But we are told very clearly by Winnie that death is a needed
boundary. "Doesn't it give a prescious texture to life, a sense of
definition? You have to ask yourself whether anything you do in this
life would have beauty and meaning without the knowledge you carry a
final line, a border or limit." And we are told that fear changes our
perceptions of the self, allows us to see who we are as if for the first
time. ( all o' this is on page 229)
What complicates this rather straightforward message is the
interjection of "Clorets, Velamints, Freedent." I am still trying to
sort out all of the meanings in the novel, but I think that it is trying
to say that, in part, our commercial society needs to modify its
perceptions of death.
Carter Neal
cen5k@virginia.edu