If I were a Carpenter...

Brendan McKennedy (suburbantourist@hotmail.com)
Sun, 22 Mar 1998 00:05:06 -0800 (PST)

While reading through "Raise High" recently (for the six thousandth 
time), it occurred to me for the first time that there is a relationship 
between the title and the Bride's Father's Uncle. 

The title of the piece, taken from a quote Boo Boo wrote on the mirror 
in soap, suggests that the height of Seymour, at least on his wedding 
day, is extraordinary; he is so tall that the carpenters must raise the 
roof.  Yet Buddy's favorite person in the story is a man so short that 
his *top hat* (more hats, you crazy hat-people) clears the ceiling of 
the car by four inches.  What do you suppose is going on here?

Thinking about it just a little bit, I've started to wonder whether the 
Bride's Father's Uncle (the Short Man, for short--I know; I'm cringing 
too) isn't a manifestation of Seymour in a story about Seymour where 
Seymour is very loudly absent.  Do you suppose the Short Man could have 
been Seymour, even unconsciously, to Buddy, and that's why Buddy liked 
him so?  

Seymour is expected in Boo Boo's quote to have been very tall because of 
his wedding day--but he doesn't show up for the wedding, he ruins the 
entire affair, so in Buddy's mind has Seymour sort of thrown off this 
height?  If so, Seymour is no longer tall,  he is absent to defend 
himself (deaf and dumb for all intents and purposes), and Buddy is the 
only one who can communicate Seymour to the others, much in the same way 
that Buddy, who is the only one in possession of pencil and paper, must 
communicate for the Short Man.

Then--get this--the, after Seymour does finally decide to run off and 
get married to Muriel, Buddy all of a sudden loses his affinity for the 
Short Man.  This loss of admiration has puzzled me for awhile now, and 
I've tried to link it to Buddy's drunkenness (drunkenness always 
indicates a sort of disenchantment in Salinger's writing), but perhaps 
the drunkenness was only a part of it--the other part being Seymour 
having grown tall again.

I know what a lot of you are going to say--I'm reaching too far.  I 
know.  I know.  But please give this some consideration and let me know 
what you think.

the long-armed
Brendan



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