That said...
Reading Questions
Chapter 29.1
- Will brings Adam's car, and it's a mess of complications. Now as long as you can at least partially separate yourself from Tolkein's antagonism toward the Industrial Age, you should be able to recognize Adam's purchase of a car as a sign of progress--he's stepping, rather blindly of course, into the new age. In order to make the analytic leap I'm looking for though, let's look at this in terms of analogy (THIS kind of analogy: apple is to fruit as herring is to fish, or apple : fruit :: herring : fish). So here's my analogy, with its requisite blank. Please fill in the blank and explain your answer. Adam's advancement into technology : car :: Adam's new life and finally-assumed fatherhood : ______________. (Okay, so yeah, I know this is WAY abstract.)
Chapter 29.2
- Lee: "I wonder whether I'll ever get used to it." I've heard it said that one can get used to anything--generally in context of extreme crimes, as some reporter or analyst attempts to explain away the astounding lengths to which humanity manages to push its actions and psyche. Are there things that an individual--specifically you or someone you know perhaps--will indeed never get used to?
- I love Joe, or Roy--or, rather, I Just-Call-Me-Joe. I love that Steinbeck so totally throws in a hackneyed stereotype. There's been so much heaviness lately that we need it, I think. (And Lee's sarcasm...!)
First off, I think I agree with your comment at the top. I had a literature professor who taught that, as well, although I do think we can run into trouble if we find metaphors that CONTRADICT what the author actually wants the point of the book to be--not that I think any of our metaphors so far would do that in this story.
ReplyDelete29.1.1. Lee leaving? The car shows that Adam is advancing not only in technology, but generally moving on. The car is a tangible sign of this. Likewise, the fact that he's willing to let Lee leave to open up his bookshop is a tangible sign that he is ready to move forward and father his children.
29.2.1. I'm sure there are some things. One slightly laughable example to show just how much of a curmudgeon I can be at times is Christmas advertising. I've now seen it several times already, the first of which was Nov. 6, or, as I pointed out, a full day before All Saints' Sunday, a new record. I don't know why it bothers me so much, but I get annoyed every year. I try to tell myself in my mind that in reality there is a secular Christmas and a religious Christmas, and I should just get over it, but I can't for some silly reason. I think it's because it combines two of my least favorite things about the history of the last few centuries: increasing commercialism and increasing religious irrelevance.
29.2.2. Lee's sarcasm is classic and perfectly timed. Ugh, Steinbeck, how do you do it?
I think you just defined "over-reading" or "reading too deeply." Finding metaphors or symbolism that contradicts the author's intent must be reading too deeply.
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