why did we miss the clues?

Posted by Kate on February 13, 1998 at 14:56:54:

In response to Omens and portents, written by Cheryl on February 13, 1998 at 14:52:11

] I know that none of us like the ending, even those of us who accept it. ;-) But, in reading this a second time, there are plenty of hints and outright statements made about how it will end.

]

• In the very first paragrah, the narrator tells us Oscar dies when he is 25
  ]
• The narrator calls Oscar "my great-grandfather" but Lucinda is never referred to as "my great-grandmother" but rather as "our founder" (of the glassworks)
  ]
• In the doll haircutting chapter, when pots and pans were being flung about the narrator says:

  ...the air was filled with a violence whose roots she could only glimpse years later when she lost her fortune to my great-grandmother and was made poor overnight

  
  ]

] So why are we so surprised when things end exactly the way Peter Carey tells us it will throughout the entire book? I think it a great testament to Carey's storytelling ability that we ignore the evidence and still hope things will turn out alright. I know I did...

It's part of the strong desire we have for things to turn out right. We hope against hope, even when things start to seem hopeless, in the same way we hope things work out for people in real life. I think our dissatisfaction with the ending shows how real the characters become (although I know some people don't find them very real) because we really care what happens to them, and WANT it to be right.

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