"I was selfish about the past, selfish and protective. I didn't know how to bring Marian into those years. And I think silence is the condition you accept as judgement on your crimes." - page 344
This passage occurs after Nick Shay has told his wife about the one night stand with Donna in Mojave Springs. They had just finished a family trip to see ancient ruins. This section was filled with moments that need to be analyzed. My head hurts from trying to navigate this section.
Reading this passage one might assume that Nick is expressing remorse about his marital transgression. Yet I think it is in reference to his unwillingness to give his wife total access to his life. This is the strain of true intimacy. It seems clear that she doesn't know about the murder that Nick committed as a minor.
Prior to this passage Delillo provides the reader with a coy description of Marian's upbringing.
"Marian is from a Big Ten town, raised safely, protected from the swarm of street life and feeling deprived because of it - privileged and deprived, an American sort of thing."
-page 344
Delillo continues to describe how Marian is repulsed by crimes and violence seen on television shows. Yet she wants to know more about Nick's past. She thrives on his honesty. One way to read this section is to assume that Nick will not share his life because the truth would seem cartoonist. Maybe she would have the same reactions to his past that she has had to the television because it was so close to the violence of TV. Her Midwest sensibilities in check.
This passage occurs after Nick Shay has told his wife about the one night stand with Donna in Mojave Springs. They had just finished a family trip to see ancient ruins. This section was filled with moments that need to be analyzed. My head hurts from trying to navigate this section.
Reading this passage one might assume that Nick is expressing remorse about his marital transgression. Yet I think it is in reference to his unwillingness to give his wife total access to his life. This is the strain of true intimacy. It seems clear that she doesn't know about the murder that Nick committed as a minor.
Prior to this passage Delillo provides the reader with a coy description of Marian's upbringing.
"Marian is from a Big Ten town, raised safely, protected from the swarm of street life and feeling deprived because of it - privileged and deprived, an American sort of thing."
-page 344
Delillo continues to describe how Marian is repulsed by crimes and violence seen on television shows. Yet she wants to know more about Nick's past. She thrives on his honesty. One way to read this section is to assume that Nick will not share his life because the truth would seem cartoonist. Maybe she would have the same reactions to his past that she has had to the television because it was so close to the violence of TV. Her Midwest sensibilities in check.
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