VLVL Prairie and DL

[jbor]

on 16/10/03 2:18 AM, Paul Nightingale at isread at btopenworld.com wrote:

> there is no textual support for the judgement
> being passed on DL.

I completely agree with this. The judgements being made about DL's
motivations -- that she is only waiting for the right moment and that she
has some (unannounced in the actual text) "deeper desire" to tell Prairie
the truth -- simply aren't supported by what's in the text. DL knew nothing
about Prairie prior to this chance meeting (100.10, 101.2-3), nor did she
know anything about Frenesi's current whereabouts or "rumored return", or
the predicament she might be in with the reemergence of Brock. DL's
responses to Prairie, to the situation, her equivocation and stalling
tactics, her internal conversations where she admits her misgivings and
inability to tell the truth to Prairie, and her ultimate failure to tell her
"story", even after she insinuates that she will do this (101.7-8), are
completely spontaneous, and they all pertain to the story of why Frenesi
disappeared, which is the only "story" that DL *could* have told the girl,
and which is the "story" which is explicitly referred to (by Prairie
herself) in the scene (101.15-29).

best