I willingly admit that I did not understand The Simulacra as
well as some of the other stories we have read so far. One of the things that
truly threw me off was probably the amount of characters to keep track of. In
the second part, I was able to follow the story more but I still had moments of
uncertainty with the characters.
The one character that I never really understood was Julie.
Her relationships with Vince and Chic seem unclear and confusing. I understand
that she gets divorced from Vince and then falls “in like” with Chic, but what
causes this decision? Was there an underlying attraction before she was
divorced? Is it just that Julie is dependent and has to be with someone? It
seems like she still cares for Vince but now her true affections have shifted
to Chic. I’m just not sure that I understand where those feelings come from –
it seems slightly out of the blue.
I do agree with you that the amount of characters added to much confusion while reading this story. I really appreciate my Kindle so that I can cross reference when necessary, however it is still a pain that alot of them were not so memorable. I also wondered where Julie really fit in. My thoughts are that she did not have much personality or feelings, therefore her relationship with the brothers reflected that also. I also think that PKD makes a point with her to say something about the state of marriage in our society, and how easy it is to marry and divorce, thereby reducing the sanctity of it. It becomes disposable.
ReplyDeleteGoodness do I agree with you! I did feel like I could understand the second half a little more than the first. Julie, I believe, had a bigger part within the book than we give her credit for. She was a statement that clarified we are not respectable of what we do to others we are "committed" to. We do not respect that idea that we cant sleep with anyone and everyone. Julie was sleeping with Chic even though he was the brother of his ex-husband. There are many cases that happen when two people get married and get left from the sibling. I think that PKD is mimicking the socity and how we are impulse people. We want it now; therefore, we will get whatever it is, no matter what.
ReplyDeleteI feel Like Julie may have just been there as a mechanism to introduce how relationships are, and to give an ending for Chic, when she buys the tickets to mars. Other than that she contributed nothing to the novel, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI'm in agreement with you on this book. I did not enjoy it, and it was because I did not connect with the characters. The only part about Julie that I could gather, was that she needed someone to control. Control was a central part of this book- government control, people controlling their own lives, etc. She needed control. Remember how Chic thought now that Julie was there, he would get breakfast, and he ended up making it for her? And Vince forgot she wasn't there, and wasn't going to get breakfast unless he made it himself. Almost as if Dick was hinting that the reason she left was because she wanted to have the control and maybe felt she was not the superior person in the relationship before and wanted to stake her place early on with Chic.
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