Because When Elly Talks, Michael Listens
“I just wish I’d taken my education seriously – when I had the chance!”
From this statement of Elly’s, Michael Patterson divines that his mother knows he and Lawrence Poirier are listening to her conversation with Connie Poirier. Assuming you can get past the ridiculousness of a 6-year-old saying something like this, the situation raises the following questions:
1. Why would Lawrence and Michael want to listen to what Elly was saying to Connie?
2. What would Elly have said to Connie if she did not know Michael was listening?
3. How did Michael know Elly was saying something because she knew he was listening?
In order for those questions to work, you will have to presume that Michael is correct: He and Lawrence have been listening to Elly talk, despite the way Lawrence Poirier looks at him in the final panel of today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse like he is crazy.
1. Why would Lawrence and Michael want to listen to what Elly was saying to Connie?
First you would have to presume that there is something there which Michael and Lawrence would want to hear, for example, the location of the Hallowe’en candy or possibly the location of little Lizzie (who has not reappeared in the strip after her beer-drinking episode, and could be in hospital recovering from alcohol poisoning.) Another possibility might be to eavesdrop on his mom for his dad. Notice in this strip that Michael is hanging around and eavesdropping on Elly as she plans a night out on the town with Connie while John is away, with the specific intent of attracting men. After all, this isn’t the first time Mike and Lawrence eavesdropped on Elly and Connie when they were talking romance. This would also explain Mike’s fear that Deanna would cheat on him with Dr. Smythe during her trip to Honduras.
2. What would Elly have said to Connie if she did not know Michael was listening?
Based on what she is saying in the first panel, Elly would probably talk about what she planned to do after getting her degree. Probably this means getting a job. Elly never gets her degree, but she continued to pursue having a job for years until John Patterson bought her Lilliput’s in 2000 and put an end to it.
3. How did Michael know Elly was saying something because she knew he was listening.
Elly said, “I just wish I’d taken my education seriously – when I had the chance!” If Mike has been paying any attention, he would know that Elly isn’t interested in taking her education seriously. Whenever Elly talks about university, she invariably couches the idea in terms of “getting a degree” or “getting a job”. She is never jealous of Connie learning about radiology. She is jealous of Connie’s degree and job. We see both those themes in the first panel. I went through AMU reprints to see if there was ever an instance where Elly said, “I loved going to university because I enjoyed learning.” Or “There was a class or a professor I really liked.” That is never there. In this strip and this strip and this strip, it is “I left university when I got married and had 2 kids.” If Michael has been paying attention, he knows that his mom considers him to be reason she didn’t finish her degree.
What it boils down to is that when Elly says she wished she had taken her education seriously, Michael knows that the statement is not something that his mother would normally say in a conversation with Connie. Certainly after 30 years of observing Elly Patterson, I would have to agree with Michael’s opinion on the matter.
From this statement of Elly’s, Michael Patterson divines that his mother knows he and Lawrence Poirier are listening to her conversation with Connie Poirier. Assuming you can get past the ridiculousness of a 6-year-old saying something like this, the situation raises the following questions:
1. Why would Lawrence and Michael want to listen to what Elly was saying to Connie?
2. What would Elly have said to Connie if she did not know Michael was listening?
3. How did Michael know Elly was saying something because she knew he was listening?
In order for those questions to work, you will have to presume that Michael is correct: He and Lawrence have been listening to Elly talk, despite the way Lawrence Poirier looks at him in the final panel of today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse like he is crazy.
1. Why would Lawrence and Michael want to listen to what Elly was saying to Connie?
First you would have to presume that there is something there which Michael and Lawrence would want to hear, for example, the location of the Hallowe’en candy or possibly the location of little Lizzie (who has not reappeared in the strip after her beer-drinking episode, and could be in hospital recovering from alcohol poisoning.) Another possibility might be to eavesdrop on his mom for his dad. Notice in this strip that Michael is hanging around and eavesdropping on Elly as she plans a night out on the town with Connie while John is away, with the specific intent of attracting men. After all, this isn’t the first time Mike and Lawrence eavesdropped on Elly and Connie when they were talking romance. This would also explain Mike’s fear that Deanna would cheat on him with Dr. Smythe during her trip to Honduras.
2. What would Elly have said to Connie if she did not know Michael was listening?
Based on what she is saying in the first panel, Elly would probably talk about what she planned to do after getting her degree. Probably this means getting a job. Elly never gets her degree, but she continued to pursue having a job for years until John Patterson bought her Lilliput’s in 2000 and put an end to it.
3. How did Michael know Elly was saying something because she knew he was listening.
Elly said, “I just wish I’d taken my education seriously – when I had the chance!” If Mike has been paying any attention, he would know that Elly isn’t interested in taking her education seriously. Whenever Elly talks about university, she invariably couches the idea in terms of “getting a degree” or “getting a job”. She is never jealous of Connie learning about radiology. She is jealous of Connie’s degree and job. We see both those themes in the first panel. I went through AMU reprints to see if there was ever an instance where Elly said, “I loved going to university because I enjoyed learning.” Or “There was a class or a professor I really liked.” That is never there. In this strip and this strip and this strip, it is “I left university when I got married and had 2 kids.” If Michael has been paying attention, he knows that his mom considers him to be reason she didn’t finish her degree.
What it boils down to is that when Elly says she wished she had taken her education seriously, Michael knows that the statement is not something that his mother would normally say in a conversation with Connie. Certainly after 30 years of observing Elly Patterson, I would have to agree with Michael’s opinion on the matter.
posted by howard at 5:03 PM
4 Comments:
this isn’t the first time Mike and Lawrence eavesdropped on Elly and Connie when they were talking romance
With all the John/his daughters creepiness, I often forget about the Elly/Mike creepiness.
Clio,
When you think about Mike Patterson, his best friend for years was Lawrence Poirier, who had issues with his mom. In these days, Lawrence doesn't know his dad. His stepfather Pete cut out pretty quickly. And his mom shows very little restraint when it comes to chasing after men.
Ultimately Elly and John are not ever going to get divorced. At this point, Mike does not know that. Considering how often his mom complains about his dad, he could very well suspect his situation will become like Lawrence's.
Even Lynn Johnston, who was writing this in her Lynn Lake days would not have been certain about her marriage. She laid an ultimatum on Rod Johnston that he had to move (according to her in interviews) and Rod agreed to move. If he had not, then things might have been different, even from the perspective of the author.
If Michael has been paying attention, he knows that his mom considers him to be reason she didn’t finish her degree.
And if Aaron is paying attention, he knows that his mom considered him to be the reason that she wound up having to settle for a Flying Dentist who was more beloved by the ungrateful serial adulterers of Lynn Lake than she was.
dreadedcandiru2,
And if Aaron is paying attention, he knows that his mom considered him to be the reason that she wound up having to settle for a Flying Dentist
That's true. I am not sure at what age Aaron would realize it, but it seems reasonable to expect that at some age he would understand the obvious parallels between Connie Poirier's ex-husband Pete and his own father. If he gets that, then understanding how his mother, when she was single, was as desperate for a man as Connie Poirier, would not be a great leap either.
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