Monday, October 13, 2008
Guilt and Violence
In Porter's "Noon Wine" the guilt that Mr. Thompson feels due to killing Mr. Hatch overcomes him and turns into violence. Thompson kills himself with a shotgun which is a very brutal way to commit suicide. It seemed to me that Hatch and Mr. Thompson's hallucination of Helton being killed were both very violent ways to die unlike just shooting someone. But rather killing someone with and axe or stabbing them in the stomach have a hanus ideal behind them. Also with Thompson's guilt, I am not convince that he necessarily feels guilt so much as he feels ashamed he tries everything to prove his innocence but if it was guilt wouldn't it be easier to admit he was wrong in killing Hatch rather than try to prove his innocence even in his suicide note he is still tryinging to prove he is innocent.
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2 comments:
I'm not really sure that Mr. Thompson is trying to prove himself innocent to society as much as he is trying to prove innocence to himself. The longer Mr. Thompson lived after murdering Helton, the longer he would be questioned and held in contempt by society. Thus, by asserting many times that he was innocent and then taking his own life, Mr. Thompson convinced himself of his own innocence temporarily and then before he could begin to be criticized by society, he sealed the deal by escaping the world. That's just one way to look at it. I don't necessarily think that is why Mr. Thompson committed acts of violence, but it's plausible. Does anyone else share a different view?
Because "Noon Wine" was such a conventional narrative (which seems so unconventional for Porter), I'm tempted to see this as an out and out tragedy. Thompson is a land owner and man among men, his situation is improving and then finally he's happy until his world is interrupted, and everything spirals into madness from there.
I think you both offer pretty convincing arguments - suicide as a kind of resignation and final, worthless gesture, or suicide as an attempt to finally put things on one's own terms.
Maybe we can gain additional insight from the alleged suicide of Amy in "Old Mortality"? (I'm set on figuring out why they were grouped into the same collection.) People are conflicted not only on why she killed herself, but if she did. Was it TB? Was it pills? Was it justified (was she pregnant? is that justification?)?
We see how Amy's family spun her death; is it likely that the Thompsons will have spun Mr. Thompson's death?
Ideas why or why not?
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