Lesson #5: “Goodbye, My Brother” (3)
One. Reading Questions
1. According to the narrator, what value is of utmost importance? 3
2. What evidences Lawrence’s anal-retentive personality? Attaining superficial perfection to mask the lack of connection, which leads to more disconnection. Asserting an authoritarian, censorious disposition on others. Modern American word for this type of person: buzzkill.
3. What’s eating away at Lawrence? He’s worshipped the false god of ambition and has nothing to show for it except trifles. He must prove that he is superior to others to hide his wasted life. And this assertion is exhausting and draining to him and others. To assert his “superiority,” he is animated by the need to issue grievances of all kinds. This sucks the life out of everyone. See page 11.
4. What are the rotten fruits of Lawrence’s personality? Soulless, emasculated, frightened children, not raised with an appetite for life. See page 8 and top of page 10.
5. What evidences that Lawrence is a philistine? He cannot define himself on human relationships, since his are woeful or nonexistent. He must define himself by the things he buys and owns. That is a philistine.
6. Why is the sea such a predominant figure throughout the story? The sea represents the opposite of Lawrence’s pinch-faced joylessness: The sea represents life and the giving and bearing of life. The sea is a celebration of life. The sea is also a place where we shed our anxieties and sorrows and connect with nature. See page 10. The sea is a celebration, shouting “hurrah” on page 18. But for Lawrence, the sea shouts “vale,” which means farewell. Then on page 19, the brother whacks Lawrence with a sea root, a club from the sea.
7. How is the acrimony (bitter antagonism) between Anna the cook and Lawrence significant to the story’s theme? See pages 10 and 11.
8. What nourishes Lawrence on page 12. Shaming others. Looking with disapproval or a censorious expression as if to say, “You should be ashamed.” What a buzzkill.
9. Why does the narrator describe his brother Lawrence as “misanthropic” on page 16? A misanthrope hates the human race because he hates himself. Unable to love himself, he must hate others.
10. How is the vacation paradise restored after Lawrence leaves? Strawberry jam smell, Diana and Helen swimming in the sea. They are naked but not ashamed, like Adam and Eve before the Fall.
Part Two. Journal Entry
Write a profile of someone you know who reminds you of Lawrence. This person is a buzzkill and has the power to ruin a good mood just by merely walking into a room.
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