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Post by shelbygraham on Jul 19, 2024 13:59:26 GMT
This quote from chapter 25 interested me and spoke a lot to Maria's character: "She knew a lot of things about disaster" (pg. 80). Maria struggles with anxiety and a lot of anxiety is being prepared for worst case scenario situations. I feel like she has a fixation on disaster but also tries to avoid the anxiety and the anxious dreams that come with it. Does anyone else agree? And why does she seem to be so focused on disaster? After this quote is talks about her knowing a lot about disaster from reading her mom's "American Red Cross Handbook", so could it be that it stems from her childhood?
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Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jul 20, 2024 17:34:55 GMT
I'll leave room for others to add to this, but I did want to suggest that this anxiety about disaster can be linked to a lot of our other novels, and to the general "Age of Anxiety" in which these characters are living. 2 quick things to add:
1. Maria (as well as the other characters) seem(s) to be heavily self-medicated... she's always seeking or being offered some kind of pill!
2. At some point we learn that the desolate area in Nevada in which Maria grew up was abandoned and then became a "test range"-- I'm assuming for the atomic bomb trials during the 1940 and 1950s. I'm not sure this is immediately significant in itself, but when we consider many of the other texts we've read, the looming disaster doesn't seem too far off the horizon.
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Post by shelbygraham on Jul 24, 2024 13:25:34 GMT
Yes, a lot can be contributors to her anxiety. I also think about her father teaching her that "life itself was a crap game" (p.200) which can kind of be a stressful way to look at life. Additionally, he taught her that "overturning a rock was apt to reveal a rattlesnake." Through these lessons I think he was preparing her for the unexpected turns life will throw at her.
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