Subject: Re: Cheever and Salinger
From: Jim Rovira (jrovira@drew.edu)
Date: Fri Jun 21 2002 - 09:52:57 EDT
Nah, Cecilia, you REALLY need to read Umberto Eco's _Foucault's Pendulum_
if you haven't already :) -- funny how that makes reference to Kabbala as
well :). The point is, ESPECIALLY with numbers, ANYTHING can be related
to ANYTHING. EVERYONE uses numbers :). Literally. I can connect Salinger
to virtually every author in world and certainly every religious tradition
through the number six. What about the number 666 in Revelation? It's the
number of man and also represents the sign of the Antichrist and rebellion
against God. So, could Salinger be presenting a moral story about what
happens when man rebels against God? Excess leading to self destruction?
That also fits the story.
My point was not that the number was absolutely insignificant, but we need
to consider the possibility that it may be. And that, if we are going to
make associations, they can't be random or simply guided by our own
imagination -- Salinger himself would have to give us reasons for that
association. Sticking to the context of the story, the number 6 doesn't
seem to recur, so it's not given any significance that way.
I tend to agree with Scottie on this one :)
Jim
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