Re: Suicide?
Camille Scaysbrook (the_globe@hotmail.com)
Thu, 15 Apr 1999 18:28:59 -0700 (PDT)
Cecilia Baader wrote:
> I've thought about the question of Salinger's true attitude to
suicide or
> just plain death quite a bit, even more after I trekked out to the
library
> and found _Hapworth_. I found Seymour's letter to his parents very
> Teddy-like. Like Teddy, he calmly predicts and accept his early
death,
> worried only about the reaction of his family to it.
I noticed a similar phenomena the other day when, seeing it was
Easter time, I decided to read the four gospels and compare the four
different accounts of Jesus' death. I like Mark and Luke's gospel,
but the thing that annoys me a little about Matthew and John's is
that in their view Jesus does and says certain things *specifically*
so that certain prophesies and scriptures will be fulfilled. It just
seems like - as Seymour - He is just going through the motions that
have already been pre-ordained for Him. There is no suspense in
something that is inevitable - and although Jesus' death was
inevitable, it seemed to me that this interpretation robbed him of a
certain human quality. I think this is the same quality that
distances us from Teddy and the Seymour of Hapworth 16 to some extent
(well, it distances *me*, dunno about you (: ) I like the way Jesus
is portrayed in Mark's gospel the best - it's the only time he says
out loud to God `Why have you forsaken me?' We never really hear
Seymour say that; there's no apparent anguish in his decision to
commit suicide, it's as calm and calculated as a train ride. That may
be why, also, no one really seems to mourn Seymour. You never really
get the idea that the Glasses *miss* Seymour. I think they miss the
*idea* of Seymour more. Maybe Seymour is just an idea. Like the non
existent son in `Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
P.S. Cecelia, it's a sin that this is your first post ! (:
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
@ THE INVERTED FOREST http://www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest
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