Muriel
LR Pearson, Arts 99 (lp9616@bristol.ac.uk)
Sun, 28 Nov 1999 20:42:06 +0000 (GMT Standard Time)
On Sun, 28 Nov 1999 11:05:15 -0500 (EST) AntiUtopia@aol.com wrote:
>
> I do think Muriel's been sold a bit short. She's vain and a little bit
> shallow, course. Maybe even a Whole Lot Shallow. But let's remember she
> continued to believe in our Dearly Beloved Seymour long past the point the
> truly shallow and stupid people of this world (a.k.a. her mother) would do
> so. In some ways I think she "understood" Seymour better than a lot of those
> around him.
>
> I think part of Seymour's problem may have been getting past the banal facade
> over that "understanding." I think that's part of the point of F and Z. The
> "fat lady" is Christ. Realizing the holiness of the banal (not the banality
> of the holy, however) is necessary for the Seymours, Zooeys, Frannys and
> Holdens to be able to survive in this world. Seymour couldn't do it, so
> BANG....
>
> Jim
Of course if you love Seymour and despise Muriel she is being sold
short. Let's not forget, he married her. Not out of despair, either.
There is a wonderful passage from his diary in RHRBC where he speaks of
WHY he loves Muriel, about how she wants to go to the hotel lobby and
ask if her husband has picked up the mail, and how he feels that she
and her mother fill his pockets with endless invisible cosmetics, for
which he feels immensely grateful but which he doesn't know what to do
with. I think it's important to remember the overwhelming tenderness
with which that diary is written when reading "Bananafish". Muriel
isn't perfect. Maybe she's not one of the Seymours or Frannys or
Zooeys. But how many of us are?
Thanks, Tim, for bringing up a genuinely interesting topic.
Love, Lucy-Ruth
----------------------
LR Pearson, Arts 99
lp9616@bristol.ac.uk