Just started Hapworth, though I've owned it for about 9 months. I'll comment on that later, but, yes, both Smith and Teddy are strange, unbelievable characters placed there to make their points by way of extreme juxtaposition. Thor >See, in the case of both Valentine Michael Smith and Teddy some >explanation for the character's unusal capacities is given early on. >Teddy is so remarkable he's being interviewed by panels of psycholgists. >VMS has been raised by Martians :) We have some credible reason to >accept these heightened characters. I just didn't see that in Hapworth. > >Jim > >On Mon, 24 May 1999 20:29:43 -0700 (PDT) Thor Cameron ><my_colours@hotmail.com> writes: > >OK, let's try & move on beyond the "smart" concept. > > > >This occured to me while I was at work, so I'll lay it out & see who > >can > >hang with me. > > > >No, I do not believe Teddy is a real person. My suspension of > >disbelief > >isn't THAT strong. > > > >I don't believe Valentine Michael Smith from Stranger in a Strange > >land, > >either, yet it's one of my favourite five books. > > > >Why? Because a character doesn't have to be real to say something > >real. > >We'd expect this behavior from a Fakir or ancient swami, but a kid? > > > >Salinger made it unbelievable so that it could be believed in a > >real-world > >context. You with me here? > > > >Teddy isn't a character, he's a caricature, with a point. > > > >Thor > > > > > >_______________________________________________________________ > >Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com > >___________________________________________________________________ >You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. >Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html >or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com