Sunday, May 10, 2009

Today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse is really confusing. Let’s take a look:

1. “I was going to teach English”?

From the current character description of Elly:

After a year of serious dating, he proposed and they were married the next February and settled happily into a small basement bachelor apartment. Elly's interest in her degree was fading by this time and she wanted to get out and WRITE! She left university early to work in a bookstore and do some freelance writing while John finished up his dentistry training.

Not teaching. Writing is the answer.

2. “She went off to work in South America, and me? …well…I got married.

From the Connie Poirier biography:

When Elly quit university at the end of second year to marry John and support him through his final year of dentistry, it hardened Connie's conviction that men were a handicap. She was glad to do her part in the wedding as Elly's maid of honour, but silently disapproved her friend's decision to sacrifice her own career to John's.

It was partly in reaction to Elly's decision that Connie decided to switch from general Sciences to some form of medical training and invade a traditionally male domain. After careful consideration, she chose radiology. In 1974, she graduated as a registered Radiology Technician.

Connie's first job was at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. It was there that she knew beyond doubt that she had made the right career choice. She loved the scientific rigour of radiology, the precision and care needed to produce good, clear x-rays. It was deeply satisfying, too, to know the value of her work, to see every day how it helped doctors to confirm diagnoses, expose hidden killers, and find ways to relieve the suffering of the children who came from all over Canada for treatment. For the first time in her life, she felt truly needed, an equal with the men she worked alongside.

There was more yet she could do to help bring greater fairness to a troubled world. When a doctor she knew asked her to join a medical mission going to South America to offer free care in the neediest regions, Connie signed up without hesitation.

If the biography is correct, Elly got married well before Connie graduated or went off to work in South America.

3. “Connie thinks my life is perfect because I have a husband”

No, Elly. Connie has been married before. It’s not any old husband she likes. She thinks your life is perfect because you have your husband.

4. Anne says, ”All your knowledge, skill and experience you pour into your children!” Elly agrees, “True…Maybe that’s why I feel empty sometimes.” Obviously Elly feels empty because’

a. She poured all her knowledge, skill and experience into her children; despite the fact her kids are 1 and 4.
b. She realizes that she had nothing to pour into her children. They are doomed.
c. Her overwhelming desire to do wordplay caused her to ignore the fact that the wordplay made her appear to be pathetic.
d. Annie's response was not, "You envy Connie Poirier for her career? Where has that gotten her? Knocked up! Divorced!"

6 Comments:

Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

No, Elly. Connie has been married before. It’s not any old husband she likes. She thinks your life is perfect because you have your husband.That's exactly right; she had to move to Thunder Bay to find a man as dim, pliable and gutless as John is.

She realizes that she had nothing to pour into her children. They are doomed.So are their children and their children's children,

3:01 AM  
Blogger howard said...

DreadedCandiru2,

That's exactly right; she had to move to Thunder Bay to find a man as dim, pliable and gutless as John is.-

That is certainly one way to think about it and her husband's willingness to uproot his daughters for Connie shows it.

5:13 AM  
Blogger Muzition said...

Thanks a lot for "snarking" my Coffee Talk letter, Howtheduck.

6:26 AM  
Blogger howard said...

Muzition,

Thanks a lot for "snarking" my Coffee Talk letter, Howtheduck.-

You're welcome? Anyway, no offence intended. I am glad to hear that you were not anxiously awaiting a Farley plush toy to decorate your home.

10:01 AM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

Muzition:There's a third thing I have to look out for when I try to figure out is something is stealth snark or not: Lynn's tendency to mash letters together. Both cpierson and I have had our letters mashed up with someone else's and had all our content sucked out.

12:11 PM  
Blogger Muzition said...

Oh, I wasn't aware of that, dreadedcandiru2. Thanks for telling me.

5:29 PM  

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