Country Art

So far the posts I have read I've pretty much agreed. Although I think that the ending is a symbolic death for him - tragic and dramatic (the way he wanted). In many ways I felt for Asbury because of feelings of being trapped (I think that's why I can sympathize with many of these types of characters, the artists and intellectuals, because I have a constant fear of being trapped) but I also recognize that his main inspiration IS the country, and especially his mother. Maybe when he does die, the letters seem full of passion and might be the only thing WORTH reading. He must have some sort of connection with his mother, otherwise he wouldn't put so much energy into her, especially defying her. He is long past the teenager stage and finding his own way, so this extra defiance must mean something more.

Also, the descriptions of the country were, as seen through his eyes, were very much like an artist's view. It seems the more he fights his connection with the country, the more it consumes him to the point where he must move back and depend on it! The people and the country are self-reflexive to him - he is actually the one who is being "simple" because he refuses to look outside his own little box... pretty much the epitome of an ignorant person.

On a side note, I have to say that I laugh OUT LOUD when Randall and Morgan come into his room to smoke. I couldn't get over it. For whatever reason that scene made me laugh so hard and I realized that the story was kind of a joke at Asbury. I figured Asbury wasn't dying, but the dialogue between them was comical. And it served him right. I felt like he was exploiting them for his own benefit and forgot that they were also people too. Not just a story or a point to be made.