Waker
Becky Spiro Green (becky@HUNTINGTON.ORG)
Tue, 16 Sep 1997 17:01:03 -0700
Been thinking about some reasons we might be fascinated
by Waker.
No particular order. Some obviously less significant than
others.
His name. Does everyone in the Glass family have a symbolic
name? Is Waker almost the same name as Seymour? He's
more awake than others. His eyes are more open. He sees more.
He gave away his Davega bicycle. Someone wanted something;
Waker had it to give; it didn't occur to him NOT to give it.
He's sensitive. Maybe over-sensitive. If someone mentions it looks
like rain, his eyes all fill up. How does a person this sensitive deal
with the suicide of his brother? Seymour's death affected all of them,
obviously: Buddy writes about Seymour obsessively, Franny has a
nervous breakdown, Bessie won't go into Seymour's old room. What
effect has this event had on Waker's life?
Until the arrival of Zachary Martin Glass, Waker was the youngest
in an already-large family. He & Walt would be already about nine
when Zooey was born. Displaced as the baby?
His clear-cut religious choice. Everyone in the family, as Zooey
observes, has a different religious philosophy. Waker's may be the
most straightforward, the most dictionary-definable.
His conscientious-objector status. The war was obviously damaging
to other members of his family: Seymour (arguably) couldn't deal with
post-war reality, Walt was killed. (Sergeant X, not a relative, had
trouble keeping his faculties intact.) Did Waker make the only right
decision?
He's a twin. Not sure why, but most people seem to be fascinated by
twins.
That's enough for now. Thanks, Mark, for bringing up the subject.
Becky