Saturday, May 14, 2011
an incredibly impersonal wedding
The wedding scene in Mao II was effectively disturbing. DeLillo took a wedding and made it impersonal. Weddings are supposed to be intimate and personal, a celebration of two people joining their lives together in the presence of friends and family. The mass wedding was the exact opposite. The men wore the same suit and the women wore the same dress in the same design. The couples didn't even know each other and were married in the presence of family...and thousands of strangers. Family members had nothing to do with the planning of the wedding, found out about the wedding last-minute, and even needed binoculars to find their sons or daughters. The couples were married in the Yankee Stadium, which isn't exactly the most romantic place in the world. The wedding definitely presented the tension between crowds and the individual. Within the setting of the wedding, the individual was essentially non-existant; the event was taken over by the crowd. In class, we compared the wedding to an American sporting event. I agree that DeLillo was probably going for this comparison by placing the wedding in the Yankee Stadium. It makes sense: everyone is gathered in one place, for one reason, wearing essentially the same thing, and viewing the event through binoculars. Sounds like a sporting event to me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
i agree with you! this wedding is not personal at all. I enjoyed the take of wedding=sporting event. It may be fun for some people, but I don't know about myself!
ReplyDeleteI thought this comparison was rather clever of Delillo. Definitely something I would not think up. I can't even imagine having to be married in that stadium with all of those other people. I think it would be hard for the families to watch as well. I liked that he inlcuded the view of the parents to show just how it affected them.
ReplyDeleteI think that this was my favorite chapter of the book just because it made me think the most. I kept trying to picture myself either being in the crowd or the actual wedding. It really freaks me out. I mean you always hear of people eloping in Vegas or something, but this is just bizarre.
ReplyDelete