Rickie, the Metamorphosis, and the Odyssey
Posted: Jun 26th 2004, 3:20 am
An interesting bit of foreshadowing from The Zit:
When discussing Gregor's situation, Rickie insists that if he was mistreated by his family, he would leave. In So-Called Angels, we see that this too has come to pass, although it is never quite clear whether Rickie has left voluntarily to escape the abuse or has been kicked out (or, as the policeman phrases it, "Is this kid a runaway or a throwaway?"). Angela does tells Brian, "for some reason, [Rickie]'s scared to go home," but we are left to decide for ourselves whether Rickie is afraid to go back because he has run away or because he was told not to come back; however, in Resolutions, Rickie learns that his family has moved without leaving a forwarding number, which seems to indicate that Rickie is not welcome to rejoin his family.
In Resolutions, Mr. Katimski has the class read Homer's Odyssey and asks them to write an essay about what Odysseus wants (the answer is that he wants to get home to his family). Rickie describes Odyssesus as "this lonely guy that wanders the world for, like, many years," again providing a parallel for what he is going through himself, wandering from place to place (in So-Called Angels he goes from Rayanne's to Brian's to Angela's in a single night). In the figurative sense, Rickie has been wandering for quite some time. In Life of Brian, he admits to Angela, "I belong nowhere. With no one. That I don't -- fit." Previous to that in Guns & Gossip, he expressed his feeling of alienation to Angela, saying, "You just think of me as...as someone who's just, you know, around." We see him being roughed up by some of the guys at school, and people talk about him hanging out in the girls' bathroom. When he finally decides to use the boys' bathroom, he responds to the funny looks with, "What? I'm not allowed in here either? Jeez." Rickie knows that he is different and that he doesn't fit in with the mainstream, so he, like Odysseus, is wandering, trying to find his home, a place where he belongs.
Lastly, Brian says it seems that Gregor dies of loneliness at the end of The Metamorphosis. When Rickie shows up unannounced at Mr. Katimski's apartment at the end of Resolutions, he says, "Sorry. It just got so hard to be alone." Unlike Gregor, Rickie does not die of loneliness. Instead he finally finds a place where he belongs.
Although this conversation takes place months before So-Called Angels, there are striking parallels between Gregor (the protagonist in The Metamorphosis) and Rickie's situation. Although Rickie doesn't turn into a bug, his uncle/dad realizes that Rickie is gay and "can't handle it." Rickie does mention in Father Figures, "I'm somewhat afraid of my dad. I mean, in the past, my dad has broken down my door." From this admission and the black eye he is sporting in So-Called Angels, we can glean that, like Gregor's family, Rickie's Catholic family is "like, repulsed, so...they, um, abuse him."Rickie: Where's the teacher?
Brian: It's Rinaldi. Half the time, he doesn't show so...
Jordan: Hey, uh, you, you know that, uh, that, that paragraph or whatever we have to write, about that bug guy?
Brian: The Metamorphosis?
Jordan: Yeah, that.
Brian: Um, it was due already so...
Jordan: I know. I got extended. They said if I don't turn something in, then they're gonna stick me back in remedial...which I'm just, you know, not in the mood. To be treated like dirt. So what happens after he turns bug? I, I mean, how's it end?
Brian: Well, he dies. Um, they basically kill him.
Jordan: They who?
Rickie: Wait, what book is this?
Jordan: Wait, who kills him, the exterminators?
Brian: No, his family.
Jordan: Oh. So, so he never, like, uh, turns back.
Brian: Nope, and they, um, they turn on him.
Rickie: But why?
Brian: 'Cause, he's a giant cockroach. And they, like, they can't handle it. They're, like, repulsed, so...they, um, abuse him, they, they, they starve him, but what it seems like when you're reading it, is that, um, he dies from loneliness.
Jordan: Seems possible.
Rickie: What? Wait. So, if they're starving him or whatever, then why doesn't he just leave?
Brian: 'Cause, what's he gonna do, check into a motel? He's a cockroach.
Jordan: Hey, "Roach Motel."
Sharon: The point is, is he's the same person...inside. No matter what he looks like.
Rickie: All the same, if I were him, I'd be out of there, so fast.
When discussing Gregor's situation, Rickie insists that if he was mistreated by his family, he would leave. In So-Called Angels, we see that this too has come to pass, although it is never quite clear whether Rickie has left voluntarily to escape the abuse or has been kicked out (or, as the policeman phrases it, "Is this kid a runaway or a throwaway?"). Angela does tells Brian, "for some reason, [Rickie]'s scared to go home," but we are left to decide for ourselves whether Rickie is afraid to go back because he has run away or because he was told not to come back; however, in Resolutions, Rickie learns that his family has moved without leaving a forwarding number, which seems to indicate that Rickie is not welcome to rejoin his family.
In Resolutions, Mr. Katimski has the class read Homer's Odyssey and asks them to write an essay about what Odysseus wants (the answer is that he wants to get home to his family). Rickie describes Odyssesus as "this lonely guy that wanders the world for, like, many years," again providing a parallel for what he is going through himself, wandering from place to place (in So-Called Angels he goes from Rayanne's to Brian's to Angela's in a single night). In the figurative sense, Rickie has been wandering for quite some time. In Life of Brian, he admits to Angela, "I belong nowhere. With no one. That I don't -- fit." Previous to that in Guns & Gossip, he expressed his feeling of alienation to Angela, saying, "You just think of me as...as someone who's just, you know, around." We see him being roughed up by some of the guys at school, and people talk about him hanging out in the girls' bathroom. When he finally decides to use the boys' bathroom, he responds to the funny looks with, "What? I'm not allowed in here either? Jeez." Rickie knows that he is different and that he doesn't fit in with the mainstream, so he, like Odysseus, is wandering, trying to find his home, a place where he belongs.
Lastly, Brian says it seems that Gregor dies of loneliness at the end of The Metamorphosis. When Rickie shows up unannounced at Mr. Katimski's apartment at the end of Resolutions, he says, "Sorry. It just got so hard to be alone." Unlike Gregor, Rickie does not die of loneliness. Instead he finally finds a place where he belongs.