I just finished the book "The Lady in the Car with the Glasses and a Gun." The book, while somewhat stodgy at first, turned into a delicious thriller with twists and turns so sudden that it was almost impossible to see them coming and an ending that both satiated and hungry the reader. When I last left Dany Longo she had been mysteriously attacked, but that was all that was wrong. But we learn that was only a chip of the iceberg that was her problems on the journey. It seems that wherever Dany goes, people believe they have seen her before, that she has already visited all of the places she's been: the gas station, the Renaissance hotel: the beach: even the cafe she stopped to get an espresso at. But that's not all, Dany opens the trunk to find a dead body of a notorious womanizer of Paris wrapped in a rug and deposited with a gun. Dany attempts to solve the mystery of the man's murder and her apparent escapades about France. When she stumbles upon the answer, her boss attempts to kill her and it is revealed that is was he and his wife who killed the man and attempted to pin it on Dany, so convincingly that Dany believes she did it. Dany hears his story, leaves and gets married to a man in England.
The ending seemed strange to me, after all of Dany's adventures, her mental instability and mania: her constant desire to be on her own, how could she just settle down and marry someone? How could her weekend of paranoia and thrills not affect her? But then I realized that the trip was what Dany needed to move on from her "just there" state of being perennially worried for no reason. The trip's insanity was the climax of her madness, the thing that pushed her to the edge. If she had submitted to the mystery and accepted her apparent guilt for the murder and hide the body away, she never would have moved on from the horrible monotony her life held before. By solving the mystery she took an active role against being the victim of circumstance as she had before (her parents death, her lack of funds, her lack of love) and her life turned out much differently. This led her to happiness in the end, as she passed the test of being passive and lacking any zeal for life (as she had been) or being actively involved in her life, not just accepting what was given.
To conclude, in order for Dany to settle down, and be seemingly "normal." She had to confront the thing about herself that was holding herself back in a finite and important way. She was tested on whether she truly wanted to be happy and, passing this, got everything she wanted.
Showing posts with label The Lady in the Car with the Glasses and the Gun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Lady in the Car with the Glasses and the Gun. Show all posts
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Symbolism in "The Lady in the Car with the Glasses and a Gun"
Currently I am halfway through the tantalizing yet somehow dreary book that is, "The Lady in the Car with the Glasses and a Gun." The book takes place sometime in the mid 1900s, in France. The book begins in Paris France, and follows "The Lady" or Dany Longo, as she travels around France on the verge of a psychotic breakdown in a car borrowed from her boss. The book begins with Dany emerging from a state of unconsciousness in a gas station bathroom after being attacked. However, the only thing the attacker did to her was break her hand, her money is all there and nothing else has been damaged. We are then taken to the days preceding her attack and focus in on the day it happened, showing us the circumstances of her ordeal.
The book is rife with symbolism, its title in itself states the books three biggest symbols. Number one, the car. The car is a symbol of Dany's weakness for luxury and the downfall that is in her longing for more than what is given to her. When Dany lived at the orphanage, being able to drive MOther "Supe" Superior around in the car is what gave her a little bit of freedom, a little bit of pleasure that was not found in her everyday life. THe car she has borrowed from the boss fits this perfectly, the luxury car she is temporarily allowed to have, but leads her to break the rules of the loan and keep the car for longer. In other words, her love for the things above her station is what leads her to her downfall.
Number two, the glasses. Dany wears darkened prescription glasses at all times, she believes they protect her from the world. To me, they symbolize both her inverted-ness, her painful shyness and the subtle narcism that comes from such an inverted state of being. The idea that she is mysterious that she is inapproachable is selfish in that she is just trying to get out of the difficult situations that occur when she tries to be social. She would rather withdraw from all humans and pretend to be mysterious and aloof than face the pain that comes from interacting with people. The glasses symbolize how selfish yet helpless she really is. It is these weaknesses, symbolized by the Car and the Glasses that lead her to her attack.
