Friday, August 17, 2007

The Good Doctor?

Is “The Good Doctor” about Dr. Frank Briggs or Mrs. Buckholdt?
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5 comments:

Erin said...

Oh, I think it's about him. We get into his head much more than hers. And I think we can kind of see that all the talking he likes to do with his patients is really more for his own benefit than theirs.

3:18 PM, August 17, 2007
Ben said...

I think the answer to this question depends on what criteria you use to judge whom the story is about. He is the more important character, we have more insight into his character, and the central theme of the story is his automatic, unwanted empathy.

But she has the more interesting story, and the action is in her story -- what really grabs the reader is the story of her life and her son's life.

So if you look at it from an artistic perspective, the story is about him; if you look at it from a less lofty perspective, you could argue that it's about her.

4:46 PM, August 17, 2007
Erin said...

I guess that's right. But I don't see the focus of the story as a whole to be the train wreck story of this woman and her family. I just see that as being sort of a turning point for the doctor.

4:58 PM, August 17, 2007
kc said...

I think it's definitely about him. It's his story — how he's an emotional parasite, though well-intentioned. Her role could have been filled by any mental patient with a screwed-up life. To use Erin's phrase, almost any "train wreck" would have sufficed.

I suppose her being a pretty, rather ethereal, semi-educated woman with a taste for culture adds a certain something — makes her more sympathetic to him, more worthy of his salvation, than, say, some obese, unattractive, trailer-trash type who's missing a few digits. His ego would care whether the former held him in esteem, was capable of feeling the proper gratitude for his help, but probably not the latter.

This woman plays him like a fiddle. She comes to the door with her hands in her pockets and then at an opportune time, for desired effect, reveals the stump. From there on, she unravels her tale, and his pity builds to an emotional erection, only to be denied satisfaction in the end.

She's a foil.

3:11 PM, August 18, 2007
Erin said...

That's a good point. He's especially drawn in by this woman and her story because he's surprised to find this attractive, neat, smart woman instead of the disheveled, unwashed person he expects.

9:04 PM, August 19, 2007

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