Something I hadn't really noticed until I finished reading all of Pelafina's letters is that Johnny's last name is Truant. Pelafina's last name is Leivre, or something similar. While he would probably take on the last name of any of his adopted families I don't remember Johnny ever actually mentioning doing so. His last name is often not mentioned or spaced out entirely in letters to him from the institute.
The letters made this more apparent when I reached the one that mentioned Pelafina receiving notices saying JOHNNY IS TRUANT. Truant means to be intentionally absenst from school without permission. Basically ditching classes. So his last name is a word that possibly suggests he is not where he belongs, or a humorous take on his constantly being kicked out of school. Is it possible there are other reasons for this? Why is it that his last name happens to be a word that only appears in Pelafina's letters?
Sorry Im posting again on a comment because I don'[t know how to do it otherwise. So I wanted to do my last post regarding "The Sun Also Rises" by Hemmingway because it was my favorite book of the semester. I wanted to post about the ice berg theory and the hidden meaning behing all of their partying and how that applies to todays world. In Hemmingway's work this is supposed to comment on the war and the need for people to find a way out from their feelings. They partied all the time because they were confused and felt betrayed by the war. They didn't know what it meant. The partying that went on in the book reminded me in some way of the "hollywood" genereation today. Celebrities such as Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton etc. seem to live lives similiar to these characters. They are constantly partying and seemingly trying to escape from something. The way that I would translate this would be that instead of being confused by the war, they may actually be confused about who they are or their place in the world. Going off a post that I wrote about Snooki, as she said that after society places a cultural signifier on you to be a certain way (she obviously didn't use that language but thats what she meant) you start to believe that signifier, you start to believe you are what they say you are. In result to this as a young person this could cause a lot of confusion and may be possibly where all the partying and drinking/drug using comes from causing a numb lifeless person without an identity.
ReplyDeleteJodie
One of the notes near his father's obituary notes that Johnny requested his father's last name removed. (I don't have the book with me, so no page numbers, sorry.) For whatever reason(s), Johnny wants to remain as anonymous as possible and so has taken Truant as a pen name of sorts, possibly for the reasons mentioned in the opening blog.
ReplyDeleteOf course, if we were to assume that the novel is actually written by Pelefina, then the use of Truant as a name makes a bit more sense, as she is the one who brings attention to his absences at school.