Re: Class without a bell for dismissal

"...Salinger's very close attention to Lane's playing around with Franny's letter at the opening of "Franny" I think is pretty telling too. I don't recall the details. I do remember the distinct impression that it meant more to him than he really wanted to admit, that he didn't understand why, and that he didn't quite like the idea of having the letter mean so much to him. All this, of course, beneath the surface. He's too shallow to really think this through."

I don't think Lane is a psychopath, and I do agree that letter meant something to him. But his asinine unwillingness to confront what exactly he feels when reading the letter causes Franny to suffer. That he "apes concern" (you hit on it, I think, in that whole paragraph)... this likely indicates not so much a total lack of concern, but more a terrified refusal to acknowledge more real feelings.

Such a refusal is what it means to be "gloriously normal;" what it means to be "a charm boy and a fake;" what it means to be alive but completely oblivious to the Fat Lady. For me, it is nothing less than a rejection of purpose, an unwillingness to face up to the essentials of a world where the divine is omnipresent. (a misery of our own creation, maybe? I think I'd better stop, before I get too worked up over this... but whoa, check out the timing on the Lear signature)

So maybe Vonnegut was right that "we have been conquered" (every one of us but himself, presumably), however, not by psychopaths. The hyperbole in that interview was a bit much, anyway. What's disheartening is that the charm boy is normal, and Zooey claims that he and Franny are freaks. Is this the promised end?

luke

-------Original Message-------
From: James Rovira <jrovira@drew.edu>
Sent: 07/10/03 01:47 PM
To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
Subject: Re: Class without a bell for dismissal

>
> It's really hard to argue with all that, honestly. I think, really, the
primary characteristics of sociopathy is a complete lack of conscience
-- which makes it much easier to cause destruction, but is no guarantee
that they actually will. They just don't _feel_ anything is wrong with
what they're doing. It's like there's a short circuit in their wiring
somewhere. Add a bit of charm school training to these people and,
well, you have a pretty scary prospect. But it's also possible for them
to coldly think that "I shouldn't be killing people and eating them
because the social consequences outweigh the pleasures."

Do you think Lane is completely unfeeling? I'd tend to think that he
usually apes concern when he tells himself that's what he "should" be
feeling, or that it would score points somehow with the person he's with
(I'm thinking of his reaction to Franny's "problem" in the bar), but
Salinger's very close attention to Lane's playing around with Franny's
letter at the opening of "Franny" I think is pretty telling too. I
don't recall the details. I do remember the distinct impression that it
meant more to him than he really wanted to admit, that he didn't
understand why, and that he didn't quite like the idea of having the
letter mean so much to him. All this, of course, beneath the surface.
He's too shallow to really think this through.

Jim

jlsmith3@earthlink.net wrote:

>No, definitely he's not capable of that kind of destruction. But I think
Lane's character throws a monkey wrench into Vonnegut's prophecy of doom
and gloom ("we have been conquered").
>
>Lane's charming, and he's self-absorbed, but what distinguishes him from
a PP? There's the capability of destruction, but that's not a
characteristic that's evident right away. How is Vonnegut to make such a distinction?
Lane strikes me as a "gloriously normal" cad, but <i>heck, there are
gloriously normal people who go to Charm School to develop all the telltale signs
of a sociopath.</i>
>
>It's possible that the need to "save" someone from something like
sociopathy is also indicative of a deep lack of self-respect, however, it's also
possible that the St. Francis type wants to save someone he or she loves
from believing that charm is an end itself.
>
>Most tragically, Bessie and almost everyone else were quite taken with
Lane as a "charm boy."
>
>luke
>
>
>oh yeah, thanks for the tip on the italics, Jim. i'm enjoying messing
around with them
>
>
>
>
>

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Received on Thu Jul 10 19:33:42 2003