The Structure of Jeans

The structure of Moore's "Son of Mr. Green Jeans" piece made me think of the collage essay that we were able to experiment with for class.  We had to pick a heading, or title, that essentially acted as the underlying theme for our mini essays, but the sections themselves didn't have to be completely cohesive--they need only relate to the topic.  Similarly, each of Moore's sections told a separate story, or revolved around a certain scenario, with the common thread throughout the entire piece being fatherhood.  At first I found it kind of odd, how each section was so much different from the previous, and it was even off-putting to an extent, until I realized that there was indeed a common thread that wove its way through each of those sections.  By placing the sections in alphabetical order, it is almost as if Moore has created an encyclopedia specific just to fatherhood.  He takes an unbiased position and merely states the facts about how different types of "fathers" behave.

Relating this to Miller's essay regarding essay structure, I can see how Moore makes use of this form to grant him a great deal of artistic freedom, which supports Miller's main argument.  At no point does Moore provide a thesis statement that makes some grandiose claim about what "fatherhood" really means, but he instead includes tidbits of information from every angle possible that encourage the reader to make their own conclusions about how it relates to the common thread.  For example, in the section where he discusses how the father wolf spends large amounts of time away from his family hunting and then, upon his return, is greeted enthusiastically by his offspring as he delivers them his regurgitated findings.  Moore doesn't go on to connect the dots and explain that good fathers are those who place their families at the forefront of their priority list, supporting them with whatever means necessary, but instead leaves that up to the reader to determine for themselves.  By each section being so different from each other, ranging from Tim Allen, to vasectomies, to penguins, etc., and by including a "quiz" section that encourages analysis and response, it almost forces the reader to make these connections for themselves, which is a direct result of the format that Moore has elected for this piece.  In this sense, as Miller might argue, Moore is using form to further his ultimate claim.