The Heroine of Louise Shivers Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail :: Here Get My Baby Out Jail

The Heroine of Louise Shivers' Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail Sleeping Beauty's father was a king who loved his daughter dearly. Unfortunately, however, he forgot to invite one of the oldest and most powerful of the fairies to the celebration of his daughter's christening. Because of his forgetfulness, the princess was sentenced to one hundred years of sleep and inactivity. She was saved by a prince who made his way to her bedside and awakened her with a kiss of true love. Of course, they celebrated a glorious wedding and lived happily ever after. Roxy Walston, the heroine of Louise Shivers' "Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail," like Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella or Snow White, lived a fairy tale existence. All of the supporting roles were accounted for: her father, Will Stanton (the king); her mean stepmother, Ruth; her grandmother, Georgeanna (the fairy godmother); her husband, Aaron (the shining knight)' and her lover, Jack, as Prince Charming. Even the evil witch is symbolized by the aura of death and foreboding of the funeral home--always preyi ng, ready to devour the next unsuspecting victim. But unlike the princess in the fairy tale, Roxy's fairy tale ended when she was awakened from her "sleep" by Jack's kiss. The lovers had shared many a romantic, passionate kiss, but the kiss--the one which brought Roxy out of her trance--was the "spitty" one after Jack had confessed to murdering Aaron. At this moment Roxy awakened to her own self-awareness and freed herself from Jack's sensual, magic spell. Only then did she tap into the strength she never knew she had. It was that strength, at first as small as a tobacco seed, that enabled her to try to outlive her shame and move forward with her life as best she could. For one to understand and appreciate Roxy's vulnerability and passivity, a discussion of her childhood will place in proper perspective her family relationships. Will Stanton was a big-boned man, a giant with a soft heart. One can imagine the sheer delight of his little girl as he surprised her with tangerines at Christmastime. She would slip her hand down into his big pocket and feel the white sack lining, "looking for a Saturday nickel" (Shivers 119). In Roxy's eyes, her Daddy was omniscient, a virtual god. That idolization of her male parent is not unusual. Caryl Rivers, author of "Beyond Sugar and Spice," tells us that "to many a young girl, there is something magical about her father" (50).