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Daniel Namie

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The Collected Stories

by William Trevor

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in January 2017

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Daniel Namie said: " “On our birthday, on the night of our birthday, Richard will make love to me in the bed you slept in for nine years. You have access to the children. You can demand no more.”

The quote written above was taken from William Trevor’s short story Access t “On our birthday, on the night of our birthday, Richard will make love to me in the bed you slept in for nine years. You have access to the children. You can demand no more.”

The quote written above was taken from William Trevor’s short story Access to the Children. The title of the short story is interesting because the story is not about the children. Access to the children is a sub-plot used to build-up the main plot, which is Malcolmson’s regret, loss, and no identity.

Malcolmson regrets leaving his wife for Diana. Diana, as described by Malcolmson’s ex-wife named Elizabeth, “a flat-chested American nymphomaniac and predator, the worst type of woman in the world.” The worst type of woman ends up leaving Malcolmson, destroying Malcolmson self-respect, and out of loneliness Malcolmson tries to reunite with Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth meets Richard and wants to marry.

Richard ironically is short for Dick. In derogatory terms, dick refers to the male reproductive system or an asshole. Richard is not an ass-hole but he is Elizabeth’s dick. She symbolizes Richard as a dick when she says he “will make love to me on our birthday.” The personification of a Richard being a dick is used to hurt Malcolmson. Just as Diana, the nymphomaniac hurt Elizabeth. In other words, another vagina breaks up a marriage, another dick swards an attempt to re-marry.

Re-marrying Malcolmson is a mistake. She even says later on he’s “not the man I married.” Then, who is Malcolmson? Malcolmson is a man who loves Diana. Better yet, he is a man you love Diana’s vagina. He loves having sex with Diana. Then why does Diana leave Malcolmson? Especially since, Diana is a nymphomaniac? Diana leaves Malcolmson because his family defines Malcolmson. Without his family, Malcolmson has no identity and simply, as Richard, becomes a dick.

Dicks are easy to find. Dicks are everywhere. It was easy for Diana to leave a dick because a better dick is ‘around-the-corner.’ However, it’s hard for Malcolmson to leave Diana because Malcolmson gave up so much to be with Diana. Realizing his loss, Malcolmson desperately wants his family back in order to have an identity. However, Elizabeth only gives him access to the children and not her vagina. Which in turn, only gives Malcolmson half his identity

Elizabeth’s vagina holds the key to Malcolmson’s identity. Being monogamous with Elizabeth, Malcolmson can have access to his children, be a father, be a husband, a provider, and have a sense of purpose and belonging. That purpose and belonging will heal his self-confidence. Without Elizabeth, Malcolmson is lost and waits “that day [that] was to come.”

It’s that day that will never come back for Malcolmson. He gave up so much for so little, which belittle Diana and the children. Although Elizabeth won’t give access to her vagina, she did allow access to the children. ...more "

Jan 04, 2017 06:01PM · see review

Daniel’s Quotes

“Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”
― Mark Twain

tags: humor, writing

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“Inevitably it follows that anyone with an independent mind must become 'one who resists or opposes an authority or established convention': a rebel. ...And if enough people come to agree with—and follow—the REBEL, we now have a DEVIL. Until, of course, still more people agree. And then, finally, we have ... GREATNESS.”
― Nicholas Tharcher, Rebels & Devils; A Tribute to Christopher S. Hyatt

tags: dissent, independent-thought, metaphysics, philosophy

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“thought can never ripen into truth.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

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“What's great about this country is America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you can know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good.”
― Andy Warhol

tags: consumerism

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“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse. When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice; a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice, — is often the means of their regeneration. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other.”
― John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy