Mao II didn't start out the way I had expected. Well, to be honest, I didn't know what to expect. The whole scene--a quite confusing scene--in the intro made it hard to follow. The descriptions, to me, were not enough for me to grasp the whole situation. What I could make out of the intro was there a wedding, multiple weddings all at the same time. Why they were all marrying at the same time in the Yankee Stadium is the question. And why the newlyweds, Karen and Kim, married even though they could barely communicate to each other is even more interesting.
I gave up trying to make sense of the intro and began to compare this scene to another story--this helps me understand what I cannot understand. What first popped up was 1984. As I read the intro, I couldn't help but think that the weddings are kind of like a 1984 wedding. I say this because people are watching the weddings, many couples probably just met, and many probably could barely communicate. Another big hint is the whole concept of the Master. Who is that? Their leader? It sounds like Big Brother to me. In my mind, I could just picture this scene inserted in one of George Orwell's works since he was that kind of writer who wrote about futuristic elements/possibilities.
Now to the rest of the chapters. Those actually made sense. Bill, an inactive writer--actually quite active but hasn't published anything in a while--is kind of an interesting character. At first, from the way Scott and Brita conversed about him, I expected to see a scrawny man, hiding behind his typewriter or something, not wanting to interact withe the world. Instead, Bill appears all talkative and not afraid to share his struggles as a writer. Maybe he just needed someone to talk to, to share what life was like for him: a writer, no longer noticed. In addition, I thought Bill a little immature for his age. He's, what, in his sixties? In Chapter 5, when all four characters were around the dinner table talking over each other, I found his "Our theme is four" (69) outbursts to be like a child calling for attention. If I were on his side, I would probably think that, as a writer, he's been trying to be noticed for years. So this must just be a cry out to his lack of attention.
I saw no connection to the intro and the rest of the chapters except the mention of Karen. So, my assumption is that the intro could be Bill's story that he's working on, and Karen is one of his characters. This could be totally off, but I need to assume in order to look forward to the rest of the story.
I liked your guess about the connection between the intro and the rest of the chapters because that could very well be that Bill wrote about Karen..but then how would he know about her parents? I'm not sure about that prologue yet..it confuses me. I agree with your observation about Bill and how he is outbursting for attention from others like you said very childlike. It seems that he can't get attention for his writing so instead he has decided to become obnoxious in real life and gain his attention that way. I agree with your statement about being something from George Orwell because of its futuristic qualities because I feel like when I first began reading it I couldn't decide when the book was supposed to take place.
ReplyDeleteYes, Bill does seem a little immature to me also. In the beginning, I also questioned if maybe he was a little bit delayed. This may have been because of Scott's role in his life, coming across as more of a caretaker than an assistant.
ReplyDeleteYour assumption about the introduction is actually an interesting guess. Maybe it would have made the story more interesting and less confusing.