by nomad » June 12th, 2010, 2:25 am
Sorry for the long absence. Always forget how busy one tends to be right after a long trip.
But, I have my book now! w00t! And I'd like to talk a bit more about the people in line and how Lewis plays them against one another. The man in the first couple, for instance, who doesn't get on the bus to spite his partner (I assume his wife). His insistence that he never wanted to go makes it quite clear that he does want to go, but would rather give it up than to let her "win". I presume the wife was doing the same thing, although she doesn't say enough to be sure. But to my mind, they probably both really did want to go, but valued "getting the upper hand" over the other more.
And then the short man and the Big man show two seemingly opposite attitudes which are really facets of the same problem. They both take great pride in their status. While the short man is obvious about it, the Big Man veils his in false humility but really he considers his station as a "plain man" to be morally superior to the hoity toity short man. His concern with his rights is smoke and mirrors too... since he was standing in front of the short man so obviously wasn't being denied his rights.
I must confess, I'm not sure what point he was trying to make about the young couple, other than maybe a disapproval of modern fashion. Their contentment (and giggliness) seems out of place in the Grey Town. Are they just distracted?
member of the 2456317 club
"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best -- " and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.