So completely the opposite of what I expected, I found myself relating more with the female characters in the Odyssey than with those in Memory of Running. Which seems odd, because the main women in the Odyssey are either gods or queens, while the women in McLarty’s novel are “just regular people.” But I found that Chris, Norma, and especially Bethany all fell flat as characters. Their actions and emotions weren’t very believable, and I didn’t get the sense that they were full people in their own right, that they could be a protagonist in their own story. It seemed that their actions and lives were all in relation to Smithy, and not just because he is telling the story. Not to mention the annoying fact that ¼ of what we learn from Smithy about any given female is detailed commentary on their breasts.
Like Lauren mentioned, Norma’s continuous obsession with Smithy struck me as irritating and unrealistic. Why does she still love a man who ignored her existence for 20+ years, and takes months to respond in any way when she says she loves him? And why is Chris so interested in this random guy she meets on the road who is 20+ years older than her, and go so far out of her way for him? Unrealistic. Bethany was a tougher case because I don’t know the particular nature of her mental illness, but it didn’t seem realistic. Her episodes seemed forced, and mostly there as a way to mark Smithy’s life and spark his development. Bethany’s illness felt like a different version of the movie trope where a man’s wife dies, mostly to further his pain and give him a motive for revenge or a journey.
Women of the Odyssey have their own annoying idiosyncrasies, but in general the poem does a much better job fleshing them out and exploring their motives. Penelope is a great example in this respect. She’s in a very difficult position, being plagued with suitors while Odysseus is gone, and at first glance it looks like all she does is stay in her room and hide. But she has a strategy. I interpreted Alcinous’s complaint of Penelope “leading them on” as her method of holding the suitors at bay. If she says no outright, they will demand to know why and escalate the situation. But this way, it looks like Penelope is weighing her decision carefully. And then there’s the sly funeral shroud trick -- which Penelope keeps going for three years!! It really takes skill to keep people from being too impatient for that long. And although her goals center around her long lost husband and son, Penelope reads as a character with her own personality and her own goals.
And then of course there is Athena. She’s a pretty special case, given that she’s a goddess and no regular woman. But she is clearly a being with her own agenda, and someone to be respected or feared. We don’t yet know why Athena takes such an interest in Odysseus or Telemachus, but we trust that she has a reason. Essentially, the women in the Odyssey, while not numerous, come across far more realistically than those in The Memory of Running.
Yes! I was so done with Smithy's non-stop commentary with women's breasts. I'm pretty sure he mentioned every single female character's breasts except for Norma's, maybe that's why she's extra special?? I did find Chris' attraction to Smithy kind of weird, but that scene on the bike trip is where Smithy realizes he chooses Norma thus rejecting Chris. So, Chris' attraction was more like something that was part of the 'bigger plan' rather than logistic. There are fewer female characters in comparison to male characters in The Odyssey, and only Penelope and Athena are mentioned throughout the book. For me, I kind of liked Calypso the best, because she criticizes the Greek god patriarchy for allowing gods to have affairs with mortals but not to allow goddesses like her to do the same.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that Smithy's breast-obsession didn't come up in class--I was expecting it to, and it sure came up the last two times I've taught this novel in this course. I too find it tedious, and would have been annoyed by *one* such mention, let alone dozens. The best I can say (and it isn't really an "excuse") is that this partly reflects his arrested development, sexually (it's a very *straight adolescent male* view of women), and the fact that he hasn't matured in this area at all since he was a teenager. The flipside of Smithy's creepy ogling of women's bodies is the fact that he's never had a girlfriend or any serious mature relationship, his view of sexuality is completely distorted and poisoned by his experience with the prostitute in Vietnam, and he's "never even fired his weapon in country" (so to speak). I feel a sad kind of pity for him, mixed with exasperation and disgust, every time he mentions women's bodies.
ReplyDeleteTo his credit (I suppose), I don't recall him every talking about Norma this way, and in the end he chooses a relationship with a mature woman who has an unconventional body type. So maybe we see him grow out of this infantile/adolescent obsession?