Ouch, yes, that's the killer thrust, and very accurate. David wants everyone around him to do the work of defining him so he doesn't have to look, poor squeamish douchepuddle.
Hella's speeches about what being a woman means were the point at which I got the most detatched from the text, or the most aware of Baldwin's running a lecture series out of the mouths of his characters, but she does still manage to be both perceptive and sympathetic. Her Baldwinest line, if not her best, is probably "What's the good of an American who isn't happy? Happiness was all we had."
anyway I'm about to become a James Baldwin completist; too bad the library isn't open yet!
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Date: 2020-06-19 01:20 pm (UTC)Hella's speeches about what being a woman means were the point at which I got the most detatched from the text, or the most aware of Baldwin's running a lecture series out of the mouths of his characters, but she does still manage to be both perceptive and sympathetic. Her Baldwinest line, if not her best, is probably "What's the good of an American who isn't happy? Happiness was all we had."
anyway I'm about to become a James Baldwin completist; too bad the library isn't open yet!