Re: refreshing opp., hop, skip, jump!
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Fri, 11 Jun 1999 16:35:44 +1000
Catherine Marie wrote
> i have a lot of the same questions, but i have, after a bit of
> consideration, come to the very surface conclusion that maybe salinger is
> having seymour use his right hand to shoot himself for simple
consistancy:
> in Seymour: an introduction, at some point buddy says that seymour was
> righthanded, and so it would follow that he would naturally use that
hand.
On the contrary - it seems odd that Salinger would deliberately enunciate
that Seymour is right handed when you'd expect that only if someone is
lefthanded, which is more unusual. I'll have to check the book again and
read it in context. That Sybil stuff is interesting, though - it occured to
me, having gotten deeper and deeper into this theory of `phony traps' that
Seymour's story would ostensibly seem much more logical if Sybil *hadn't*
run away `without regret' when Seymour kissed her foot. But then again it
would be a different story. However, I also wondered - perhaps, in a
strange way, Seymour needs to embrace phonyism to survive? After all, he
pandered as much as anyone else to `the Fat Lady'. He married Muriel (which
to me - debate it as you wish - is kind of like Holden marrying Sally
Hayes). Did he *want* Sybil to rush off in great disgust; to unknowingly
fail the phony test? Seymour's response to having his feet stared at later
on suggests as much - the woman he berates passed the phony test too, and
perhaps he plain didn't want her to. And as we all know - where would
Salinger be without phonies? He'd have a lot less to write about (:
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
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