue in the same way time after time.

”Because It Is Running By” is told by a 3rd person narrator with a limited omniscient point of view starting from the main character Wil. The action takes place during a summer beginning, in medias res, with Edie’s arrival and ending with her impending departure. The story is chronological but there are several flashbacks woven into the story. The scene is laid in a small, isolated, rural society in England where Wil and his mother live in great poverty. Through time their property has been decreased, and at the time when the story takes place their home is reduced to the kitchen area, and their further possessions only comprise a caravan and a couple of muddy fields as Wil says.

The meagre conditions Wil and his mother live with influence the atmosphere which is marked by indifference, hostility and bitterness. Literary this atmosphere finds expression in the fact that the characters constantly are in possession of a cigarette although they lost their husband and father to throat cancer. The action moves around the relationship between Edie and Wil. Through their actions and dialogue the reader forms an idea of the character’s personality and their dreams and defeats. The meaningless atmosphere seems to have an influence on the couple as well. In their approaches to each other they go to great lengths not to seem interested in one another. ll. 77-79 on page 4 express this fact: “ Some mates of mine are…