Author Question: Is there anything symbolic about setting the story in a marble hall of commerce, especially in ... (Read 571 times)

danielfitts88 · **on:** Jul 20, 2018

Is there anything symbolic about setting the story in a marble hall of commerce, especially in contrast to the baseball field conjured up in his memory?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Does Anders seem to experience the robbery as a real-life event? In whatways is his reaction different from those of the other customers, and why do you suppose that is?

What will be an ideal response?

amit · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 20, 2018

Answer to Question 1

The two settings are quite opposite to one another. The ballfield is warm, sunlit, out of doors, and natural, redolent of youth and pleasure and spontaneity, everything that Anders has lost or killed in himself. The bank, a place where business is done and calculation (of all kinds) occurs, is cold, enclosed, and rigid, everything that he has become.

Answer to Question 2

He is astonishingly unable to grasp the reality of his situation and the danger he is in, which his own actions intensify. The other people in the bank, both patrons and employees, react quite sensibly: they are numb with terror and comply with all of the robbers demands. But Anders has become so detached and scornful that life itself no longer seems real and immediate to him. Like the books he is forced to read, it is just something to be judged and found wanting.