Discussion of Jack Finney's "The Love Letter"

How would you characterize Jake's mood prior to discovering the first hidden drawer and the letter it contained?

What factors motivated Jake to write and mail a reply letter?

Much of the story involves description rather than interaction. How does that support or distract from a story of the interaction of two people separated in time?

Are the emotional responses of Jake and Helen plausible? What does it take to establish a sense of connection?

Juxtaposition the story with this dialog from the 1973 Kung Fu TV series:

    Young Caine: Master, what is the best way to meet the loss of a loved one?
    Master Kan:  By knowing that when we truly love, it is never lost... It is only after death that the depth of the bond is truly felt, and our loved one becomes more a part of us than was possible in life.
    Young Caine: Are we only able to feel this toward those whom we have known and loved a long time?
    Master Kan: Sometimes a stranger, known to us for moments, can spark our souls to kinship for eternity.


In his stories, Jack Finney often views time to be porous, with some randomness, but also with contributing factors and even rules. What such factors can you glean from this story?

Were there other actions that Jake could have tried to extend the conversation?

On Finney's concept of slipping through time, this is a comment in a review of Finney's story "Second Chance":
http://www.timetravelreviews.com/shorts/about_time.html#secondchance

"Finney throughout this story points out through his narrator that there were no big revelations that let him know he had slipped into the past. There were no big radio announcements or newspaper headlines about current events that tipped him off to the year. He just sensed it from the details around him."

"The automobiles, dresses, and the look of the town at the time all pointed to 1923. Finney also underscores one of his concepts of time travel that he later expanded upon in his novel Time and Again, that in order to travel to the past you must let go of the present."


Wordsmith Jarvinen
2018-08-09