ellauri083.html on line 527: What does “complicated joy” mean? I suppose we could say that Joelle gets a complicated form of pleasure from stringing Gately along. Although I’m not sure I believe that pleasure is necessarily equivalent to joy…there is a lot of complicated pleasure in the book, i.e. addictions to pleasurable substances, sex with underage partners, killing animals, etc. But are we truly supposed to believe that these characters are experiencing joy in their lives?
ellauri083.html on line 529: I can’t say I really see it at all. As much as I love this book, the only person who I would say comes close to experiencing “complicated joy” is Mario, whose emotions are simple and straightforward, only made more complex by his contorted body. I think most people in the book experience a sort of numbness, or they are searching for a kind of numbness. To me, even Gately’s emotions and thoughts are dulled by the inane daily tasks he must complete, although I suppose you could argue that being free from substance addiction gives him a small sense of pride.
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