In concluding this novel for the second time, I can say I was a little bit more prepared for what was going to happen, but still shocked nonetheless. Before reading Myra for the first time and after finishing it for the second time, I can still say no other novel comes close to this in terms of absurdity, vulgarity, and total opposition of what is usually found in novels.
In going along with Myra’s whole scheme to rearrange the gender roles, I found this statement she uses from Tyler’s, “Magic and the Myth of the Movies” extremely relative to her ideals where she quotes, “that by imitating the female the male believes that he becomes the female, thus automatically and unconsciously practicing the imitative variety of sympathetic magic” (254-255). This just shows that regardless of who is male or female the actions that we sterotypically classify as masculine or feminine are the overrulers, meaning that if a man is sympathetic they automatically have a feminine trait.
The ending of this novel is definitely something that even after reading two times I can’t fully grasp. Who would have thought that Myra/Myron would be married since she claimed so often that no MAN shall ever possess her, but she never said anything about a woman. And who would have thought that perfect, masculine Rusty would be homosexual? I would imagine that his interaction with Myra would cause him to be messed up, but he acted in a similar way violating someone else as Myra did violating him. Overall, I can’t say that I love this novel because of its content but it’s certainly one of those novels you can’t stop reading because it’s so bizarre.
I was also shocked that Myron ended up married. I used to think that Mary-Ann was the most level headed character in this novel, but now I think she’s just as crazy (if not more) as everyone else. I also think you make a good point about the novel itself. It’s true that the story itself is not one I’d want to read over and over, but there’s so much to it, it’s hard not to think about.
Comment by ju1522 — March 2, 2009 @ 1:21 pm