I have decided to write this blog post, where I will discuss my initial feelings on the characters we have read about so far in The Memory of Running, for I feel it will be interesting to see how my opinions change throughout the book.
First up is the main character, and supposed hero, Smithy Ide. Initially we read that he is a drunk fat-ass with no real friends. “I told [Mom] I would be sure to have a nice sandwich and maybe some soup. What I really was planning was two six-packs of beer and a bag of those crispy Bavarian pretzels. maybe some different kinds of cheeses. And because I had been limiting my smoking to maybe a pack a day, I planned to fire up a chain-smoke, at least enough to keep the mosquitoes down, and think” (McLarty 2-3). As I continue reading, all I can think about is how sad Smithy’s life is. He’s let himself go, lost both parents, has no real friends, is unaware where Bethany, his sister, is, and he blames himself for everything. I just feel really bad for him.
The next characters are Smithy’s mom and pop. We, as readers, don’t get much description of Smithy’s mom. We just read that she is small but powerful. We also learn that she isn’t as part of a tight circle of friends as pop is. In contrast, pop is a very popular character. Not only is he the main man in his circle of friends, but he also very admired in the eyes of Smithy. Their father-son relationship is very powerful and it helps Smithy appear more genuine. Although the father-son relationship is very strong, it definitely contrasts with the father-daughter relationship of pop and Bethany. Pop seems unaware of how to deal with Bethany’s mental health problems (which is understandable). The way he approaches her situation, is he acts like a detective and tries to make out the ununderstandable, which is very noble, but is, at times, unsuccessful.
This segways into Bethany, Smithy’s sister. Bethany’s character is honestly a mystery to me. I can’t really understand her, but that’s probably how it’s meant to be. But, she and Smithy also have a strong relationship, stronger than most sister-brother relationships. But she is a very unpredictable character. At times, she is fine, playing with Smithy and Norma, but sometimes she just goes crazy. She can’t be blamed since it’s not her fault. But it does make her one of the most interesting characters to read about in Smithy’s narration.
Finally, there’s Norma. I didn’t really see the significance of her, until Smithy meets her at the funeral service. I can now get a glimpse of how her character will become more and more important as the story goes on. In my opinion, Norma is the connection from Smithy’s past and present. In fact, she is the only human connection, since his parents and sister are all gone. Although Smithy’s and Norma’s interactions are awkward at first, I assume they will become more accustomed to eachother and their relationship will become more important as we read on.
With these character descriptions in mind, I can already see a “hero’s journey” forming. For what purpose, I am not sure. But I am definitely enjoying the process of figuring it out.
So far, I see Bethany and the death of mom and pop as the reason Smithy's going on this journey. Sure, at first Smithy was biking after his parents' just because he felt like it, but now he's decided to bike to get to Bethany's body. Then Norma seems like the love interest, and Smithy, since he's such a loser, is gonna go through an amazing transformation. At least, that's what I'm hoping for.
ReplyDeleteI also feel very bad for Smithy. I was reading you post and the thought came to me that it's interesting the way the majority of the class is sympathetic towards Smithy. If you think about it, some of the things he does, like spending his evenings drinking and having a semi-unproductive job, can be seen as Smithy throwing his life away. However, we all see the good in Smithy and feel sympathetic towards him.
ReplyDeleteGoing to L.A. to claim his sister's body (and thus to somehow symbolically bring the family back together, to achieve some kind of closure) has become the ostensible goal of the trip, but clearly there would be easier or more practical ways to accomplish this. There is a goal, of sorts, but we're starting to get the idea that the journey itself is the point, as we see Smithy both changing in the present and recovering all these memories of the past.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you've described Smithy's relationships with all his family members. I totally agree that for me, Bethany's character still feels mysterious, particularly since we still don't have the "full story" for her -- Smithy is slowly revealing more about her life. I'm personally sensing a lot more antipathy between Smithy and Bethany now too -- while it's undeniable that Smithy loves Bethany a ton, we've seen him get really angry after she disappears for a few days, and in the reading for Monday, things get really tense when Smithy drives Bethany past the Red Bridge (the one Bethany jumped off of). So, like you, I'm really curious to learn more about Bethany's story, in the hopes that it'll clear up more about what exactly Smithy is seeking closure from.
ReplyDeleteI pretty much had the same initial impressions of the various characters at the beginning of the novel. I didn't however, expect to learn about them so much throughout the book. Now that we are about halfway through, when I look back, I am truly surprised at how much of a clear picture we have been given of the Ide family. Unfortunately, we don't get much description of Norma as a child beyond the first few chapters. Perhaps there isn't much to add, but we do get a sense of how Norma has changed over the years, and for some reason, I really have a hard time thinking of adult Norma as the same person as the child Norma.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree Lyle, I think it's crazy to think of how little information I had about the book when I wrote this blog post (because we hadn't read much), compared to how much we know now. As for Norma, I think we don't get much about her as she grew into adulthood because, at first, since no one came to visit her much, she was very static. But as time went on, she realized she could do things for herself.
Delete