Sadly some drastic changes in my schedule knocked me off course right after reading this story and suddenly I've been away for seven months, but thankfully I've been taking good notes. The story didn't resonate very strongly with me on that first read, and I think in part that had to do with it coming right after "The Stone Boy" (which I…
Sadly some drastic changes in my schedule knocked me off course right after reading this story and suddenly I've been away for seven months, but thankfully I've been taking good notes. The story didn't resonate very strongly with me on that first read, and I think in part that had to do with it coming right after "The Stone Boy" (which I found incredibly moving and my favorite story so far), though I am curious if my feelings will change after this break.
You brought up two details I overlooked. The first is the comparison of Savitsky's legs not to girls' legs but to entire girls, and how oddly this feminine description stands with his otherwise overtly masculine character. The second is how the gleeful way he whips the air will contrast later with the narrator's attitude toward his own violence.
I also find your perception of the narrator interesting. I saw him as not dissimilar to the first of the less interesting alternatives you brought up i.e. the nerd who wishes he wasn’t one. To me he came across, though maybe not as self-loathing as that, as eager to prove that his intellectual status did not make his temperament more sensitive and or lessen his ability to perform his war duties. In my reading, I saw him not so much unfazed by Savitsky as in denial that he might be different.
So here are the questions I have now:
When the narrator asserts himself as capable, does he know this to be true, or does he want and hope this to be true without actually knowing?
Why is he eager to continue with his assignment despite the anti-intellectual prejudice? Is he unfazed, or is he motivated out of spite?
Sadly some drastic changes in my schedule knocked me off course right after reading this story and suddenly I've been away for seven months, but thankfully I've been taking good notes. The story didn't resonate very strongly with me on that first read, and I think in part that had to do with it coming right after "The Stone Boy" (which I found incredibly moving and my favorite story so far), though I am curious if my feelings will change after this break.
You brought up two details I overlooked. The first is the comparison of Savitsky's legs not to girls' legs but to entire girls, and how oddly this feminine description stands with his otherwise overtly masculine character. The second is how the gleeful way he whips the air will contrast later with the narrator's attitude toward his own violence.
I also find your perception of the narrator interesting. I saw him as not dissimilar to the first of the less interesting alternatives you brought up i.e. the nerd who wishes he wasn’t one. To me he came across, though maybe not as self-loathing as that, as eager to prove that his intellectual status did not make his temperament more sensitive and or lessen his ability to perform his war duties. In my reading, I saw him not so much unfazed by Savitsky as in denial that he might be different.
So here are the questions I have now:
When the narrator asserts himself as capable, does he know this to be true, or does he want and hope this to be true without actually knowing?
Why is he eager to continue with his assignment despite the anti-intellectual prejudice? Is he unfazed, or is he motivated out of spite?