Posted by Dinah on November 4, 2002, at 10:13:40
In reply to Re: not to push, but reading done yet? :-) (nm), posted by Dr. Bob on November 2, 2002, at 0:23:51
Now mind you, *literature* is not my strong suit, and without Cliff notes or an English teacher, I'm quite likely to have got it all wrong.
There were four main people who gravitated towards Singer. Three of the four, possibly all four of the four, had no real connections to others in their life. The people with strong social connections didn't fall under Singer's spell as much.
Jake and Dr. Copeland loved the masses, but didn't care all that much for people. So they didn't have people in their lives that they could relate to. Mick didn't fit in with her classmates, and she didn't fit in with her family. An alienated youth. All three had their head filled with ideas that no one else cared about or understood. And in Singer, the ultimate blank slate, they thought they had for the first time found someone who not only understood them but accepted them as they were. A white man who didn't see Dr. Copeland as a black man, a man who brought Jake home when others were afraid. A man who listened to the ideas that tore through Mick's mind, and who bought a radio though he couldn't hear. Strangely, it never occurred to them to question their conclusions. Mick never wondered how a deaf man could understand her talk of music. They were drawn to him by that heady and seductive combination of feeling understood and feeling accepted.
Brannon was the observer, also lonely, but his relationship with Singer seemed different somehow. I think he found Singer and Singer's relationships with the others a puzzle. If I remember correctly, Singer said the others were filled with ideas while Brannon was filled with questions.
The funny part was that Singer had the same relationship with Antonapoulos that the three people who wanted to be understood had with Singer. Perhaps Singer had a clearer idea that Antonapoulos was not the person he had made him out to be, but he chose to forget that. Like Singer with the others, Antonapoulos could be what Singer wanted him to be, a listening and accepting ear. Able to communicate just enough that he felt understood, but not so much that his fantasies were shattered. And he valued that relationship so much that he lavished gifts on his friend, travelled long distances to see him, and lived from visit to visit by keeping up an internal dialogue with him. It is no surprise to me that Singer killed himself when this relationship, which was largely a fantasy one anyway, was taken from him.
He had the chance to speak to the other mutes at the end, but he had nothing to say. Because he didn't want to be heard and actually understood as much as he wanted to be heard and perfectly, magically understood.
In the end, the relationships with Singer changed nothing for anyone. It just made them feel peaceful and safe while it existed.
I don't know about what the story really meant, but for me, it made me give some thought to my therapy. :)
Dinah
poster:Dinah
thread:699
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/books/20020616/msgs/715.html