Elaine
AntiUtopia@aol.com
Sat, 07 Aug 1999 10:04:15 -0400 (EDT)
My God...a Salinger related post.
I just read the short story "Elaine," and I think I see why Salinger didn't
want to republish it. Too much telling, not much showing -- not very well
written compared to his republished stuff. The characters seemed interesting
to me -- none of them seemed to be intellectually exceptional, and that's
different for Salinger. Elaine's beauty was the only thing that stood out.
I think the story depicted a family that found safety in the predictable,
controlled, and expected and refused to grow beyond that point. They were
obsessed with movie going because it introduced an element of the unexpected
within a safe, predictable environment (the movie theater). Elaine was
totally unprepared for adult life (not being educated past the 8th grade at
the age of 16 is a good pointer :) ), because life did not exist for this
family outside their narrow confines. I got the feeling Elaine would be
terribly victimized by the outside world if she ever entered it -- so her
mother saved Elaine by taking her away from her husband on her wedding day.
But at the same time, her mother was the problem, the one largely responsible
for Elaine's immaturity.
I like what the story's showing us, I wish it were better written :)
Jim