The Sleepy Conscience Club discussion
April '12 - The Neon Bible
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The later chapters and the conlcusion
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I'll pose one question to the group for speculation. Does Aunt Mae ever contact the valley to send for David and his mother? If so, how does she react to the news of what has occurred?
What was up with the lady in the house robe? This was the one part that I really thought needed some expansion. David did not enter the house the second time he went there to deliver the items she ordered, but he never gives an explanation as to why he decided not to. I would have liked to see something in there because this seemed to be an important part in the development of a system of values for himself. Sure, his Aunt Mae tells him not to go back there, but it seems like he himself knew that something was wrong with that situation.
To draw a comparison with the coming of age novel I compared this to in previous posts, in Bless me Ultima, Antonio is always aware of the sexual nature of adults, and his struggles are with understanding why things are the way they are, why sex is not equal to love etc... This is never fleshed out in the Neon Bible, although it is hinted at throughout the book. Perhaps this is where Toole's age impacted the strength of the novel the most. He knew he wanted to say something regarding sex/love/morality etc...but it never comes through in the story, not with Aunt Mae, Jo Lynne, or the lady in the robe scenes.
The fact that David's teacher and his partner could live in the valley without being thrown out of town as so many others were sent some mixed signals. It seems that folks were intimidated by the teacher's intelligence, so they kept away from him. As we all know though, intelligence is almost never a buffer for hatred, in fact in intolerant settings such as this it is usually more of a threat that is dealt with harshly.
ENDING SPOILERS
Obviously, the final chapters of the book were extremely surprising. I didn't see the ending coming, what a train-wreck! I was expecting a couple of chapters on him burying his mother, and then we would once again convene with him on the train as he was on his way to Nashville to meet up with Aunt Mae. However, the killing of the preacher was a complete shock.
I felt bad for the kid. It became apparent by the end of the story that he never really had a chance at a normal life in the valley, especially after Jo Lynne left. Although he was tolerated in town, I don't think his family was ever truly accepted, mostly because of the baseless biases of the preacher and his flock.