A theme throughout the novel is the idea of masks and personas, and pretending to be someone you're not. To which characters does this apply, and why?
It is interesting for me to truly think about this question, interesting because I almost feel that the only person in the whole book who is not wearing a mask is the terrorist, Peter. He is the only person who is genuine, real, and who frequently exposed himself again and again. He was unable to mask his own identity, and this eventually triggered his demise.
Much as society pushes people to be "real" with one another, the one thing that they are afraid of is people being too "real." It is okay for a little kid to have the innocence and the ability to do and say what they want while 'grown-ups' laugh and say, "kids just say the darndest things," shrugging off the fact that this child is being 'real.' Peter reached the age early on where people were not able to shrug off his behaviors. They made fun of him because he didn't fit in with the norms that his peers had already created. God bless a little boy who is willing to beat to his own drum.
As far as the other characters in the book: Matt- wore a mask in order to protect his image. Image was everything to him. This is seen through repeated examples of Josie sometimes 'exposing' him with expressing a more lovey-dovey supportive side, Matt puts her down in order to preserve himself as he knows it.
Josie-wore a mask the older she got. She realized how fragile a balance it was for her remain in her social position at school. We can see this first hand in the way that she snubs Peter when she is around her friends, but when she is alone with him in the elevator and at the copy place she opens up and sheds the mask that she desperately wants to hide behind. I also find it interesting that she, like Peter, has a morbid, depressed side to her. Unlike Peter, she tells and expresses these feelings to no one, choosing instead to steal and conceal her mother's strong pills in order to one day make herself disappear.
The other smaller characters, Alex, Lacy, the detective and other characters also wears masks, not quite as definable as they are merely linked to the main characters, but masks none-the-less.
All in all, it is interesting to think what would've happened if more masks had been shed before the incident. I think that many true, genuine emotions, and feelings only started to emerge after tragedy occured. It is only then when relationships could be repaired and developed.
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4 comments:
I completely agree about the masks Anne. I hadn't thought of it like that at all but you're so right. Peter was the only one who was "real" throughout the story, he wasn't going to play the pretend game. Even when he was in jail meeting with his attorney, he was himself and told the truth.
Anne, you gave such provoking thoughts about these masks, and you are right about Peter being the only one to truly not be hiding behind a mask. Matt and Josie certainly were, and you brought up good examples of when Josie let her guard/mask down.
I think Lacy wore the mask of being a woman who was all put together...as a midwife and as a mother and wife. As we read further, we see her insecurities and inadequacies exposed. The same goes for Alex as we realize how her affair with Josie's father really cripples her from future relationships in spite of all her successes as a lawyer.
Thanks for your thoughts.
you make a good point, anne - and one that i thought of time and again as i read the book. peter's transparency is what has us caring for him in some way, rather than simply hating him for what he's done, no? knowing what he has suffered and seeing it so clearly in his actions even before the shooting is what causes us to be so devastated on his behalf. likewise, NOT getting to see the 'real people' behind the popularity, the looks, the athleticism, causes us a disconnect with some of the victims. an interesting way to look at it. this very question is what has always made me wonder whether i could work in law or forensics - the simple fact that we never know what lies beneath someone's exterior, and that there's always another side to things. or, in peter's case, that the truth is sometimes plainly written on the wall.
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