In class we talked about how this novel relates to death and how different people can deal with it very differently. The chapter that I feel best demonstrates how differently people can react to death is “A Fear of Love”.
The two main characters, Lara and Blaine, react drastically differently from each other, despite being very similar individuals. Lara struggles to forget about the events that led to them killing two people. Whereas, Blaine quickly rationalizes his part in the accident by explaining that it was Corrigan’s fault because he did not know how to drive.
It is not surprising to see contrasting reactions to death; however, I find it interesting because both Lara and Blaine are so similar. They are both artists and enjoyed the party lifestyle with many drugs and few concerns. Yet, their reactions to death were complete opposites, which show how influential death can be and how difficult it is to come to terms with. At the end of the chapter we can even see that it is driving the couple apart, as each cannot understand the other’s response.
Anthony, I agree with everything you have said. Lara simply could not live with herself after the accident, yet Blaine just wanted to put it behind him and get on with his life. From what I recall from the book, they both had been living a reckless lifestyle and Blaine tended to just move forward, maybe the years of screwing up had brought Lara to realize her past mistakes. That one cataclysmic event sent her into this whirlwind of reflection of horrible mistakes and caused her to question that the incidents that had happened were actually her fault, whereas Blaine whom I do not see as immoral, simply could not live up to the fact that he was the true cause of Corrigan’s and Jazzlyn’s deaths and so rationalized the blame away from himself. Of course these differences, like you said most definitely enticed the splitting of the couple as one was owing up to her mistakes and the other was still living in the cloud of irresponsibility.