The Persistence of Desire

"this pattern had given Clyde as a boy a funny nervous feeling of intersection, and now he stood crisscrossed by a double sense of himself, his present identity extending down from Massachusetts to meet his disonsolate youth in Pennsylvania."
page 561

This quote is included in the first lines of the story. As Clyde stands in the doctors office that he visited as a boy he begins to feel uneasy. He feels as though the self he is now exsists in Massachusetts and finds it akward to be in his homestate of Pennsylvania. The Pennyslvania version of Clyde is beginning to show through due to the location of Clyde and this makes Clyde nervous. Clyde is nervous because he is considering the possibility of running into more memories which confuses his sense of self.

"Clyde paralyzed by so heavy an injection of love, touched her arm icily"
page 563

This moment happens after Clyde begins to express to Janet his regret of doing anything wrong in the pass. This hints that Clyde still has feelings for Janet. These feelings have come from an injection of his past caused by being in his hometown. However, reopening connections with Janet feels icy to both of them because they both lead different lives now.

1950's presentation: 2nd Red Scare

The Swimmer

"He saw then, like any explorer, that the hospitable customs and traditions of the natives would have to be handled with diplomacy if he was ever going to reach his destination."
page 1491

This quote occurs when the main character comes upon one of his first pools and is offered a drink. He realizes he must accept it in order to remain friendly with the people as well as move on quickly without seeming rude. This realization comes in a metaphor involving explorers' acceptance of native customs. This can be comparable to the path of life. People must be friendly but at the same time accomplish their goals.

"'We've been terribly sorry to hear about all your misfortunes, Neddy.' 'My misfortunes?' Ned Asked"
page 1494

Near the end of the story, Ned swims in the pool of an elderly couple. The wife appologizes for misfortunes which Ned apparentley knows nothing about. This is the first concrete clue that this journey could be an alcohol influenced imaginative journey. This journey could be a symbol for Ned's drinking to releive his problems. The water in this particular pool is unfiltered and the actual pool is old. This could be compared to the old memories the elderly women reminds Ned of.

Death of Justina

"You see you live in a B zone - two acre lots, no commercial enterprises."
P. 547

This quote demonstrates the strangness of the towns' restrictions. The zones are fairly mysterious throughout the story but you can disern that certain things are not allowed in zones. Moses feels that this is ridiculous. This quote demonstrates how odd this seems and it is tied to when he says that if you are to lie you must to it wildly. These zones are a wild fiction but seem a part of life to Moses.

"The cans and boxes were all bare. The frozen-food bins were full of brown parcels, but they were such odd shapes that you couldn't tlel if they contained a frozen turkey or a Chinese dinner."
Page 549

This quote comes as Moses is describing his dream. In the dream he is shopping in an American theme outfit among a variety of people. He is in a grocery store in which nothing is labeled or dicernable. All the food items are generic. To me, this is comparable to the structure of the society in which Moses lives. The area is divided into zones and in each zone certain things are not allowed. In the list of banned activities most are common in the real world, such as death. However, the society is so blindly organized it is difficult to get around the ridiculous rules. The uniformitey of the town and zones is similar to the bare cans and boxes in that neither are functional.

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