The Floating Opera Day 2

Group 2

Cavitt, Anna, Zach

11/13/14

The Floating Opera: Pages 84-169

Law and Justice

-Todd starts off the chapter trying to explain his interpretation of law and justice.

“A child encounters a toy tractor, winds it up , and sets it climbing over a book..The tractor climbs well. The child puts another book here, so , and angles the first.The tractor surmounts them with difficulty… the tractor strains, spins, whirrs, and falls like a turtle on its back, trads racing uselessly”(84).

• What do you make of this quotation? Is this a metaphor for something else? What?  

-  He does not want to learn what exactly law is, but is interested in the things the law can do.

-What exactly is Todd looking for when he is talking about law, and what does he mean he is curious of what law can do?

• Is law effective in Todd’s eyes?

- He also discusses law in the story of the will. Everyone fights over the old man’s money. Is this a mockery of life?

-”Doesn’t your attitude--which is, after all, irresponsible-- allow for the defeat, even the punishment, of the innocent, and at times the victory of the guilty? And does this not concern you?” What does this quote try to explain?

Death, Suicide, and Sex

-Todd repeatedly mentions death and sex in close succession, such as mocking his friend and asking if he’ll commit suicide and then joking that he’ll marry his friend’s wife afterwards, or the story about the dogs getting in the way of the funeral procession. He says Harisson “lacks guts”(99).

-He mentions the willingness to endure pain and death as a symbol of devotion to love.

-He equates both topics with maturity, and the unwillingness to deal with them with weakness.

“I felt mature and wise and confident, discussing them, and I found myself able to think more liberally, compassionately, and judiciously than before.”

Mister Hacker argues “Life, the simple fact of life, is good young man. Life has intrinsic value”(169). Tod Replies “Nothing has intrinsic value”

How does this change his outlook/character?

Betty June

• They discuss her love for his neighbor but also “we discussed, in detail, various unpleasant deaths”(119).
• “I felt mature and wise and confident, discussing them, and I found myself able to think more liberally, compassionately, and judiciously than I’d ever thought before.
• loss of innocence “took from me my spiritual virginity”(119).
• sexual encounter with Betty June
• what are we supposed to make of this?
• He laughs, she cries and leaves

-They meet again in the future in the next chapter. How have both characters changed?

Jane Mack

• Conversation of love.

Do you agree that contemplating the subjects of death and sex are hallmarks of maturity? How might Todd’s experiences in war and his modern career affect his views on them?

Nature

- “Nature, coincidence, can be a heavy-handed symbolizer”(109). Also discussed the “life in the face of death scenario” beauty of life vs. clutching feeling of death.

“smile for sure… but walk on and say nothing as if you haven’t noticed”(111).

-Goes to the doctor, realizes the imperfectness of nature. Death a midst life