Little Orphan Benny

[doktor at primenet.com]

In response to:

>> Quibble: Benny isn't an orphan.  He goes to visit his folks midway through
>> the book, finds them not in, and eats, concluding (quoting from memory),
>> "They'd know he'd been there."
>> Or did you mean orphan in a less literal sense?

Heikki wrote:

>Yes, I did actually.

Well, silly ole literal-minded me.  Duh!  But now I'm puzzled about the
metaphoric meaning.  If we forget about Benny's actual Catholic/Jewish
folks and ask about his spiritual parents, we come to The Street.  While
The Street may not provide a warm and fuzzy family constellation--it's
probably more like ToughLove--that's not the same thing as being orphaned.
The Street is still very much alive in his consciousness, and in the novel.
Benny may be passive and unambitious, but that hardly makes him an orphan.


I must be missing something.  What did you mean?

Literally yours,

Jimmy