Subject: Re: A Half Baked Theory
From: Cecilia Baader (ceciliaann@hotmail.com)
Date: Sat Nov 18 2000 - 00:57:02 GMT
Will Hochman (respectfully) disagreed with me:
>I think
>you are basing your theory on Seymour really being self-realized...
Well, no. I don't think that Seymour was self-realized. That's just the
point that I'm trying to make-- perhaps Seymour has determined that he's
come to a standstill in this incarnation and that it's time to end it, to
quit wasting time. For maybe in the next life he'll do better.
>...I read his
>stone throwing at Charlotte as a way to illustrate his marble tossing
>acumen gone astray...same with his suicide showing his love gone
>astray.
Marble tossing? I must admit that I've never made that connection. Well,
if Seymour's perfect marble acumen is an example of his ability to get
beyond the concrete and recognize, like Amber's bell-stand carver, that to
play marbles properly one must let go of self, then his love for a concrete
Charlotte would be a threat to that, no?
And throwing the stone is a way to forcibly separate himself from her.
Charlotte's parents took her away and he never saw her again.
Attaching himself to Muriel would pose the same threat to that same sense of
separation from self and oneness with everything that he'd already attained.
He's taking steps backwards, and the only way to halt that backward
progress is to end the existence...?
It's the violence that gets me-- I'm trying to understand why this
almost-guru feels the need to hurt the person he loves most in his attempt
to separate himself from her. Scottie has deemed it outright cruelty, but I
think that just doesn't fit with what Salinger has built into this
character.
Seymour spends his whole life teaching and loving and he *chooses* to end it
in a horrific manner, certain to leave a lasting impression on, first,
Muriel, and next, his siblings. He's insanely intelligent; he can't have
not considered the ramifications of his actions. And cruelty doesn't fit as
a motive for me. What does fit is a carefully planned decision that will
serve as a metaphorical slap in the face for Muriel, for Buddy, for Zooey,
for Franny. Jar them out of their complacency and force them to *learn*.
It's just a theory-- one that occurred to me in the middle of the night as I
was answering Amber's post about the missing starets in Franny's spiritual
journey.
And yes, Seymour's flaws make him wholly better as a character, absolutely
more believable. I've run across very few self-realized gurus in fiction
that didn't annoy me with their lack of believability. (With the possible
exception of Dostoevsky's Father Zosima.) I don't (respectfully) disagree
with you on that. I just think that with Seymour, he's perfectly aware of
his flaws and all that they mean and he still manages to use them to teach.
Thanks for responding, Will.
with love and regards,
Cecilia.
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