American Death (and hope?)

[Bonnie Surfus (ENG)]

NNNNNNOn Thu, 25 Jul 1996, Tom Stanton wrote:

> > >The Roger-Mexico-as-Hope idea that I've seen before doesn't ring true for me.
>
> > I don't see the  Roger/Jessica narrative line  at all as the source of hope
> > in the novel; this source of hope springs from other dimensions, the form of
> > the book itself, among other things.
>
> Roger/Jessica arent't the only hope in GR, but their love story is pretty prominent
> at the start & near the finish. Looked pretty suspicious to me.
>
>
As I've said before, I see GR as demonstrative of the cyclical nature of
things.  Even the last page and the first seem to hook up, if you consider
the last line "Now everybody--" as a call to begin singing the next verse,
which begins with the line that opens the novel (and one that scans like
the first line of the previous one "There is a hand to turn the time"
(tide?--books are packed, sorry).

Von Braun's quote ironically illuminates the potential for escape from
this cycle, or at least potential for beginnings of new cycles.  So,
ironically, there is hope in it.



 Bonnie Lenore Surfus
Department of English
University of South Florida
http://www.cas.usf.edu/english/surfus/lenore.html