As most of you know, my group recently lead the class discussion for “Amahl and the Night Visitors: A Guide To the Tenor of Love”. There was one aspect of the story that I found really fascinating that we didn’t quite get to. We talked briefly about how we thought it would be weird for Trudy to be the voice writing these “journal entries” because they’re set in the present and usually we think of journal entries to be reflecting on things that happened in the past; therefore using past tense. Personally, I don’t think Trudy is writing this herself, but someone that has access to Trudy’s thoughts and actions every day. If it was Trudy writing this, I feel like she’d possibly try to paint herself in a different light by intentionally leaving out some details about what she did-- like the one scene where she asked Moss if he was cheating on her with Bob and Moss got mad. Although this might not be Trudy’s voice in these entries, our perspective of the story is still aligned with Trudy. One question I didn’t get to ask is do you think that since we’re in Trudy’s shoes that we automatically are more inclined to believe that Moss is cheating as opposed to if this story were written in third person? And, if you do think Moss is cheating, do you think our sympathies are geared more towards Trudy because we’re in her shoes?
Originally I was thinking that Moss was definitely cheating on Trudy. But, then from the overall picture that I got of Trudy (unchill, helicopter parent-esque, suspicious, not trusting), I started to lean away from that opinion. If I was dating someone that was that paranoid about where I was, when they know that I have a very demanding job, I honestly probably wouldn’t want to rush home to them after work either.
Although the phone ringing and then the caller hanging up does sound suspicious, we have to keep in mind that we’re in the shoes of a person who sees what they want to see. Trudy wants to find evidence that Moss is cheating on her. That is what drives her to ask the question if Moss is cheating with her on Bob when they all run into each other at the mall. To me, the phone calls could just be the wrong number or fans of Moss freaking out and hanging up when they hear a woman’s voice instead of Moss’. And when Moss did answer the phone oddly, maybe he was talking in a hushed voice because he was talking about a surprise for Trudy -- we never get anyone else’s views except Trudy’s and they paint Moss in a bad light. Maybe Moss is more innocent than she seems.
I too originally thought that Moss was cheating with Trudy at the beginning of the story. But like you, I later found Trudy to be overprotective of everything in her life. I brought this up a bit towards the end of the class, but at the end of the story we see Trudy loose everything that she cared about (Moss and the Cat) because she was so worried that they would leave her. I agree that the phone call seem a bit suspicious however I don't think that it is good enough evidence to think he is cheating on her. I believe that there is a chance that he could have been cheating but it was Trudy that pushed Moss away with her over protectiveness.
ReplyDeleteThere's an irony here, as you point out: Trudy's paranoia and suspicion is what drives Moss away, rather than any infidelity (as far as we can tell) that would justify that paranoia and suspicion. We imagine him saying that, for all the suspicion and "helicoptering" he needs to deal with, he might as well be cheating.
ReplyDeleteBut there is a strong sense that his attentions lie elsewhere--that his opera work is more satisfying than the stressful situation at home. This is a kind of "unfaithfulness" to Trudy, as he'd rather spend time at the theater, where he gets to be "the tenor of love" and not relentlessly hounded by his girlfriend.