Re: JCO:An Encounter with the Blind

Hi Cyrano,

Thanks for drawing my attention to her remark in the Guardian article.
She doesn't seem to appreciate the collective "simple minded" mentality
that she describes, and that the Senator exemplifies, and at the same
time she seems extremely aware of, and shows us in detail in so many
different works, just how dangerous the people we set up as enemies, as
"evil people" can be. Certainly in this story.

Jane


----- Original Message -----
From: Cyranomish@aol.com
To: jco@usfca.edu
Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 5:56 AM
Subject: Re: JCO:An Encounter with the Blind


Hi, Jane. I like this interpretation of yours. It certainly ties in
with
the themes of the earlier stories: overestimating one's power &
importance. JCO
has always been concerned with tamping down the ego. Her remark in the
recent Guardian article -- Bush Americans' tendency to view themselves
as good and
other population groups as evil -- is part of that. I could see the
Senator
as today's White House and the boy as the Mideast.
Cyrano

n a message dated 9/5/2004 9:49:44 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
jward199@sbcglobal.net writes:

<< However, despite these obvious differences, there is the similarity
of
sharply drawn characters (Oates describes the blind boy as giving "the
impression
of having been drawn with minute, painsaking detail, with something like
a
very fine drawing pen") engaged in psychological manipulation. There is
also the
similarity of characters who, by the end of the story, are not confident
and
strong as they thought themselves to be in the beginning, but rather
powerless
victims in the hands of dangerous individuals.
>>


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