Juice

       I feel that I should start off saying that Juice completely confused me.  I believe that the first section of the book, "Translation" is about Gladman's past.  I believe that she was an archaeologist in a small, close knit town and she wanted to learn who she was and where she came from.  "Imagine having loved something for so many years that you don't see it anymore."  I believe that Gladman one day realized that she was not really a part of her town that she found so much comfort in, so she became separate from her town and had to find herself again.  This idea was symbolized with her saying that the villagers disappeared and she missed them and loved her town but was no longer with them (this is pretty much the point in my opinion of the first short story). 
      In "Proportion Surviving" Gladman is beginning to search for herself.  "For years I had known that if there was a wall between where I was and where I needed to be, I did not want it there."  Gladman spends this part of the book explaining how she had worked to break down any walls that she had so as to be able to fully learn who she is.  She explains her routines, as minute and yet complex as what juice she is drinking, and learns to deal with her issues.  "There was absence there, but one so constant it became familiar.  I did not want to drink it."  I believe that at the end of this section Gladman realizes the absence of her family and her past, yet realizes that she is okay with this absence and does not want to face the return of these things.
       "No Through Street" was the section that had me really confused.  I believe that Gladman decided to face her fears and return to her family and her prior life.  "After five minutes or so, I hit what felt like a wall.  I looked up and saw the sign Hershey St., and found that I could go no further."  Gladman returned home but realized that life had gone on without her and she was no longer able to join her old life with the ease she used to be able to.  She represents the fear she had of seeing her family, yet the want, with her sister.  Her sister in the story was making signs to go up all over town, and was very successful but yet Gladman was afraid to go see her.  This shows that her life had successfully moved on and did what it wanted to, but Gladman had been left out of this.  "...especially when the passenger has done something that she will always regret.  For example, when she has given up the long-awaited homecoming."  Gladman realizes that life has gone on without her and as opposed to confronting this fact she moves on with her life and yet again leaves her past and family behind her.  
      "First Sleep" did not seem to really fit the three previous short stories in my opinion.  I believe that it is Gladman years later looking back on her life, and she switches from using first person to using third person.  "On the night of Mrs. Gladman's disappearance, the old woman on the corner pretended to be at rest."  She speaks of herself as if she had disappeared at some point, and maybe she had.  I believe that Gladman left her life behind and became a totally different person and she has grown so distant from her previous self that she feels no connection to her and thus refers to her in the 3rd person, thus not showing any type of ownership.  Overall, I did not understand a lot of what Juice is saying but I find it to be pretty depressing and deep in a way that is hard to comprehend.