RE: Seymour's Suicide
Simon Schwarz (Verloren@msn.com)
Tue, 15 Jul 1997 01:27:03 +0000 (UT)
i agree with this last one a lot; i think Seymour was very ambivalent towards
Muriel, or maybe primarily towards the ideas of love and marriage, etc. i
think he loved her because she was essentially his opposite. as a member of
the Glass family, and considering the type of people they were, i think
Seymour loved her for the most idealistic and romantic notions possible;
because she was so 'simple', and therefore she viewed the world similarly.
for instance, i see Muriel as someone who, if reading Salinger, would find
them nice, rather entertaining stories, purely for enjoyment, while Seymour of
course, would try to find every last hidden meaning, etc. haven't any of you
ever at times wished you could 'unlearn' everything, like in Teddy, not
knowing an elephant is big, etc. (if i'm remembering right), and just see
things as they 'really are' or whatever? well i can't say why he killed
himself, of course, but i have a feeling it's somewhat because of the kind of
person he was, and realized he could never be happy with someone so simple as
Muriel (as much as he may have _wanted_ to), and perhaps also that she could
never be happy with someone so painfully complex and neurotic as he was. well
that's just my two cents, hope it made at least _some_ sense.