Thursday, March 25, 2010
Chatham
What did you think of the small town Henry described throughout the book, a place both beautiful and Gothic, but also repressive and dull? He said of Miss Channing's arrival: "She drew in a deep breath, grasped the iron rail, and made her way down the stairs and into the village where no great artist had ever lived, no great event ever happened, save for those meted out by sudden storms or the torturous movement of geologic time." What was it for Henry, anyway -- a cage? A giant albatross? A safe haven from taking any more chances at life that could hurt another person?
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3 comments:
I thought there was some irony in Henry's youthful disdain of his hometown as dull and unappealing and uninspiring, when in fact it was a backdrop for a great romance, with suitably windswept dunes and mysterious ocean and woods and prep schools! A childhood by the sea in a renowned locale like Cape Cod is the stuff of dreams for many people. But Henry, like most of us, is blind to the charms of places we know by heart. While Henry is dreaming of the Italian countryside, some Italian teenager is dreaming of Cape Cod.
To answer your specific question, I think, yes, it became a haven to him, somewhere safe to live out his life without "folly" threatening to complicate his existence.
I thought, too, how ironic it was that the place was described so romantically, followed by Henry once again desperate to escape it.
I agree staying in Chatham made it easy for Henry not to take any more chances in life. I also wondered if it wasn't a way to punish himself a little bit for his role in what happened.
Well, that's true, kc. Especially the childhood by the sea bit. You know, I can't remember whether it's on the back of my paperback cover or in one of the reviews I read about it, but I got the idea Henry would be in a very stuffy and repressive atmosphere -- real Puritan, especially at the school -- and I didn't see the book delivering on that so much. Like I could see Henry dealing with some social isolation with his peers for being the headmaster's kid, but his father never seemed to be the tyrant he was thought to be.
Like at the beginning when Miss Channing challenges Henry's father about girls attending school, and he didn't seem to get his back up but find it rather interesting. Plus his general compassion for her situation with Mr. Leed. But his father probably merits a separate post ...
Erin, I think that's spot-on. Like Chatham was a picturesque cage for Henry to die in. Maybe because he so badly misread the cues in the adults he romanticized, the safest thing to do was to emulate his father and become a respected small-town career man, where he knew most everyone and would never make those kinds of misjudgments again.
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