aradoff
12-01-2009, 12:36 PM
Harold is a “troubled” boy who is fixated with death and the act of committing suicide. His whole life is a routine of wearing a suit, going to boarding school, fancy dinners and therapy. Harold’s mother is more of a mother figure than anything; she is completely self obsessed and materialistic. Her lack of parenting is replaced with either ignoring her son or treating him like just another object in her life that she is constantly trying to fix. Harold’s life is utterly predictable as SSilverst comments, and has a complete lack of emotion. His mother tells people that he has an obsession with the abnormal, but how could you blame him? The appeal to killing oneself is the fact that it gives you control, no one knows when they are going to die but if you commit suicide then you are choosing when to end your life. While at the same time it is abnormal to Harold because death is something that is supposed to come when a person is old, killing oneself at a young age is in a way absurdity because it is coming out of sequence.
Harold’s attraction to bizarre things stems not only from his lack of any real color in his home life but his desire to counteract his current situation with something completely opposite. Maude is an embodiment of everything he is looking for; her eccentric ways and free spirit are nothing like anything he has ever experienced. The lack of emotional fulfillment at home drives Harold to get that need met through going to the extreme and seeing people’s reaction, showing that lack of love in one’s life will make a person go to the extreme to get that kind of validation or attention.
Harold’s attraction to bizarre things stems not only from his lack of any real color in his home life but his desire to counteract his current situation with something completely opposite. Maude is an embodiment of everything he is looking for; her eccentric ways and free spirit are nothing like anything he has ever experienced. The lack of emotional fulfillment at home drives Harold to get that need met through going to the extreme and seeing people’s reaction, showing that lack of love in one’s life will make a person go to the extreme to get that kind of validation or attention.