Seymour's death-- See better, Lear!
Matt Kozusko (mkozusko@parallel.park.uga.edu)
Tue, 17 Nov 1998 14:04:13 -0500
J J R wrote:
> While I don't see adequate justification for
> Seymour's suicide within the context of the story itself--Beyond the fact
> that Seymour himself was probably the bananafish, and children (their
> innocence, and honesty, and malleability) the bananas--I don't see Any
> justification for Seymour shooting Muriel.
The dialogue between Muriel and her mother suggests fairly explicitly
that 1) Seymour is unstable and 2) Muriel's parents are worried about
*her* safety (Seymour may "com*plete*ly lose control of
himself"--"*definitely* a *very great* chance..."; and her parents want
her to come home). All we know about Seymour is that he's strange,
unstable, and that his wife's parents think he's dangerous.
Then Seymour spends a couple of pages talking about how it's a perfect
day for greedy fish to die. It's not too large a leap from greedy fish
to Muriel.
Even though you do acknowledge the "See More"/Seymour distinction, I
think you're reading a little proleptically--allowing things you know
about Seymour from later stories to inform your reading of "Bfish." As
the story unfolds for the first time, there is little, if anything, to
suggest that Seymour will shoot himself. All the clues in the story
initially point to material greed as the source of Seymour's being
unsettled. And I refer again to the concluding paragraph:
"...The room smelled of new calfskin luggage and nail-lacquer remover.
He glanced at the girl lying asleep on one of the twin beds. Then he
went over to one of the pieces of luggage, opened it, and from under a
pile of shorts and undershirts he took out an Ortgies calibre 7.65
automatic. He released the magazine, looked at it, then reinserted it.
He cocked the piece. Then he went over and sat down on the unoccupied
twin bed, looked at the girl, aimed the pistol, and fired a bullet
through his right temple." (18)
Note, if nothing else, the specific word-choice: "aimed." The
procedure of "aiming" a gun involves an orientation of the barrel with
regard to the intended target aided specifically by ocular
coordination. You could "aim" a gun at somebody else's right temple,
but ordinarily, you'd "point" a gun at your own right temple, or maybe
even "place" it against the temple. Note also that Seymour looks at the
girl in the clause immediately preceding the "aiming." Both the syntax
and the diction unmistakably suggest that "the girl" is the target.
- fair use, MR. Harold Ober?
--
Matt Kozusko mkozusko@parallel.park.uga.edu