The WreckIgnitions Read: Up Yours, too....

[Michael Bailey]

is there an implied contrast or comparison to Tom Sawyer's aunt?
at least in terms of the maiden aunt stereotype and the resentment of
the "limiting factor" she imposes on the growing boy stereotype?


like some of the later Dylan oeuvre, the style here doesn't make it
completely apparent where the author stands
That is,
a) Gwyon senior obviously finds much to love in Catholic tradition
b) but the depiction of various RC follies seems chosen to excite disfavor
c) however, the anti-RC Protestantism of the aunt and the other
hometownians is also depicted unsympathetically

we (and by we I mean I) end up sympathizing with an interest in and
affection for the Church and the arcana thereof, more than
sympathizing with/for the Church itself
(said interest and affection being that of WG pere et fils, that is,
not to mention WG the author's also evident i&a)

this probably feeds into the recognition/fake/genuine theme somehow

I could also see how a reader mightn't sympathize at all with WG's
attraction to the Church, but that's not a read that catches my fancy