I'm having a disagreement with my professor. He says that Hulga "takes a chance on love," and I say that's bullshit. So, I thought I'd see what some other O'Connor lovers think.

It's not really presented as a positive choice by Hulga. She's snookered, and it's clear even when it's happening that she's making a mistake. She's got all these brutal defenses up - which make her a very unpleasant person - but when she let's them down it's because she's foolish.

I'm not sure if grace is really offered to her in the context of the story. It might be more that her closed nature is part of her spiritual flaw and it can't be redeemed by dopey romantic love. Her egotism and her sneering disregard already point to her spiritual failings. Love and/or sex can't fill that hole.

I'm trying to remember the very ending. She certainly doesn't have a spiritual epiphany like the grandma in "A Good Man..." but I have some vague sense that she was not merely humiliated, but possibly also humbled.

but I have some vague sense that she was not merely humiliated, but possibly also humbled.

Yeah, I do get that now. He pointed out something that I "missed" at the end...that she sees Pointer "walk across water." Actually, that's not exactly how it's phrased ("she saw his blue figure struggling successfully over the green speckled lake."), but that's the picture. So, yeah, I think that's true.

I just saw it as her going in to trick him, then because she was so focused on the trickery, she got tricked herself. Maybe I need to re-read.

Maybe I over-identified with Joy-Hulga in college...it's hard not to, if you're me, even down to the hovering relatives saying "Honey, if you'd just *smile* more." Because I thought I had a good grip on the analysis of that story, but the things Hecubus posted...I'm not sure I remember it that way, but I'm not sure if I have a real dispute with his views or if my analytic impulse got flooded under my thrill of "OMG...She Knows What It's Like." I should read it again, now that I'm(snicker) older and wiser. Maybe I should "modernize" that one someday...make Hulga a babygoth that wears a button that says "Don't Tell Me What Kind of Day To Have!"

"OMG...She Knows What It's Like."

No doubt!

Maybe I should "modernize" that one someday...make Hulga a babygoth that wears a button that says "Don't Tell Me What Kind of Day To Have!"

Oh, that could be fun!

I'm currently reading World War Z: an Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks, and I have to say that it is one of the most believable speculative fiction/future history books I have ever read. I'm about half-way through, and the book hasn't hit a false note yet.

I didn't think I was creeped out by anything in it; I didn't feel uneasy or wary while reading it last night. But as I was trying to fall asleep, I kept thinking about scenes from the book, and then would try and figure out how secure our place would be during a zombie uprising. (The answer was not very comforting, let me tell you.)

Jilli, thanks for reminding me about that book! I meant to pick it up a while ago, but it slipped my mind.

Do you know if it's related to Zombie World News, or just a similar concept?

Do you know if it's related to Zombie World News, or just a similar concept?

I don't think WWZ is related to ZWN. But wow, I need to take more of a look around ZWN. Very cool!

But wow, I need to take more of a look around ZWN. Very cool!

Yes, this -- it's fabulous! I love consensual realities...

Re WWZ, I was just talking the other day with a historian friend about just how perfectly it works as an oral history.

Re WWZ, I was just talking the other day with a historian friend about just how perfectly it works as an oral history.

Apparently the audio book is fantastic; there are different people for each report/history, so it really does come across as an oral history record. I'm probably going to get it to go along with the novel.

There are 45 people in the LAPL area who've put a hold on the district's 20 copies of that book.

Darn.