Other questions:
- Ruby tells her dad about an incident where a group of fraternity guys pee all over one of the guys' ex-girlfriends. We're in Swenson's head and so we know that, instead of feeling sorry for the victim, he feels sorry for himself and his daughter. Why?
- Ruby hasn't been introduced until pretty late in the novel. Why do you think that is? How does her presence affect your reading of the novel?
- How did you react when Swenson decided to go to NYC the day after Ruby came home?
- In what ways does Swenson compare Ruby to Angela? How did you react as a reader in these moments?
- What other questions do you have?
It disgusted me that Swenson drove his daughter Ruby to the same computer place he went with Angela. I'm also surprised that he went to NYC instead of spending time with his daughter. I feel like he doesn't care about his family anymore, first Sherrie and then Ruby. They're not as important as Angela, his new lover. He even dreamed to leave everything behind just for her without knowing Angela's actual feeling for him. He's arrogant that he was sure that she's in love with him.
ReplyDeleteSwenson feels bad about the incident not because of the victim but more because of Ruby. He says "when did me and sherrie go wrong" meaning what did they do that their daughter had to end up in State. He feels bad because of the experiences and stories that she(Ruby) has to go through and feels bad for himself because he feel like he did not do enough to get her to go to a better school. I think Ruby is introduced after the whole scene with Angela and Swenson because Swenson starts to think more about what has happened and compares his daughter often to Angela. I think the presence of Ruby just makes Swenson look ten times worse because of the fact that Angela and her are the same age and it is a continuous reminder throughout the story. I did not really feel bad that Swenson went to NYC the day after Ruby got home because after all your life cannot stop because of someones arrival. And yea that is harsh since she is his daughter but they don't have the best relationship either and she stays in her room for two hours after she arrives so I believe its pretty much the same thing. Swenson compares Angela to Ruby in the scene when they are driving to Burlington, he compares the silence in the car ride and says it was more "fascinating" when Angela is in the car. He also compares this scene various times in panic and constantly thinks about Angela and what she did and how different it was when he had gone with Angela. I think him comparing his daughter to Angela is pretty maniac, like why would someone do that to themselves. I feel like thats just torture for him mentally because of how gross it may be to think about a man his age with his daughter. I think that the author did a good job because this is like a complex situation were we see Swenson in an awkward state. Also just the intensity building up was a good way at this point in the book for me.
ReplyDeleteWhen their awkward silence was broken during the long trip to Computer City, the subject was rape on campus (Ruby's campus) to which Swenson asks "Is there that much rape on campus to keep a whole center going?" "Not really" Ruby answers, and continues to tell him about an unfortunate incident where a bunch of frat guys drug a girls drink and they each take turn pissing on her. Swenson, instead of feeling sorry for the poor girl, is busy feeling sorry for himself and for Ruby. He feels sorry for Ruby because she has to go to a place where students piss on woman. And he feels sorry for himself for not being a better father to Ruby. I think Ruby was introduced so late in the novel to give the reader a sense of absence, and to show how far Ruby drifted from Swenson and Sherrie. After all it has been a year since they last seen her. Her presence in the novel makes me feel that if she had been around, if she never would have gone to State and studied at Euston like Swenson and Sherrie wanted then Swenson might have been in a whole different mind set. And he would never had made the terrible mistake of getting involved with
ReplyDeleteAngela Argo. When Swenson decided to go to NYC the day after Ruby came home, I was thinking "This dude has lost his mind." All this time I'm rooting for him, hoping he'd do the right thing, and he let me down. The way he put Angela Argo before his own daughter was a disgusting show of weakness on his part. During the drive to Computer City Swenson is uneasy during those periods of awkward silence. He feels the silence is tense and boring as opposed to his drive with Angela which he felt was also tense, but fascinating. Inside the store he again unreasonably compares Ruby to Angela. He remembers how much Angela knew about what she wanted and needed in her computer, such as gigabytes, RAM. Meanwhile, Ruby hasn't got a clue of what she wants or needs in her computer, and Swenson wonders why Ruby isn't as knowledgeable as Angela.
When professor Swenson decided to go to Nyc the day after ruby came home I wasn't surprised or disappointed when he did that because in page 185 Angela tell Swenson to show her novel to his editor in a demanding way after they slept together so Swenson has to do something in order to not get caught. His only way was that one or his reputation ends in jeopardy. I think that now Angela is going to use him for her inconvinience , Swenson is now scared and has no one to talk about it
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