The marriage and sexual politics in this book continue to be very oddly soap-operalike and filmic to me. Or at least, the characters want their sex lives/marriages to be like a film.
Remember the part we discussed in class about Nick confronting Marian about her closeness with Brian? He wished he'd stood at the door so he could say something ominous about the potential affair and then walk away.... as if he wanted to make their marriage to play out like a drama. Nick wants to perfect the theatrics of domestic life.
Well it seems his brother is trying to do the same with Janet before their marriage, hoping she'll ask him to leave her job and get married. "He'd wanted her to think he was making a sacrifice, leaving the Pocket for a wife and child. He'd wanted her to say, Come to Boston and marry me" (461)... reminded me of a film, or a scene that's been played over and over again: a classic situation of a man unwillingly being pressured into tying himself to the "old ball and chain"... and yet Matt actually wants to be tied down. In fact "he'd wanted her to feel responsible, and guilty for making him change his life. What an edge that would give him in the years to come" (461). That last part also really captures an element of power politics and gender dynamics in this novel.
I think it's also intresting that while these initially start off as theatrics they become the only real things left in these relationships which hamper any other sort of connection.
I noticed DeLillo does emphasize genders in this section that I hadn't seen in the previous ones. For example, in the Pocket, there are "mainly men" (402) an at the showing of Unterwelt, there are also "mostly men" (423). On the same page, the statue of the biblical Eve has an extremely masculine physique. I was wondering if anyone knows if this is important or significant in any way. What is it saying about men and women? Are men projecting their image on women?
I mean to also include this part, but I couldn't find it earlier and I just found it. I also thought it was interesting that most of the protesters are women (402). This reminded me of the belief that women would be horrible soldiers because they are more sensitive, emotional creatures.
And also, J Edgar Hoover has statues of naked men in his garden, or Clyde makes of point of acknowledging that he is dancing with a woman. Also, Klara Sax's artist friend makes a point of making her Jayne Mansfield pictures extra-womanly. Maybe this relates to the fact that, identity, like garabage is inherently yours, it's private, and your secret unless you to choose to make it public. However, this book seems to emphasize that you CAN choose to change your identity, should you want to.
It is very movie-like. It's like a lot of the characters think life is a movie about them, not just Nick. Matt starts talking in really vague terms with Janet about being in a dream of a dream. Janet doesn't seem to care much about it..Matt says it might have seemed self indulgent even.
I think there's something somewhat selfish about these characters...especially those that are just having affairs.