The first definition Egan uses in the story is “Structural Resentment,” which she defines as an adolescent daughter’s rejection of her twice-divorced father’s new girlfriend. By including this definition, Egan thoroughly describes the situation, using twice-divorced father instead of solely divorced, adopting the definition to fit to her story. She also uses "Structural Resentment" to describe the situation when stating in the definition that the adolescent's “own nascent sexuality being her chief weapon” (64). This sets up the story for the numerous rebellious actions Lou’s, the twice-divorced father, daughter Charlie takes, giving justification for the actions.
“Structural Incompatibility” is another definition that Egan uses. Egan defines it as twice-divorced male not being able to “acknowledge, much less sanction, the ambitions of a much younger female mate” (65). Egan uses this definition as an instance to foreshadow. In the definition, she states that the relationship will only be temporary, a harbinger for the separation of Mindy and Lou, who the reader can assume the definition refers to.
The definitions Egan provides are not only used to progress the story, but are also used to relate the reader to the story. “Structural Dissatisfaction,” the final definition that Egan uses, is clearly relatable to my life. I, like Mindy, after having an exciting experience, have trouble returning to the my everyday-life that once pleased me. With Egan’s inclusion of this definition, specifically relating to me, the story becomes remarkably more powerful. It is clear that without Egan’s definitions, her “Safari” chapter would lose much of the attractive force which the chapter does so well to retain.
I liked the way you analyzed the story. Even in the one previous chapters Egan used several terms such as "betrayal bonding" and other concepts pertaining to Bennie and his son. I never really thought of it like that.
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