Subject: Re: suicide
AntiUtopia@aol.com
Date: Sat Feb 26 2000 - 21:45:29 EST
In a message dated 2/26/00 8:40:20 PM Eastern Standard Time, shok@netcom.com
writes:
<< But no matter how you slice, there is no room for cowardice in the minds
of people about to kill themselves. Calling people who kill themselves
cowards, is, methinks, a rather silly and simple-minded thing to do.
Suicide is much more complex than that, and there is nothing in the
typical definition of cowardice that even roughly encompasses the act of
ending your own life; quite the opposite. It's a rather ballsy thing to
do.
-robbie >>
Ach. I was TALKING ABOUT SEYMOUR. I realize that placing my statements
within the context of "the world's religions" seemed to make the judgment
normative on all suicides, but I was TALKING ABOUT SEYMOUR, and the religious
context(s) of the writings within which his narrative is placed.
But I guess that's too difficult a thing to see, esp. given the personal
implications of this issue to you.
If you really want to think of this within the religious context of
Salinger's work, read Zooey. Read Zooey's harping on Franny for detachment.
Franny's breakdown is, to me, parallel to Seymour's suicide. Both were
escapes from the world in reaction to its oppressive banality. Zooey's point
was that you only seek escape because you are attached, and if you haven't
learned that, you haven't learned a thing. So Seymour's act, like Franny's
breakdown, was an act of failure.
The thing that's really, really wrong with this whole discussion is that ONE
person's motives aren't necessarily descriptive of ALL people's motives for
the same act. Seymour, I think, killed himself out of cowardice. Or some
form of it.
It's also wrong to think the survival instinct is necessarily the strongest
impulse.
Kamakazie pilots seemed to me to kill themselves in bravado. But that
doesn't matter, I was talking about Seymour.
Japanese noblemen slide a knife into their intestines and move it around out
of respect for honor, but that doesn't matter, I was talking about Seymour.
Buddhist monks pour gasoline on themselves and set themselves on fire in
protest, but that doesn't matter, I was talking about Seymour.
Some people kill themselves because they're self absorbed. But that doesn't
matter, I was talking about Seymour. I would say suicide is the path of
least resistance in this case. It's easier for these people to kill
themselves than to outgrow themselves.
Others kill themselves because hormonal imbalances in their brains or bodies
cause severe depression. But that doesn't matter, I was talking about
Seymour.
Some people kill themselves because they are dying of a painful, terminal
illness and don't want to continue suffering. This too seems like a path of
least resistance, and it is understandable to me to want to take it. But
that doesn't matter, I was talking about Seymour.
Some people have hated themselves so much, for so long, that they just can't
stand it anymore. Suicide as another path of least resistance. But that
doesn't matter, I was talking about Seymour.
Others never learned to talk to other people about their feelings. In these
cases, suicide is the ultimate passive-aggressive act. But that doesn't
matter, I was talking about Seymour.
Some people just love death. But that doesn't matter, I was talking about
Seymour.
Other people kill themselves following a religious leader. This is a final
act in a long line of following the path of least resistance. But that
doesn't matter, I was talking about Seymour.
I'm sorry about what your father did. I couldn't imagine how I would handle
it. But that doesn't matter, because now we're talking about you. And
different people are just that, DIFFERENT :)
And what's true for you, in this case, may not be true for me. Just as what
is true for Seymour (or may be), is not necessarily true of your father.
If you want to talk about Seymour from Saligner's fiction, though, go ahead.
Jim
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