Subject
Re: SIGNS: Final thoughts on story's first section? Quoting the
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text
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Date
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"For the fourth time in as many years they were confronted with the problem
of what birthday present to bring to a young man who was incurably deranged
in his mind. He had no desires."
Making the story consistent—He had no desires for things, possessions, such
as are given as gifts by people with a certain mentality narrowed to
acquisition (and narcissism of giving—think about what a gift is or can be).
It does not mean he had no desires. The next sentence is about
objects—something that would irritate him even more. His parents' choice is
completely inappropriate, blind and grandiose and delusional, if also
movingly hopeful:
"Man‑made objects were to him either hives of evil, vibrant with a malignant
activity that he alone could perceive,"
Perhaps he wanted others to perceive these vibrant things too, and that
would have lessened his experiencing such vibrancy and activity as evil.
"Man‑made objects were to him either hives of evil, vibrant with a malignant
activity that he alone could perceive, or gross comforts for which no use
could be found in his abstract world. After eliminating a number of
articles that might offend him…"
The story returns to the parents' dilemma, what obsesses them and diverts
them from their son's abstract world. But I don't believe this is any kind
of indictment of them.
I like 'vibrant" also (someone else mentioned that in this discussion).
"(such as Mrs. Sol, their next‑door neighbor, whose face was all pink and
mauve with paint and whose hat was a cluster of brookside flowers)"
And speculations about "brookside flowers" and Ophelia were interesting.
I have already posted about the mother's whiteness and "fault-finding light
of spring days".
All references to others (other than mother and father) are strange,
alienated.
"raining hard" and "shuffling" give us sounds. The parents persist in
bringing son something that he doesn't want or need. They feel very good
about the present and take it home to protect it.
The connection between "twitching" bird and father's "twitching" hands seems
too obvious.
Mother experiences "a kind of soft shock" [great phrase] and wonders about
resemblance. (I posted earlier about her imagining or longing for crying
and care in her mother's arms.)
"What he wanted to do was to tear a hole in his world and escape."
This is not the same kind of thing as having no desires for things. The
previous sentence (in the first paragraph) "He had no desires" does not
contradict his desire to tear a hole in his psychical world and escape it.
Barrie Karp, Ph.D.
of what birthday present to bring to a young man who was incurably deranged
in his mind. He had no desires."
Making the story consistent—He had no desires for things, possessions, such
as are given as gifts by people with a certain mentality narrowed to
acquisition (and narcissism of giving—think about what a gift is or can be).
It does not mean he had no desires. The next sentence is about
objects—something that would irritate him even more. His parents' choice is
completely inappropriate, blind and grandiose and delusional, if also
movingly hopeful:
"Man‑made objects were to him either hives of evil, vibrant with a malignant
activity that he alone could perceive,"
Perhaps he wanted others to perceive these vibrant things too, and that
would have lessened his experiencing such vibrancy and activity as evil.
"Man‑made objects were to him either hives of evil, vibrant with a malignant
activity that he alone could perceive, or gross comforts for which no use
could be found in his abstract world. After eliminating a number of
articles that might offend him…"
The story returns to the parents' dilemma, what obsesses them and diverts
them from their son's abstract world. But I don't believe this is any kind
of indictment of them.
I like 'vibrant" also (someone else mentioned that in this discussion).
"(such as Mrs. Sol, their next‑door neighbor, whose face was all pink and
mauve with paint and whose hat was a cluster of brookside flowers)"
And speculations about "brookside flowers" and Ophelia were interesting.
I have already posted about the mother's whiteness and "fault-finding light
of spring days".
All references to others (other than mother and father) are strange,
alienated.
"raining hard" and "shuffling" give us sounds. The parents persist in
bringing son something that he doesn't want or need. They feel very good
about the present and take it home to protect it.
The connection between "twitching" bird and father's "twitching" hands seems
too obvious.
Mother experiences "a kind of soft shock" [great phrase] and wonders about
resemblance. (I posted earlier about her imagining or longing for crying
and care in her mother's arms.)
"What he wanted to do was to tear a hole in his world and escape."
This is not the same kind of thing as having no desires for things. The
previous sentence (in the first paragraph) "He had no desires" does not
contradict his desire to tear a hole in his psychical world and escape it.
Barrie Karp, Ph.D.