RE: Soft Boiled

esme, wonderful post. please don't go back to the
lurker mode. we need your voice!

kim

--- Esme Four <esme4@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm Esme´ coming in from lurker mode to say a few
> things about this story but I'm not going to say
> much
> else for now if you don't mind. My offline life at
> the
> moment is a bit overwhelming and so is the rain...so
> here I am, wet hat in hand, letting a few crazy
> drops
> fall on the floor.
>
> I think Tina nails the story better than any hammer
> could! The plot and story are sentimental, but
> considering the time (April 1944) and the slick
> publishing context of the Saturday Evening Post, the
> plotting may not indicate Salinger's need for more
> craft as much as reflecting a dominant part of the
> heart of culture at the time. However, contrary to
> my
> own point about time and place, my reading of the
> plot
> is not all about Burke the kind hero so much as
> seeing
> Salinger's nod to women in the end. Sure, having a
> "Juanita" is piggish, but beneath the sexist veneer
> I
> sense Salinger suggesting that Juanita's female
> consciousness takes the story in more insightfully
> than the narrator has lived it. I am not ready to
> accept Joyce Maynard's hate as fact...not with a
> name
> like mine!
>
> Another drop of rain left for others to ignore or
> mop
> away from this messy floor of thoughts is this: my
> absolute favorite line in the story is "He was a
> real
> ugly guy, and real ugly guys don't never look very
> young or very old." My uncle is pretty ugly and
> he's
> very crazy and fun to visit. He's far away and I
> don't
> see him often, but each time I see something else
> about him I like very much. I guess I imagined Burke
> pretty clearly as my uncle except my uncle is never
> that mature or heroic. I always thought my uncle was
> Dad's kid brother and I was recently shocked to
> learn
> this marvelous man is ten years older than my
> handsome, gray-haired father. My father refused to
> accept my shock and accused me of stepping on him
> for
> the zillionth time. My dad and his brother are not
> exactly Buddy and Seymour, ya know.
>
> Esme´
>
> PS: Please keep a lid on that "love and squalor"
> stuff...I don't need more dirty old men in my life.
>
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Received on Wed Jun 4 12:49:28 2003