1. I believe there are two reasons for why Parker makes the narrator keep waltzing, one being because of the day and age in 1930, a woman is expected to accept the offer and enjoy it. Secondly, I believe the waltz is representational of life in society for women in the early half of the 20th century. The expectations of women, as we know, are extremely different today as opposed to in the past, one expectation of a woman such as the narrator would be to accept a dance from a man in a social setting to show mannerism and accomplishment. However, the cognitive story can be suggestive to the way the narrator feels suppressed in her life, “Everyone else at the table had got up to dance, except him and me. There was I, trapped. Trapped like a trap in a trap”.
2. Parker’s double voice is what I believe to be a strategy for empathy. As Ong claims a writer must fictionalize their audience, many writers have different ways of doing so. I believe Parker’s “double” voice is in direct relation to the “double” meaning of the story. It is almost as if there are two stories in one, and that Parker knew exactly who the audience would be. A piece such as “The Waltz” could have several implied audiences by the multiple methods used to relate to the readers. Parker’s ability to use comedy, boldness, societal norms, opposition, and opinions enable her to reach out to a wide variety of readers and let the reader respond in any way they wish and still be correct in their interpretation.
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