Re: chat
helena kim (helena@apollo.netsoc.tcd.ie)
Tue, 17 Nov 1998 12:57:20 +0000 (GMT)
On Tue, 17 Nov 1998, Sarah Liddy wrote:
> The other three American novels in my elective are "Herzog" by
> Saul Bellows, "As I Lay Dying", by William Faulkner and Annie
> Proulx's "The Shipping News". The general theme is the
> dysfunctional male in society.
this is actually something that's always interested me: is holden's
situation something that is quintessentially male? franny and holden have
similar 'issues', as it were, but how does their gender influence their
relative 'positions'. the first way that this comes to mind is in their
boyfriend/girlfriend relationships... ie holden's GirlOnAPedestal
syndrome, and his relationship with Sally, and Franny's rather imbalanced
relationship with Lane. but those issues seem more to do with age and
immaturity than with maleness/femininity.
the boys want pretty girls who look good and don't cry too much, and the
girls want a sensitive, understanding but strong boy. and it all starts to
fall apart when the see the fallacy of the whole thing (jane goes out with
strdalater, sally is a petulant little missy, lane has his head up his own
arse...) which exacerbates whatever was bothering them in the first place.
i suppose seymour/muriel comes into it somewhere as well...
:helena kim
helena at netsoc dot tcd dot ie
'the church is near, but the road is icy.
the bar is far, but i will walk carefully.'
- russian proverb