While I Was Gone was written in the first person. Sue Miller chose to write the novel from this perspective to get the reader more into Jo’s character. Sue could not have titled the book While I Was Gone if she had written in third person. If a reader reads a novel that is in first person they feel conn

The novel began with Jo and her husband on a boat. Every Monday they took a day off together. Since their three daughters had grown up, they had time to themselves. Her husband, Daniel, was fishing and she was sitting in the boat relaxing. All of a sudden she got an uneasy feeling and didn’t really know how to name it. “I was abruptly and most intensely, sharply aware of all the aspects of life surrounding me, and yet of feeling neither part of it nor truly separate from it. Somehow impartial, unattached- an observer. Yet sentient of it all. Deeply sentient, in fact. But to no apparent purpose.” (4) Jo continued to have this feeling. She felt content with her life, yet she wanted something more exciting. Jo could live with her life, but that’s not what she wanted from life, she wanted excitement. When Eli reappeared in Jo’s life she saw an opportunity for a new chapter in her life to begin. He made her feel like she was alive again. With Daniel it had always been the same thing for years and she was craving something new. . . someone new.

Eli was the antagonist of the novel. When he was brought upon the scene, havoc was raised. He interrupted Jo and Daniel’s marriage. Eli was the man from Jo’s past. In a time before Daniel, Jo lived with him in a house of friends. Eli and Jo shared something traumatic that bonded them and the entire house together forever. When Eli reappeared upon the scene, Jo felt like a part of her was reborn. Even before Eli appeared, she was feeling restless. When Eli came into the picture, an opportunity arose for her to act upon her restlessness. Jo took that chance and ran like hell. When this failed, she ran back to her husband in tears. Jo needed to be forgiven and so she put that burden on her husband.

Blood was a recurring image. The first time it appeared was in a scene where Jo was starting to drift away from her first husband. She was working at a bar and there was a brawl. Blood got spattered all over her. At this point the blood was exciting. She went home that evening with the blood still on her and she didn’t wash before she got into bed with her husband. This was the introduction to her new life of adventure. When Jo found Dana bleeding to death she was of course, horrified. In the final related image, Daniel throws a tomato in anger, and again she gets splattered. Jo has her back to Daniel; he picks up a tomato, and throws it near her. When Jo turned around he simply states “It was rotten,” (220) and walks out.

Eli came into Jo’s life at the perfect time. The two of them met through Jo’s veterinary practice. Jo was feeling restless and was yearning for something more from life. The two of them began to talk. They talked about the past and the present, but mostly about the past. They dug into Dana’s death. Jo started to think about the possibility of an affair with Eli. One evening they met at a hotel. Eli and Jo both had different expectations and intentions that night. Jo wanted to get a room and Eli wanted to talk. Eli ended up confessing to murder. Eli thought he could confide in Jo and that she would forgive him. Forgiveness was what he was looking for. Eli believed the point of them meeting up again, later in life, was for this confession. Jo did not react as he planned. She was shocked and ran out of the restaurant.

Jo drove back home to her husband and confessed everything. Once Daniel opened the door she blurted out, “‘ The real reason I went to Boston was to meet Eli.’ And watched as his eager, loving expression utterly transformed.” Daniel was upset beyond belief. He was a preacher and believed that the thought of adultery was nearly as bad as the actual act. Jo and Daniel barely spoke for weeks. Jo went to the police three we

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