Subject: Re: Eric's homosexuality
From: Andrew Kennis (kennis@math.grin.edu)
Date: Wed Feb 26 1997 - 19:57:00 GMT
On Wed, 26 Feb 1997, LeeG wrote:
> I have also been simply following the debate on this topic, and I felt I may as
> well contribute my thoughts (oh the joys of getting enormous amounts of mail).
> I never thought Eric is homosexual, and even if he is, I really don't care,
> because I feel it doesn't make a difference in the story. I always viewed Eric
> as a foil to Franklin, Eric being the more refined, cultured person, while
> Franklin is a rather coarse and indelicate individual. Yet at the same time,
> there is an affectedness to Eric's manner, while Franklin's is obviously
> genuine, which I believe is what Ginnie is attracted to, that concept of being
> completely yourself, all the time, whether it be a matter of exposing the fact
> that you have a habit of picking away scabs on your legs or having the courage
> and self confidence to tell someone (i.e. Serena) that they are selfish and
> obnoxious. Again, I don't personally think Eric is gay, but if he is, so what?
>
>
Can we all read this post over again people? GREAT post, veryyyyyy good
post indeed. I tried to express these thoughts before, but I failed to do
so as well as you have here, Lee.
There are several other important themes in the story that overide any
theme having to do with Eric's sexuality. As Lee said, let's say Eric was
gay, was this an important factor in the story? NO! No it was'nt! Lee
refers to some themes that are more important and I will check to see if
I referred to any (if I get the time) in prior posts that Lee didn't just
touch upon. The fact that so many people on this list thought that this
was an important theme and failed to see all the other BEAUTIFUL
Salingerian thematic devices being employed, was disappointing, and once
again, yes, rather disturbing because of the possibilities of homophobia.
How MIGHT it be homophobic? Well, when someone mistakenly places a
character's homosexuality as the central theme of a short story, when it
so obviously *isn't*, I think that homophobia might have been a factor in
explaining why that person might have made the initial mistake.
Of course though, I could be wrong, maybe JDS purposedly used stereotypes
to insinuate that Eric was gay and he intended that to be the central
theme of the story. I really doubt though, that this was the case and I
think defending this position would be a hard, if not an impossible task.
--AK
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