Subject: Re: The Laughing Man (no more acronyms)
From: Will Hochman (Hochman@scsu.ctstateu.edu)
Date: Thu Oct 05 2000 - 21:30:48 GMT
Scottie, I agree that the "maximum espirit de corps" of childhood and
boys playing sports with a chief/coach is a fine picture of boyhood
in central park and that's what first made me love the story...I grew
up playing on streets with friends and we didn't have a chief...I
loved the fact that this coach figure was also a story teller...it
wasn't until graduate school in the late l980s that my interpretation
of childhood play and imagination turned to issues of child caring.
Essentially, I cared more about the kids than what John and Mary
were up to...I was attending NYU at the time, driving a cab and
teaching, and could understand the pressed world of John Gedsudski
since I had to cobble together several jobs and still needed help
from my parents to pay bills. However, John was a law student and I
was not, and that began my suspicions...ultimately, I can never
forgive John Gedsudski for hurting those kids...as a story teller he
knew damn well that his imagination had power and when he shared
imaginary worlds with kids he was caring for, he ultimately showed a
decided lack of responsibility. Like Margaret Salinger, I don't
think poor parenting is as simple as "the inexplicable behavior of
grown ups" and that is why my interpretation blames Gedsudski. will
ps: I still think of you as this list's "chief" and know your heart
is a helluva lot truer than Gedsudski's.
-- Will Hochman Assistant Professor of English & Composition Co-Coordinator Southern Connecticut State University 501 Crescent St, New Haven, CT 06515 203 392 6962
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Wed Nov 08 2000 - 17:43:39 GMT