Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Comfort

What are your thoughts on the title of this story? What "comfort" is she talking about?
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6 comments:

Ben said...

My first thought is that it is the comfort Nina finally finds when scattering Lewis's ashes:

A sickening shock at first, then amazement that you were still moving, lifted up on a stream of steely devotion---calm above the surface of your life, surviving, though the pain of the cold continued to wash into your body.

But that doesn't sound too comfortable, so perhaps the title signifies that the story is about Nina's search for comfort, and the quote above shows how far she still is from it by the end of the story.

9:44 AM, June 13, 2007
kc said...

The word "comfort" implies discomfort. That is, to be comforted you have to be in a state of discomfort.

Her marriage to Lewis was a long, low-grade discomfort. He was a decent, principled man, but rather lacking in human warmth. When Ed kisses her on the throat at the party — not a wet, passionate kiss on the mouth, but just a gentle, tender gesture — it's a comfort to her because it's two people just connecting for once instead of "striving." Her husband is in the other room arguing with someone, embarrassing her, and she can just let it go in that moment. It's a comfort.

The narrator suggests she gets "sick of argument and conviction. Tired of the never-letting-up of those striving personalities."

When Lewis dies, he has finally let up, but it's a cold comfort.

8:26 AM, June 14, 2007
cl said...

Is a lack of comfort the same as discomfort? Maybe it's about how Nina had dedicated herself, for better or worse, to Lewis' ideas and crusades, and in return his suicide note was not a message for her but a final tirade against the creationists who ended his teaching career. He was like a man on a crusade who took the woman by his side for granted. What she realizes when she sees his note is that he had no comfort to offer in return.

9:33 AM, June 15, 2007
kc said...

Yes, that's what I was thinking of when I said he was principled but lacking in human warmth. At the party, he couldn't just enjoy himself, couldn't just mingle and interact warmly with people; he had to spend the evening basically poking fun at Ed's wife and embarrassing his own wife in the process. He was never able to just say to himself, "This (evening or event or whatever) is not about ME. I don't have to have my way here. I can just relax and enjoy people for a change and let them be who they are."

He has the same selfishness as a lover. He wants the sex to be a certain way, and that's the way it is, regardless of what his partner might desire.

I said her life with him had been a low-grade discomfort, because she seems to have spent the whole marriage bending to his will, his needs, his desires. If he decided the next day to not be an evolutionist anymore, but to embrace Christian fundamentalism, she'd probably support him in that, too. He, however, has no notion of caring for someone apart from their professed beliefs/opinions.

10:41 AM, June 15, 2007
kc said...

Actually, I should say he has no notion of caring about anyone else's comfort.

He's one of those guys who, if his wife asked for a show of affection, he'd probably get surly and say, "I told you I loved you when we got married; if that changes, I'll let you know."

It's no surprise that his note was not to her but was just a way for him to have the literal final word in an argument.

10:52 AM, June 15, 2007
Erin said...

Very well-said.

11:20 AM, June 15, 2007

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