KC has pointed out some of the finer lines in "Under the Net," especially about the interstices. I thought there was some maturity to Jake's assessment, when he realized Sadie was the real object of his affection, that she would "keep." Not in a way that a woman would sit at home with her hands folded in her lap until her man caroused on home, but that she had a life and way congruent to his that meant their relationship could pick up again at some later point if it were meant to be.
When I have thought in terms of love, I admit I have not had the maturity to see that ability to let someone remain free and away from me, to percolate into whatever kind of person they were destined to become, if that makes sense. I am more inclined to feel anxious and put some stamp of ownership on that relationship. To claim dibs. Like Jake's comfort level with a life outside the settled-down and up-and-up, he also could part ways with people he loved and hope they meet again if it's meant to be. It was kind of part of that bohemian (am I using the right word? I'm tired) attitude that might have been Murdoch's or that culture at that time or whatnot, some kind of maturity we've rubbed out of our own attitudes about courtship.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I see what you're saying, especially after reading some about Murdoch's own unconventional romantic life, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Jake was just rather fickle at heart. You made the Woody Allen comparison, cl, and I immediately thought of his Isaac character from "Manhattan" — how he wanted the high school girl, then didn't, then dumped her, then desperately wanted her back as soon as she had decided to move on. That theme of romantic restlessness and the inability to achieve long-term happiness with the bird-in-hand runs through all his movies, and I see it in Jake, too. I feel as though he achieved some insight into his own character near the end. Appreciating the kitten litter as primarily a kind of beautiful, deep mystery instead of feeling the urgent need to explain and analyze it in a merely intellectual way was an improvement in his outlook, I thought.
I don't have my book with me, but there was a passage early on where his friend Dave defines real love as finding another person inexhaustive (or inexhaustible?) — but basically that you can't get enough, that there's always something fresh and exciting and multilayered about that other person, no matter how long you've been together. I really liked that. I don't know whether Jake shared that notion of love because he seemed to grow indifferent to people, then re-interested, etc. Romantic responsibility seemed to actually exhaust him. (I kind of liked Dave in general, because he was an intellectual, but he also was very grounded. He could support and take care of himself, and he was always pressuring Jake to be sensible and get a regular job).
Post a Comment