Re: Seymour's death
J J R (jrovira@juno.com)
Wed, 18 Nov 1998 17:44:21 -0500 (EST)
If all we're saying is that the story is written such that the end is an
almost complete surprise, well, yeah. In that sense, the end is
dispensible. To a degree. No, the story isn't written in a way that
leaves us with the feeling, "It couldn't have ended any other way." But
I think ANY ending would be problematic.
The talk of Seymour's emotional unstability at the beginning, and the
conversation about Bananafish with the little girl does hint at something
happening. If he had just cut his fingernails at the end, we'd REALLY be
wondering why the hell we bothered to read the story at all :)
As it is, we can look back for clues. But Matt's right. The ending is
such that we have to go back looking. Really, I think that's more a
commentary on the body of the work rather than the ending, though.
Jim
<< Or is the death of the bananafish a decisive clue that someone had to
go in the end? Another thing: some list members do not sign their posts.
I find this
rather annoying. I like to more or less know with whom I am talking.
Paul Janse>>
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