When Billy is still in high school, trying to define himself, he finds security in his friend Elaine's bra. Elaine has deduced by this time in her friendship with Billy that he has tendencies that are unlike those of a straight man, and unlike those characteristics of the rest of the boys at the all-boys school Billy attends.
Billy had asked to have a bra of Elaine's one night. Elaine told him he could have all the bras he wanted.
The bra was Billy's security. He wore it at night, he liked the feeling of it, and in a sense, the bra was Billy's first step into defining himself in his own way. Other characters in the book each define themselves with something specific as well, all dealing with sexual matters, mostly, but I believe that John Irving did not intend the message of these security blankets to be solely about sexual preference. Irving was attempting to make a larger point about society today.
People are centered around morals, and about certain ways of doing things, and about wrongs, and about rights. Yet, behind the mask of these morals, every person has an object of security that usually is secretive, and something so personal about themselves that they are afraid of the reactions to such a thing by even their closest friends.
Billy eventually discarded the bra, once he became confident in who he was, and discovered himself. He became his own security, and was no longer insecure. Our society projects their morals, their beliefs, their freedoms, and their opinions as a mask. We are insecure in our beliefs as a society. We hold on so strongly to things of the past, and precedents in history as a security. Notice we have not yet let these examples of the past remain in the past.
Are the securities that society holds on to holding us back? Are historic standards and conformities still relevant in today's supposedly accepting and modern society? Are we stable as a society? Are we about to break?
No comments:
Post a Comment