As I am only halfway through the book, I have not gotten to the section devoted to the Gun, and I don't think that the Lady symbolizes anything but Dany herself. However, there were two other symbols for parts of Dany's life that led her to the attack that I noticed.
One of these was the Pink Elephant that was on her desk, lined up with all of her typing supplies. It symbolizes Dany's childhood. When he proposes the job offer to Dany, her boss moves the elephant from the line. This symbolizes him giving her an opportunity to move on from her childlike existence and become a more mature adult. He is giving her an opportunity to prove herself. Dany at first moves it back and refuses the job, but then realizes that she should take it as it means more money and takes it with her to give to his daughter. She is ready to pass it along and let go of her childhood. However, Dany forgets it and does not get to give it to the little girl. This symbolizes that she can't let go of her childhood just yet and her infantile behavior leads her into the trouble she is now facing.
The last important symbol I noticed in "The Lady in the Car with the Glasses and a Gun" is the symbolism of the white suit. The white suit symbolizes Dany's hope for the future: her good intentions and her remaining innocence. Like the car it is luxe, but also sensible, which refutes the fault in it. However, the suit gets progressively ruined over the course of the book, showing that Dany's hopes will be dashed and that her intentions will not lead to good results. And that, like the idea of keeping a white suit clean over a journey, her hopes are unrealistic.
To conclude, there is much symbolism in the book "The Lady in the Car with the Glasses and a Gun," and it makes for an interesting story if you are willing to look deeply enough.
The book is rife with symbolism, its title in itself states the books three biggest symbols. Number one, the car. The car is a symbol of Dany's weakness for luxury and the downfall that is in her longing for more than what is given to her. When Dany lived at the orphanage, being able to drive MOther "Supe" Superior around in the car is what gave her a little bit of freedom, a little bit of pleasure that was not found in her everyday life. THe car she has borrowed from the boss fits this perfectly, the luxury car she is temporarily allowed to have, but leads her to break the rules of the loan and keep the car for longer. In other words, her love for the things above her station is what leads her to her downfall.
Number two, the glasses. Dany wears darkened prescription glasses at all times, she believes they protect her from the world. To me, they symbolize both her inverted-ness, her painful shyness and the subtle narcism that comes from such an inverted state of being. The idea that she is mysterious that she is inapproachable is selfish in that she is just trying to get out of the difficult situations that occur when she tries to be social. She would rather withdraw from all humans and pretend to be mysterious and aloof than face the pain that comes from interacting with people. The glasses symbolize how selfish yet helpless she really is. It is these weaknesses, symbolized by the Car and the Glasses that lead her to her attack.
As I am only halfway through the book, I have not gotten to the section devoted to the Gun, and I don't think that the Lady symbolizes anything but Dany herself. However, there were two other symbols for parts of Dany's life that led her to the attack that I noticed.
One of these was the Pink Elephant that was on her desk, lined up with all of her typing supplies. It symbolizes Dany's childhood. When he proposes the job offer to Dany, her boss moves the elephant from the line. This symbolizes him giving her an opportunity to move on from her childlike existence and become a more mature adult. He is giving her an opportunity to prove herself. Dany at first moves it back and refuses the job, but then realizes that she should take it as it means more money and takes it with her to give to his daughter. She is ready to pass it along and let go of her childhood. However, Dany forgets it and does not get to give it to the little girl. This symbolizes that she can't let go of her childhood just yet and her infantile behavior leads her into the trouble she is now facing.
The last important symbol I noticed in "The Lady in the Car with the Glasses and a Gun" is the symbolism of the white suit. The white suit symbolizes Dany's hope for the future: her good intentions and her remaining innocence. Like the car it is luxe, but also sensible, which refutes the fault in it. However, the suit gets progressively ruined over the course of the book, showing that Dany's hopes will be dashed and that her intentions will not lead to good results. And that, like the idea of keeping a white suit clean over a journey, her hopes are unrealistic.
To conclude, there is much symbolism in the book "The Lady in the Car with the Glasses and a Gun," and it makes for an interesting story if you are willing to look deeply enough.
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