Subject: Re: Muriel, the girl for me
From: Cecilia Baader (ceciliaann@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Oct 11 2000 - 21:58:29 GMT
Scottie Bowman wrote:
>
> This is the reason I dislike the flavour of the story.
> I feel I've been conned by a subtle flattery of my own
> pretentiousness.
Aah. Okay. This is actually something I've never quite understood about
the story, that Muriel the fashionista would vacation in FLORIDA of all
places. I just figured that, in the 1950s, Florida was a more fashionable
vacation destination. This makes perfect sense.
(Don't start sending me hatemail if you're a Floridian. I'm sure that it's
a wonderful state. Just not a fashionable vacation destination for
Manhattan's elite.)
I'm not sure I buy the causation theory, though, Scottie. I think that he
had it planned long before the actual moment of pulling the trigger. I
think he was thinking about it all the time that he was talking with Sybil
down on the beach, and even before they got to Florida. (Hence the gun that
he pulls out of its carefully hidden spot in the suitcase.)
The fact that Muriel was sleeping on the bed when he does it ... well, that
is the truly horrible aspect of the whole thing. And that is what makes me
agree with Bruce, that this is not the same Seymour as in the later Glass
stories. That difference, of course, is explained away by Buddy in Seymour:
an Introduction in that the Seymour in Bananafish is more like Buddy than
the real Seymour had been. But this Seymour is only a building block for
the Glass family yet to come, and it's difficult to reconcile the two
without getting into big trouble.
But perhaps you can answer this better than anyone else: do suicide victims
usually choose to die in a place where they will be found by a loved one?
In my (somewhat limited) experience, it's true. The gruesome method and
immediacy makes it a standout, but perhaps Seymour is inured to it after his
experience in the war.
I go back and forth on this with myself all the time. The truth is, I
cannot understand it. I never have been able to do so.
Regards,
Cecilia.
(Brilliant post by the way, Scottie B.)
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