Tabling Chairs

Whats up with chairs in De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period? There are, like, four different periods of the book where chairs are of minor importance to the plot or are specifically mentioned. Don't tell me I'm reading too far into the story, there are a ton of chairs in this story and I want to know why. 

Okay, so what are the chair references? 

(1) BUS CHAIRS. Or, rather, a lack of empty bus chairs. 

(2) DENTIST CHAIRS. (When Daumier went to sharpen his teeth and such). 

(3) MUSICAL CHAIRS. (The game of musical chairs Daumier sees a week after the bus fiasco).

(4) CHAIR IN HIS ROOM. Or, rather, a lack of a chair in his room. 

Okay, so we've identified the major chair appearances. Now, what's similar about these four? 

To me, uncomfortable comes to mind. He is uncomfortable in all these situations. Firstly, he has to stand in the bus and get yelled at. Second, I don't think anyone is comfortable at the dentist. The third choice doesn't work as well, because Daumier seems more "left out" than "uncomfortable" with the musical chairs game, but feeling left out/anxious is a sort of uncomfortable feeling, so we'll let it slide. Finally, the lack of a chair in his room makes him super uncomfortable (and when he does finally get a chair, and is therefore comfortable, his productivity skyrockets). 

These scenes also seem linked to anxiety, which is something that I think Daumier experiences a lot of (which is why he's so worried about his image, which is why he lies so much). A crowded bus in a big city you just moved to? Anxiety-inducing. The dentist? Anxiety-inducing. Feeling left out of a big game of musical chairs? I guess that can be anxiety-inducing? Not having a chair in your room, wanting a chair in your room, but not wanting to appear disrespectful (and assuming that you believe that asking for a chair is disrespectful)? Anxiety-inducing. 

Anxiety and discomfort go together pretty well. 

This is about as far as I've gotten because I think going any further is venturing into the realm of light BS. Like, do they symbolize anything, or do they act as markers for other things, etcetera... anything else we try to say would probably not rest on a very strong foundation. The best we can say is that "Chairs seem to be present during scenes/experiences that make our protagonist anxious". That seems pretty defendable. 

I wouldn't really want to go further than that because what if Salinger is just messing with us? Can't let him get the last laugh by biting the hook too hard, can we? 

  

Uncle Wiggily

Uncle Wiggily is probably the saddest story we have read so far. There's a ton going on just under the surface (which happened a lot in Catcher, and I'm starting to think it's a pretty ubiquitous in Salinger's literature) which really brings the story to life. In the end, it's the awareness of Eloise of her frozen, paralyzed state that really drives home the existential upper-class asphyxiation of her situation which makes this story so dang sad. Is there anything worse than being fully aware of your desolation, and yet being completely paralyses in regards to changing your situation? 

When Ramona enters the story, things really begin to unravel (before that it was just two friends getting drunk, nothing inherently sad about that). This is because Ramona is Eloise's constant reminder of her emptiness. Ramona has innocence. Ramona love. Ramona has control (she is, after all, the one imagining her close relations... probably in an attempt to fill the void that Eloise has left by not caring about her...). Eloise wants to grab Ramona's shoulders and shake her--tell her that's it is all a lie! That life actually sucks and you'll just lose those closest to you and settle for less and be unhappy about it for the rest of your life, etcetera etcetera. But... I think Eloise also realized that things don't have to be that way. And that's what drives her crazy (I'm sure copious amounts of alcohol didn't help much...). Because if Eloise accepts the fact that life doesn't have to be that way... then, hell, why isn't she (Eloise) changing her life? 

This sits at the back of her mind. Eating at her. Until she breaks and cries at Mary Jane that she (Eloise) used to be good. But now she's not. Something changed, and instead of trying to fix things, she has only hurt those who are changing their circumstances (Ramona).