Native speaker post 1
This novel is pretty interesting so far. There is a sort of mysteriousness to it that makes me want to keep reading, for example, what’s going on with Henry’s job, what will happen with Leila, who is this new person that Henry has to make a biography/legend about?
Henry describes the people at his work place and brushes the surface of what they actually do at this company: “Grace handled Eastern Europe; Jack, the Mediterranean and Middle East; the two Jimmys, Baptiste and Perez, Central America and Africa” (17). I thought that the last names of the two Jimmys were rather interesting because they are the last names of the cuban leader before Castro, and Perez was the dictator in Argentina. Why would Lee use these two names as the last names of the two Jimmys that work with him? What motive do these names fulfill? (In an unrelated note, Henry’s job in this novel reminds me a lot of that new show on tv called “Dollhouse”).
Anyway, we spoke in class about how Henry seems to be a closed character, meaning he does not allow his true self to come through to the reader in his writing. However, I do not think I agree with this entirely. I agree that the nature of Henry’s job has cost Henry his true self in a lot of ways, but I do not think that Henry closes himself off from the reader. I think that the few scenes early on in the novel show the reader a close insight into Henry’s character for example: the scene with the shrink, Dr. Luzan, Henry starts to tell him about his real life problems as opposed to the problems that were set up for him to talk about. Henry starts to really like Dr. Luzan after several weeks of seeing him and even sets up another appointment during the week so that he can see him twice instead of just once and Dr. Luzan likes Henry just as well, “Take one, my friend … we shouldn’t submit to the traditional doctor-patient relationship. It’s not our psychology, anyway. Let them have their problems. We can share our own” (43). This is when Hoagland believes Henry has done a really good job, however, to Henry, this man, or client, became a friend. After speaking with him for quite some time, they shared something together, Henry felt that he could actually tell Luzan how he was feeling. This is an amazing thing in Henry’s line of work, which is evidenced by the fact that Henry didn’t tell Lelia, his own wife, what he did for a living for a very long time.
kmills923 said,
March 18, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Yes Henry does not seem to be as entirely a closed character as we have let on in class. It was very revealing to see how his sessions with Dr. Luzan went and what personal problems were said and I was kind of surprised to learn that he didn’t tell his wife, but maybe that is just me.
cosmatorium said,
March 19, 2009 at 8:04 am
Great notice with Baptiste and Perez. I didn’t even think about that until you mentioned it. Between that, Lelia and Spiro, the dog, it’s pretty clear that names are a big deal to Lee. He’s doing a lot of subtle stuff with them that I always like to see (I’m a bit of a name junkie).
I agree with you that “I do not think that Henry closes himself off from the reader.” He has a hard time saying whatever it is he truly wants to get out, but Henry is clearly trying to open himself up, whether for therapy or for greater insight into his life. Because communication (and the lack of it) comes up so much, it’s a pretty big struggle for Henry, but that doesn’t mean that there’s no intent there.
sjordan740 said,
March 20, 2009 at 1:02 am
Kelsey–
You brought up some excellent points about Henry not being such a “closed character” as many assume that he is. However, whats interesting to me is the last line of your post–”This is an amazing thing in Henry’s line of work, which is evidenced by the fact that Henry didn’t tell Lelia, his own wife, what he did for a living for a very long time” this brought me back to when Henry was reminiscing about his fathers work and his mother never knowing about the stores and the business with it–that it was “below him”. I guess the apple doesn’t fall to far from the tree!