Life Annotated discussion
The Shards
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oh and also I do think that first page interms of quality of text is particularly good and easily the best text in the book. I am a sucker for describing a book as somthing else as I did so enjoy in the into to east of eden
I think the scene where Robert chastised bret for being gay was hit me not just becouse of the blatant humiliation of it but also due to its parallels to the scene with Matt
Robert in the book I feel is mainly just a projection of what bret want to be and hates about the people he's arround. Robert finds it easy to be the tangible participant and is also excited by the group for who he is ( they don't care he has been institutionalized) but also he perpetuates the feeling of bret being a loner and different from everyone else.
Robert sort of becomes like the embodiment of all the things he wants out of other people. he is the most attractive boy. he is easy to engage with so when Robert torments him about how attracted to him bret is it feels more like the amplified voice of the idea bret is trying to covet from his last year of college. that it isn't just Robert it's also Susan and tom and Debbie.
the other thing I think is interesting about Robert is that we are told from the beginning that he is bret fantasy like he never escapes the idea bret has of him from the moment he sees him in the movie theater. Robert as a person in the books is somewhat irrelevant aside from what he stands to represent for bret.
that part was a bit long winded sorry lol
the other thing u said was about tender is the night witch is my favorite book so I feel obligated to talk about that
dick and Nicole diver and their beach resort is a facade. it is when they are briefly happy but it isn't like a genuine place of rebirth as it was intended
dick is spiteful at the fact that Nicole is the one to pay for the resort and for everything else as well as feeling like he can't reach his full potential as a psychiatrist.
the beach is also where the decline of their marriage properly takes form as they attempt to reginight the safety the beach provided for them when they initially moved their except there was always issues at the beach
despite this the way they are perseved by other people and the image they try to maintain for themselves is that of being gorgeous on the beach.
I think of the scene in that book witch most stood out to me which is when they go on the boat with rosemary and her friends and dick tries to do a trick where he lifts up 2 men that he had previously been able to do but is now to old and can no longer do it.
his own internal struggle to maintain this version of himself that only really excited for other people to see.
those themes tie back to the Shards I think. performance and the upset at having to perform.
I actually think both of those topics I didnt word very well but I hope you are able to kind of get what im saying