Something that interested me in this story was how awful looking poor little baby Charley must have been. (If I didn’t know any better I would guess that he and Gerty from The Lamplighter had caught the same disease of ugliness. Perhaps a trip to Appalachia would have done her some good?) When the old man in the bar first told Denby that her baby was “handsome” and fine looking, I believed him and thought he was just being a nice old man. But after Charley's looks were mentioned a couple more times and a woman even gave away her petticoat to keep the baby warm, I knew he must have looked rather sickly. Jonathan Yare even milks a cow out of desperation to provide nourishment for the baby!
I think Davis must have been emphasizing Charley's unfortunate appearance to not only show how sick he was, but to show how and why his mother was so desperate to get the feeling of death from all around her. Perhaps New York City just represented death and coldness to Denby after the loss of her husband, and since Charley was all she had left and even he was slipping away right before her eyes she had to take him somewhere completely opposite. I guess all he needed was some Southern Hospitality?
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2 comments:
Shannon,
I loved your post! I hadn't even considered how there were two completely different opinions of Charley from the old man in the bar saying he looked so great to Johnathan being fearful little Charley was going to die on the spot. I also hadn't even considered that maybe Denby's motives behind leaving NY was because it drew up so many bad memories of her husband's death. Great post!
Shannon-
I enjoyed reading your post. I thought your blog was pretty funny and how you thought charley was an ugly baby. It is interesting to see how you believe that New York represented death and that the widow was trying to run away from it, it makes sense you make a great point.
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