This simple sentence towards the last half of the book, in my opinion, depicted a central idea of the book. Each of the main characters talked and talked and talked to John Singer, however, John Singer was the only one each of them could confide in. Each of the main characters could be classified as a freak, where something was mentally wrong with them in the sense that they were unable to socialize normally with others. I found this book intriguing because it made me think of how people communicate with one another. Although Singer rarely ever responded, to his friends Singer was this "amazing" guy. When communicating with one another, we have an image of the other person in our mind and it may affect the way we talk to that person. Another thought that was in the back of mind throughout the novel was loneliness. All the characters had much alone time where they would think and then end up "going crazy" in their thoughts, for example, Mick used to get stuck in her "inside room." John Singer was the outlet for them. It was when they could voice their thoughts to someone who would "listen." After learning about McCullers's life, I believe that this is what she wished she had growing up: an outlet. She had a depressing life, and tried to commit suicide, but if she had an outlet like John Singer to talk to, she might have never tried to do so. The book definitely depicted McCullers's life and the struggles that people go through but may not publicly deal with.
I agree with what you are saying how the people used SInger as a outlet for them to express their feelings is. However I believe that Singer wasn't the good person they assumed him to be. He killed himself knowing that they people loved him and "needed" him. To me that was a selfish act for him to do. And also I thought how Singer's personality was never truly defined but it was always assumed by what the people like Mick wanted him to be. DId you feel the same way?
ReplyDeleteMelanie, I think you're exactly right about this idea that oftentimes, we have an image of what another person is like, and we don't often stop to recast that image. Even with our friends, we think we know them very well. Yet we don't often think about how there may be things about him or her that we do not know.
ReplyDelete