Banned Books Club discussion

Let's talk about Peter Walsh...

Well, you have been asking :) (view spoiler)[I see his pocket knife as a weapon, but not necessarily as a phallic symbol. Or it is phallic in the measure in which Clarissa’s needle is a phallic symbol too :) I’d rather interpret their use of “weapons” as an act of self-defense or self-protection. They try to cover their personal insecurity, their feelings. I see the “weapons” more like a shell or a shield against their lack of confidence in themselves, then as sexual signals. Yes, Peter uses his knife to reassure himself that he is a man (he has his own doubts about this), that he still is a buccaneer, but also he uses it in the attempt to dissimulate his feelings/interest for Clarissa. On her turn, Clarissa looks like she still has not the slightest idea about what she really wants: Sally, Richard, Peter, Hugh?? Her needle is present also in “Richard and his flowers’ scene” :) (hide spoiler)]

What I have noticed is that Peter Walsh looks to be the only character in the book that has the right image of himself/herself. He is the one who describes himself the best: it is not the case with Clarissa, for instance. Or Septimius, or all the other.

(view spoiler)[ I agree with Anda about the pocket knife. Peter Walsh seems a bit wishy washy, sentimental, and soft to me. The first couple times when the pocket knife was mentioned, it was an interesting contrast visually, the soft man with his sharp manly weapon. Lol! Yes, I see it also as more of a confident thing, his front.

I don't see phallic symbols as much as others, mainly because as a designer for children's publishing house, the editors tend to cry phallic to the silliest things and make us change the image. The joke is, wait till we do a reading on the Washington Monument. Lol! But anyway, Big Ben, and like Anda mentioned, the needle, and many other things can be seen as phallic... I think. :) (hide spoiler)]