The Unnamable, The Jarhead

In the beginning of The Unnamable, there are small hints that the narrator is a head in a jar. First, the unnamable states his immobility: “No, once and for all, I do not move” (286). Then, the unnamable describes his own personal process of crying: “The tears stream down my cheeks from my unblinking eyes. What makes me weep so? From time to time. There is nothing saddening here. Perhaps it is liquefied brain” (287). The reason his tears remind him of “liquefied brain” is because his head is in a jar of liquid; so, his “unblinking eyes” yield the “liquefied brain” because the juices from the preservative liquid and the juices from his brain matter are mixing. Another aspect of the unnamable’s eyes is their immobility: “In a sense I would be better off at the circumference, since my eyes are always fixed in the same direction. But I am certainly not at the circumference” (289). The unnamable resides on a restaurant counter, so he is “not at the circumference” and because his head is in a jar, his “eyes are always fixed in the same direction.”

The unnamable elaborates on these aspects of his “special situation” on page 291:

“I may add that my seat would appear to be somewhat elevated, in relation to the surrounding ground, if ground is what it is. Perhaps it is water or some other liquid. With the result that, in order to obtain the optimum view of what takes place in front of me, I should have to lower my eyes a little. But I lower my eyes no more. In a word, I only see what appears immediately in front of me, I only see what appears close beside me, what I best see I see ill.”

The unnamable has established that he is on an “elevated” counter top, that he is surrounded by “liquid,” and that his eyes never move – “I only see what appears immediately in front of me.” The unnamable is a head in a jar full of liquid on a counter in a restaurant. Oh, Beckett, oh unnamable.

Restaurant Counter

Negative Nancy Malone

The Negative Nancy

 

Malone differs from Molloy in his attitude towards people. Molloy and Malone both deal with death; Molloy loses his mother while Malone is losing himself. Because Malone nears death while Molloy observes it, Malone develops a negative view of everyone.

Directly on the second page, Malone addresses, well, everyone in his life. “Let me say before I go any further that I forgive nobody. I wish them all an atrocious life and then the fires and ice of hell and in the execrable generations to come an honoured name” (174). So basically, Malone curses everyone involved in his life, but blesses their children. Malone is indeed a queer character, telling himself made-up stories before he kicks the bucket.

One of said stories contains a man and a woman. He is equally annoyed with them as he is with his nurse, the noise of the hospital, etc. “And I shall begin, that they may plague me no more, with the man and woman” (176). The man and woman do not exist; they are Malone’s own fictional characters. This fact is crucial because his annoyance becomes strange and unnecessary.

A Man and a Woman

Malone also holds others, real people this time, in contempt. In his hospital bed, he is able to prop himself against the window-pane and look into one room of a house. “I can see into a room of the house across the way. Queer things go on there sometimes, people are queer. Perhaps these are abnormal” (178). Malone does not even bother to say, “Perhaps these [people] are abnormal.” They remain blank objects, queer and abnormal, which Malone himself is.

I typed in "queer" on youtube and found this?

 

Molloy, the Unknown and the Unreliable

The Unreliable Narrator

Molloy constantly contradicts himself when describing the setting of “Molloy” to the reader, making him an unreliable narrator.

First, Molloy depicts two people who remain nameless, but are called A and C, as identical. “They looked alike, but no more than others do” (5). In one sentence, Molloy is able to shift the reader’s perspective, a sentence with nine words. So, apparently A and C resemble each other, “but no more than others do.” Everyone looks slightly different from one another, but Molloy is not implying this. He outright states that they look alike, just like everyone else does. Well, I am a brunette and my brother is a blonde; we may share common features but we look completely different. Therefore, A and C do not look alike even though Molloy claims that they do.

By God, they're identical! (or are they?)

Then Molloy proceeds to describe a man and his dog. “Perhaps he had come from afar, from the other end of the island even, and was approaching the town for the first time or returning to it after a long absence. A little dog followed him, a Pomeranian I think, but I don’t think so. I wasn’t sure at the time and I’m still not sure, though I’ve hardly thought about it” (7). Molloy tells a story of an event he supposedly witnessed, but he cannot even remember large details about the only two objects his eyes were watching. He does not know the man’s intentions, which is slightly understandable, but he also does not know the breed of dog, which is ridiculous.

Just a gentle man and his pomeranian?

Molloy later admits that the details of these stories are blurry to him. “And I am perhaps confusing several different occasions, and different times, deep down, and deep down is my dwelling, oh not deepest down, somewhere between the mud and scum” (10). In this quote, Molloy confesses that he is an unreliable narrator immediately, then contradicts himself one last time.

Although, Molloy will continue to disappoint and confuse the reader by remaining an unreliable narrator throughout the entire story. “I can’t believe it. No, I will not lie, I can easily conceive it” (10).

I just can't believe it!

The Constraints of Society

A big difference exists between what you want to do and what you are supposed to do. Belacqua struggles with this problem throughout “Yellow” because of the surgery he must suffer through, and each difference between the desires and expectations of Belacqua are represented with dialogue and parentheses.

Belacqua’s mind, haunted by the thought of being put under and cut open, wishes to rebel. But how would his behavior affect his doctor, his surgery, and his family?

“But the unfortunate part of it was that this would appear in his behaviour, he would scream and kick and bite and scratch when they came for him, beg for execution to be stayed and perhaps even wet the bed, and what a reflection on his late family that would be! The grand old family Huguenot guts, he could not do the dirty on them like that. (To say nothing of his natural anxiety to be put to rights with as little fuss as possible)” (200).

 

Belacqua really wants to act out and be dramatic in order to prevent the cold touch of the scalpel, but he naturally wants to be better as quickly as possible, so he must not fuss in order to make a good impression on his doctor and his family by remaining cool, calm, and collected throughout the tortures of surgery.

Belacqua concerns himself with the memory of his family and therefore restrains himself, but he also equally worries about the opinions of his friends. “So now there was nothing for it but to lie on his back in the dark and exercise his talent. Unless of course he chose to distress the friends of his late family (to say nothing of perhaps jeopardizing the cure for which the friends of his late family were paying)” (202). Belacqua wants to prevent surgery with acts of silly resistance, but he must lie still and be quiet out of respect for the people receiving the bill for his surgery.

 

They pay the bills, so just get over yourself

The rules of society constrain our actions, though we are allowed to think freely. Belacqua accomplishes just this as he pleasures himself with the idea that he could rebel, act out, scream, yell, fight, etc., but never performs any of these desires because of the part that others play in his surgery: the nurses will take care of him, the doctor will operate on him, and his friends will financially support him.

Scary surgery!