Mar 24 2008
The passage I’m going to look at is from page 298 of Aloft by Change Rae Lee. It is something Paul says referring to Theresa, but which also applies directly to Jerry. In this passage, we can see the similarities between the two and also perhaps why Jerry treated Daisy the way he did.
“There’s no respect anymore. People want what they want and they want it now. Nothing comes before them…They think they can go anywhere and do anything, as if none of their actions has any bearing except on themselves, like they’re in their own mini-biosphere, all needs self-providing, everything self-contained, setting it up like God would do himself. It doesn’t matter that there are people the the ourside tapping at the glass, saying, ‘Hey, hey, I’m here. Look out here.’”
Theresa refuses to talk about her cancer and avoids the subject at all costs. Everytime Jerry got into his plane, he was up in the air in his own little world. By doing this, he shut out all the people that he claimed to love, especially Rita. He could have taken Rita with him on any number of occasions, but chose instead to leave her home because he needed his “Jerry time.” Similarly, Theresa won’t talk about her illness with anyone including her husband. She has made up her mind about deciding to wait for the baby before treating it. If you read the book, you know this results in her death.
The question then is when has a person gone too far? When do they pass the point of no return? When does a person stop caring about what other people want and only listen to the voice inside their heads? For Jerry, the day he changed is when he started treating Daisy like she was some maid/housewife where she took orders and got an allowance. Instead of trying to figure out what was wrong with Daisy, he assumed she needed a little tough love to get her back to normal. Instead of looking at the situation from all angles, he saw the recent shopping sprees as Daisy being disobidient.
Jerry passed the point of no return the day he yelled at Daisy. Once he “scolded” her for her behavior and decided to put her on an allowance, he ruined their relationship. Had she lived, maybe they would’ve been able to fix it. Jerry stopped thinking about his wife and started thinking about some “perfect” wife that does exactly what her man says. He tried to shape Daisy into this woman and ignored her crys for help like swinging naked in the park.
It is interesting because had Daisy gotten the appropriate medical care she probably would’ve lived a longer life. Maybe this is why Jerry feels the need to get into his plane everytime he has a problem. The last time he reacted to a problem, he let Daisy die. But what does shutting someone out do? Nothing. It makes them feel like they’re not even important enough to talk to. Rita probably felt like Jerry only cared about Jerry and not about the stability and love that they shared. He didn’t have enough faith in himself to not make the same mistake again.
Jerry loves his plane, but I also think he loves his family. He just doesn’t know how to communicate those feelings. He doesn’t want to directly confront a problem because he killed Daisy the last time. So, he aviods at all costs any discussion of problems by flying his plane. By the time he comes down, the problem has most likely blown over and things are back to normal with no resolution ever really coming.
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