Magic and Theft

One thing that I found very interesting in both of these stories was voice and the depiction of voice. In Magic, the person telling the story does not get quotations around what they are saying. This strikes me as odd, and it makes it seem like the person telling the story does not have a voice or is not allowed a voice. I wonder if this ties into what Allison was saying about class and status in this story. Since the woman telling the story is African American and a maid or servant of some sort, maybe Porter is trying to point out how these people do not have much of a voice in society. There could be other reasons for why there are not quotations around what she is saying. Since the story is told from the mind of the maid, maybe this is why it does not get quotation marks. Another thing that struck me was how Porter puts the reader in the story in the character of the madam at the beginning of the story. What does this mean as we are reading it?

I found some issues with voice in Theft as well. Since the woman in this story is not named, this makes her into a "lesser" character. I am wondering what sort of comment Porter is trying to make with this. Could it be tied into her femininity somehow? Is the character trying to seek out a confirmation of her femininity from the men she sees, and so she is not yet truly an independent or true woman yet because she lets the men in her life define who she is? Is she trying to make this story relatable to women everywhere? Also, the jaintress does not get a proper name either. I find this very interesting. What is Porter saying about women and their voices in these two stories?