The PErsistence of Desire

P598
"'Where could I get a drink of water?” he asked plaintively, assuming the hunch and whine of a blind beggar. In truth, he had without knowing it, become thirsty”
This quote stood out to me in the story because it come at such a time of disappointment and right after is climax of seeing his ex lover for the first time in so long. I think that when he admits that he truly thirsty the author is not refereeing to water he is referring to the thirst he know has for the this life that Janet reminds him off. Asking for water was clearly just a cover up for why he was out of his room but the thirst he is refereeing to came at too much of an ironic moment to just mean water. He admits he is happy in life but he realizes that desire is what drives him. He misses this woman that he once had but is now out of his reach. But people always seem to want what they cant have.

The PErsistence of Desire

P. 562
“He would wear eyebrow-style glasses, be a griper, or have some not quite negotiable talent, like playing the clarinet or drawing political cartoons, and now be starting up a drab avenue of business. Selling insurance, most likely.”

I just thought this quote was kind of funny, because Clyde is talking about this woman that he’s in love with husband. But the guy seems to be the perfect classic 50s guy. Everything that is mentioned here would be so classic to the nuclear family yet this is the guy Clyde is competing with. He plays the clarinet and is starting up is own business, this guy seems like a catch and that makes Clyde hate him even more because that not at all like him.

TOPIC

My topic is home improvements in the 1950s

swimmer page 1496

“What he needed was a drink, come company, and some clean dry clothes, and while he could have but directly across the road to his home he went to the Gilmartins’ pool”
This just another example of how he is going througth a mid life crisis and so he is just trying to ignore the problems in this life and pretend like everything is okay. But its really not at all okay. He is reaching the tale end of his journey and the novelty has worn off so he is relaying more and more on alcohol and he cant focus on his journey and more because the people aren’t being nice to him anymore

swimmer 1490

“Making his way home by an uncommon route gave him t eh feeling that he was a pilgrim, an explorer, a man with a destiny, and he knew that he would find friends all along the way, friends would line the banks of the Lucinda river.”
I liked this quote because that’s what so many people try to do in a min life crisis, they just want to do something different or new that makes them feel young again. People spend the first 20 or 30 years or their lives exploring and then they settle down, but after awhile they start to miss the journey and stop enjoying the destination. They want to do something new like swim the county. But that wont for fill their thirst for a adventure, so they do so and rely on things like alcohol to make it ok. It lift their spirits. But in the end reality hits again.

“The priest was a friends and a cheerful sight, but the undertaker and his helpers, hiding behind their limousines, were not, and aren’t they at the root of most of our troubles with their claim that death is a violet-flavored kiss? How can a people who do not mean to understand death hope to understand love and who will sound the alarm”
I like this quotes because it went to the root of thing, simple and staight. It was about living, and dieing. People get in the their daily rutines and have to stand back and de-personalize things making it difficult to then personalize things when they are living. The undertaker and “his helpers” are just their doing their jobs but they forget that someone really died and that people are really affected by it. And when they go home they can’t re-attach to things and they cant love easily. Death is such a casual part of their lives that it has lost its importants to them, which makes the writer question weather they can really understand love.

“When I abstain from sin it is more often a fear of scandal thean a private resolve to improve on the purity of my hear,”
I picked this quote because I think it relates to the American society. More often than not people change because society dictates it not because that’s what they truly feel is right. People do things more out of guilt or fear of what others think if they simply don’t do it than anything else. There is little that people actually change about themselves for themselves: to make them happy, not to keep people from gossiping about them. And people do the same when they decide to stop drinking or smoking like in the story they only do it because society tells them they should, and for that matter they only start because society tells them to.

welcome to by blog, here you can connect with the inner me. See whats really doing on in that head of mine. My head is your playground so enjoy.