Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Discussion Question #2
Oh wow... this question is really deep! I am still trying to understand his psyche. He came from a family that had very little. I don't think that it is unusual for a child/family member to want more than he was born with, but the way that he interprets himself within his family is somewhat odd to me.I think that maybe he feels like an"abberation" because maybe he had a sense of betrayal regarding his sister. I mean here she is with a physical limitation, and it seems as though the family( parents) were just trying to do the best that they could, and yet David seems to be, ummm I don't know, maybe somewhat " self-centered." He saw himself as an abberation because it seems as though he did not want to be a part of the family he was born into. He was different from them. The only valid emotion/concept that he displayed was the fact that, his sister's disability/limitations and death really affected his mother, and he did not want Norah to experience the loss of a child. I can understand that...somewhere... he missed the lesson that... you deal with the hand that you are dealt, and make the very best of it. He thought that by sending his daughter - Phoebe- away that he was making all of the pain/loss go away. He also did not have very much foresight because... he did not realize that Norah's loss of her child would last forever just as his loss of his sister had permeated every facet of his life. He thought that the loss would be temporary and she would get over it! He really did not understand loss at all... until the end of the book!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
David had real issues with his family. I think he was ashamed of them and he wanted to get away as fast as he could. I think he would have felt the same way even if he did not have a sister with a medical condition. His desire to become a doctor was motivated by his sister, but David wanted more than what his family could provide. I think he felt guilty that he was jealous of the attention his sister got from his parents and I also think he felt guilty that he escaped and really did nto want anything to do with his family once he moved away. His parents did not fit into his world. Isn't it ironic that he did not fit into Paul or Nora's world either?
I don't know if I would consider David a bad person, but his need to separate himself from his past, his motivation to save the world b/c of his sister and assauge his guilt did not neccesarily make him a good person either. I did not like David!! His family did the best they could do and all he could think of was himself.
Okay, let me be honest here…I had to look up the word aberration because I had no idea what it meant (I should have used my context clues…lol) instead I opted for Dictionary.com and this is what I found:
Aberration:
1. The act of departing from the right, normal, or usual course. 2. Deviation from truth or moral rectitude. 3. Mental irregularity or disorder.
Hmmm…then I thought of David …check, check, check. He definitely departed form the right or normal course, he deviated from the truth AND he absolutely had some sort of metal irregularity that caused him to do what he did. Deep down inside Norah and Paul sensed the burden David had in his conscience which caused him to distance himself from his family, thus causing him to feel like an “aberration” with in his own family.
However, I don’t necessarily agree with the impostor part. Although one act can change your life forever, should it define who you are for the rest of your life? David went in to the business of “fixing people” because I believe he wanted to help, additionally David did a lot of pro-bono work…does this define him as an impostor in his professional life? Or was he doing this to overcompensate for giving his daughter away? I guess we’ll never really know!
As far as David’s Psyche, it is obvious that his early childhood impacted his career and actions in the future. I have to agree with Clarington his desire to be a doctor and came from his sister being sick and living it first hand. David just had a lot of issues to deal with they just happen to shape the actions of his future.
I think David did a lot of pro-bono work because his family could not afford health care for his sister and he reflected one day about a time he and his family took his sister to the doctor and he was embarrassed because they were poor. I don't think he wanted anyone else to feel the way he felt. As I stated before, David's motivation to become a doctor and to do pro bono work was purely selfish and he though that would erase the guilt he felt about his sister and about him giving his daughter away.
I think that he was an imposter because he was "fixing people" but he did not/could not? fix his own family? I think he became and imposter!!! I agree he became a doctor because of what happened to his sister- but then again... he became an imposter when he failed to correct the admission letter that he was sent- he purposely wanted to be someone else!
I never address whether or not David was an imposter. Yes he was! Because he was living a lie from the time he did not correct his information in college. He completely wanted to distance himself from who he was. But because of this, he could never be real if you know what I mean. I think that is why he ran away from Caroline b/c she saw his vulnerable side and he could not hide behide his fasade. Again I will address this deeper in question 6.
Post a Comment