Pretty mouth and green my eyes...

Rebecca McCallum (remc@uhura.cc.rochester.edu)
Fri, 12 Dec 1997 00:52:01 -0500 (EST)

Hello, 
   I just reread "Pretty mouth and green my eyes" recently (while
procrastinating studying for final exams), for the first time in years I
think.  I'd forgotten how much this story mystifies me.  Forgive me if
this is a completely inane question, but what exactly is going on at the
end??  I know most of the Nine Stories have a certain mystery about them,
and that there's a beauty in leaving that mystery intact, not exposing it
to the glare of operating-table lights.  But this one story drives me
nuts.  How can the wife have come home, when I always assumed she was the
woman in bed beside Lee??  Did I just completely misread the story?
   On another, unrelated note - Tim asked for connections anyone had to
offer between Salinger characters and other fiction...  I've always
thought of _Moon Palace_ by Paul Auster as an amazing mix of Catcher in
the Rye (albeit with a slightly older main character) and Zen and the Art
of Motorcycle Maintenance.  It's a stunning book.  I think I mentioned
this one on the list before, but that was months ago, so I figured it
couldn't hurt to mention it again. If I was more awake, I'd offer some
thoughts on why these books all seem connected, but my brain is way too
far gone to be able to do that.  If anyone else has read them, please jump
in and say something about them! 
                                        - Rebecca