3.2. Characters’ representation of thoughts and emotions
Ryder does not only share glimpses of his conscious mind, but also reveals his unconscious process of concept formation and his memory at work. The conscious state includes perception and imagination, movements and bodily states, states of empathy with others and intentions. The unconscious states, on the other hand, manifest themselves in their results. In chapter 15, during that bus ride with Boris, he develops a scenario of wishful thinking – kind of preferred interpretation of the future, which in reality is far removed from the real event (Rautiainen, 2008). Considering the fact that Ryder can read the unspoken thoughts of these earlier embodiments of himself indicates to the …show more content…
Surely it was not too much to ask that, at such crucially important points in my life as this, she somehow contained her chaos to herself.” (U, 179)
The fact was, along with so much else, Sophie had succeeded in reducing my carefully planned timetable to chaos.” (U, 310)
All what Sophie represents for Ryder is chaos. There is a certain amount of dignity existent in Ryder and rarely do his true emotions and thoughts break the facade. His emotions do not last long, even when Sophie reprimands him; he still believes that he can make a difference in people’s lives:
“Things had not, after all, gone so badly. Whatever disappointments this city had brought, there was no doubting that my presence had been greatly anticipated – just as it had been everywhere else I had ever gone” (U, 534).
According to Gary Adelman as cited in Havskov (2009), Ryder has his “inner thoughts absurdly embodied by characters playing the parts of important people in his life’s story”
Ryder does not only share glimpses of his conscious mind, but also reveals his unconscious process of concept formation and his memory at work. The conscious state includes perception and imagination, movements and bodily states, states of empathy with others and intentions. The unconscious states, on the other hand, manifest themselves in their results. In chapter 15, during that bus ride with Boris, he develops a scenario of wishful thinking – kind of preferred interpretation of the future, which in reality is far removed from the real event (Rautiainen, 2008). Considering the fact that Ryder can read the unspoken thoughts of these earlier embodiments of himself indicates to the …show more content…
Surely it was not too much to ask that, at such crucially important points in my life as this, she somehow contained her chaos to herself.” (U, 179)
The fact was, along with so much else, Sophie had succeeded in reducing my carefully planned timetable to chaos.” (U, 310)
All what Sophie represents for Ryder is chaos. There is a certain amount of dignity existent in Ryder and rarely do his true emotions and thoughts break the facade. His emotions do not last long, even when Sophie reprimands him; he still believes that he can make a difference in people’s lives:
“Things had not, after all, gone so badly. Whatever disappointments this city had brought, there was no doubting that my presence had been greatly anticipated – just as it had been everywhere else I had ever gone” (U, 534).
According to Gary Adelman as cited in Havskov (2009), Ryder has his “inner thoughts absurdly embodied by characters playing the parts of important people in his life’s story”