In real life deaths can be accidents, but in literature deaths always serves some sort of purpose. One could argue that in the mind of some great authors lies the mind of great criminals and murderers. The difference being that authors act out their crimes on paper rather than in real life.
Back to the point...
Characters die for a reason. They die in certain ways for a reason.
So why do the characters in the Great Lenore die the way the do?
Let's see!
Lily:
Lily is Lenore's husbands mistress who arrives on the Island in a rage to try to get her boyfriend back. She is in such a temper that she failed to correct herself when she drove straight into a brick wall. Lily's death is sudden, short and completely necessary. It's not drawn out because honestly no reader wants to see the characters life go on any longer. Living Lily only serves to further complicate the plot. The car-crash is not symbolic of anything, rather as harsh as it may sound it simply helps get rid of her. With Lily gone, the author can successfully resolve the story with Lenore living happily with her husband, no mistress involved.
Jez:
Jez is Lenore's long lost lover who is hit by Lily's car while looking for Lenore (Meanwhile Lenore is catching up with her husband). Jez's death is much more disturbing than Lily's. The author chose to draw his death out more because he's a likable character. It's ironic, but true. A whole hospital-dying scene is included solely to play on the readers emotions and create sympathy for Jez. The only good thing I can say about Jez's death is that he dies before he realizes that Lenore decided to leave him. In this way Jez's death is a lot like Jay Gatsby's death in the Great Gatsby. It's a sad resolution.
I always think it's interesting when an author chooses to kill off a character, even though it's kind of a staple in literature now. In the novel I'm reading, I noticed that when one of the characters died, it actually brought the family closer together, and resolved unspoken issues between them. Something that is so tragic actually became a source of joy for the characters and for the reader. Do you think anything similar happened in The Great Lenore?
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting thought. I think the opposite effect occurred in The Great Lenore. The main death was actually the staged death of Lenore. When her friends and family realized she was dead, her death only served to reveal their secrets, their inadequacies and their forgotten pasts. I can't even say that her death tore them apart, rather it served to help show the audience how torn apart they already were.
ReplyDeleteHaving only read part of The Great Gatsby and none of The Great Lenore, this is an interesting perspective on deaths of the respective characters. I know enough of Gatsby to make an educated guess that Lily is supposed to parallel Tom Buchanan's mistress, Myrtle, which leads me to believe that Lily's death was more meaningful than what you described. In Gatsby, Myrtle dies around the climax of the novel, one could argue, and her death was full of meaning. It showed that there were consequences to Daisy and Gatsby's actions, but also became the moment where Daisy completely lost all innocence. Coincidentally, many readers, including myself, began to hate her for it. Anyways, I have not read The Great Lenore, so my speculations may not even be valid. Just my curious ramblings :)
ReplyDeleteLily parallels Tom's mistress in some ways, but not in her death. She drives herself into a brick wall. I do dislike Lenore (the daisy character) but she is in no way responsible for the death of Lily.
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