Yes, I've heard about the interpretation that Natalie actually made Tony up, although I feel like... Tony has a room and we see her talking to people... unless Natalie is actually sneaking across campus to chatter away to the air in an empty room and the girls are gathered around the door not because they think she's having a scandalous lesbian affair but because they're like, "Should we do something about this? She's clearly cracked up. But who would we even tell? It's not like there are any responsible adults at this college..."
And meanwhile Natalie is enjoying her fantasy that she's finally achieved the level of enmeshment that she desires. Although on second thought, that can still be a fantasy even if Tony is real: she may be projecting a level of enmeshment/commitment to their relationship on Tony which Tony isn't really feeling. Like Eleanor with Theo, although there it's clearer that Theo a) exists and b) is not interested in that level of commitment.
Yes, I definitely think the earlier incident in the woods (it really reads like a sexual assault - especially given Natalie's reaction later to the question during the hazing ritual, "Are you a virgin?" - it's striking that the absolutely annihilating part of that scene, though, is not the hazing itself, but the fact that no one notices when Natalie walks out. Like in Hill House, when Eleanor is eavesdropping and no one is talking about her. The horror of invisibility...)
But getting back to the point - I agree that Natalie's unraveling begins with that incident in the woods. Although clearly her family dynamics have also played a role, but more subtle and long-term.
Did Jackson's husband realize she was satirizing him? It's funny, the back flap copy on my book mentions that Natalie "becomes infatuated with a married professor," and I'm not sure I would characterize Natalie's feelings about him as simple infatuation - she seems ambivalent about him - and also that's ultimately not a very important relationship in the book, possibly not even as important as Natalie's relationship with Elizabeth, which is also ambivalent although not in quite the same way.
I don't know that I would characterize Jackson as writing about adolescent rage, or at least not only adolescent rage; Eleanor is in her early thirties but she's still angry - although not as obviously as Merricat. (To be fair, very few characters reach Merricat levels of rage.)
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Date: 2019-01-18 02:58 am (UTC)And meanwhile Natalie is enjoying her fantasy that she's finally achieved the level of enmeshment that she desires. Although on second thought, that can still be a fantasy even if Tony is real: she may be projecting a level of enmeshment/commitment to their relationship on Tony which Tony isn't really feeling. Like Eleanor with Theo, although there it's clearer that Theo a) exists and b) is not interested in that level of commitment.
Yes, I definitely think the earlier incident in the woods (it really reads like a sexual assault - especially given Natalie's reaction later to the question during the hazing ritual, "Are you a virgin?" - it's striking that the absolutely annihilating part of that scene, though, is not the hazing itself, but the fact that no one notices when Natalie walks out. Like in Hill House, when Eleanor is eavesdropping and no one is talking about her. The horror of invisibility...)
But getting back to the point - I agree that Natalie's unraveling begins with that incident in the woods. Although clearly her family dynamics have also played a role, but more subtle and long-term.
Did Jackson's husband realize she was satirizing him? It's funny, the back flap copy on my book mentions that Natalie "becomes infatuated with a married professor," and I'm not sure I would characterize Natalie's feelings about him as simple infatuation - she seems ambivalent about him - and also that's ultimately not a very important relationship in the book, possibly not even as important as Natalie's relationship with Elizabeth, which is also ambivalent although not in quite the same way.
I don't know that I would characterize Jackson as writing about adolescent rage, or at least not only adolescent rage; Eleanor is in her early thirties but she's still angry - although not as obviously as Merricat. (To be fair, very few characters reach Merricat levels of rage.)