the Fat Lady

J J R (jrovira@juno.com)
Mon, 02 Nov 1998 17:24:10 -0500 (EST) 

All I can do is give you my take on all this, and it'll either make you
say, Yeah, or Maybe, or if you really disagree, then maybe knowing what
you Don't think will make more clear what you Do think.

Franny's problem, so far as I could tell, was reconciling her values with
her surroundings.  She valued transparency and sincerity, but seemed to
be surrounded by hypocrisy.  And then she had to face up to her own
hypocrisy, just out of honesty.  And she didn't know what the hell to do
with that.

It left her paralyzed emotionally.  Partly because she realized she was
doing what she loved for the wrong reasons (acting), and didn't see how
she could do it for the right reasons.  And partly because even if she
did it for the right reasons, the people she was doing it For were full
of it, and were coming to her for the wrong reasons.

So she couldn't in any way reconcile her heart with her life.  And that
made her a bit crazed.  Now, when Buddy (aka Zooey :) ) said, Do it for
the Fat Lady, along with the sudden realization that the Fat Lady is
Christ, that provided Franny a way to serve her values and the things
that meant the most to her while still living in a banal, hypocritical
world.  

Fat Lady=Christ. . .well, a Christian would immediately think of
"whatsoever you do to the least of these my brothers, that you do unto
Me."  Matt. 25.  End of some teachings of Christ where He divided the
world into two people--those who helped those around them, and those who
ignored those around them.  And that He took whatever we do to others
pretty personally.  If we ignore other people's needs, we're ignoring
Christ.  If we help meet other people's needs, we're serving Christ.

In a Buddhist framework, the teachings of Christ are still taken
essentially the same way, but also point to an ontological truth (truth
about the nature of being).  That the idea of boundaries between us are
essentially false--that Christ is God, that all is God, and that we are
all Christ.  

Taking it this way, of course, makes for real problems with Christ
casting those who didn't care for those around them into the outer
darkness, but if you're a buddhist you find a way to ignore this.  Or
allegorize it somehow.  If you're a conservative Christian, well, you
better start rethinking your politics, or at least your sense of social
justice to account for these truths.

But either way, this allowed Franny a way to serve her ideals AND still
live in a hypocritical world.  That no matter how ugly and fat the fat
lady is, the fat lady is still Christ.  And so are the people around
Franny, no matter how false and hypocritical they (and she) must seem at
times.  

Jim  


On Sun, 01 Nov 1998 10:48:56 -0500 (EST) Speirlow@aol.com writes:
>In a message dated 10/31/98 2:25:14 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
>sarahj@mills.edu
>writes:
>
><< Err...I don't
> think that explaination was at all clear.  Does anyone have any ideas 
>or
> thoughts about "the fat lady" at the end of the book?  I know for me 
>it
> was probably about the most important fifteen or so pages I have ever
> read. >>
>
>	I'm not sure if I can describe my thoughts very well either, 
>but I'll try.  I
>love Franny and Zooey, it's got to be my favorite book.  I really 
>don't
>understand a lot of it because as I've said on this list before I'm 
>not too
>informed about religions.  But the "fat lady" part of the story did 
>make me
>feel something. Some emotion I can't really explain or put into words, 
>but it
>gave me an understanding that I knew or kind of knew what religion was 
>all
>about.  I'm not sure, it's early in the morning, my mind is struggling 
>to
>write a college essay...I'll try this agian later.
>
>Morgan
>

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