{"id":104,"date":"2014-03-23T10:28:45","date_gmt":"2014-03-23T17:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/edwardleung\/?p=104"},"modified":"2014-03-23T10:35:12","modified_gmt":"2014-03-23T17:35:12","slug":"3-3-pg-82-93","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/edwardleung\/2014\/03\/23\/3-3-pg-82-93\/","title":{"rendered":"3.3: GG+RW [82-93]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buffalo Bill Bursum<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>The first connection I made with Buffalo Bill was the infamous antagonist of the same name from the cult-classic book and film, Silence of the Lambs. In a famous scene from the 1991 movie adaptation, Buffalo Bill does a strange dance to the song Goodbye Horses <\/i><\/a>\u2013 the song itself contains many metaphors as well, though the general theme is that there are not any actual horses, but instead, it is the singer saying good bye to their sanity. While the correlation is light, it did give me a sense of unease about the character, which I\u2019m sure King was aware of while finishing his novel just two years after the release of the film.<\/p>\n

However, the stronger reference would the linking of two historic peoples \u00a0with ties to the \u201cIndians\u201d of America\u00a0to the narrative of the novel<\/span>. The name is a combination of William R Cody, AKA Buffalo Bill, and New Mexico Senator Holm O. Bursum. William Cody was best known for his show \u201cBuffalo Bill Cody\u2019s Wild West\u201d from 1872 in which he exploits the ignorance around Indigenous culture for profit and fame. Senator Bursum, in similar vein, was responsible for the Bursum Bill of 1921 which took a large portion of land away from the Pueblos. (Flick, 148). In combination, our Buffalo Bill embodies the theme of a person who is profiting from the exploits of other\u2019s resources, which is suiting given his business of selling and of re-selling old electronics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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John Wayne\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While Flick (1998) does a much better job at summarizing the link between King\u2019s John Wayne to the famous Western actor of the 1950s, the first connection I made prior to reading Flick was to the movie The Searchers<\/a><\/i> where John Wayne plays a Civil War veteran who searches for his niece who has decided to leave her home and live with an Indian tribe. John Wayne, while having portrayed in several roles that were sympathetic to Indians, was largely known for being type casted as the gun-toting Indian-hating cowboy (Flick, 147) and Lionel\u2019s childhood desire to be just like the actor symbolizes his \u201cdenial of \u201cIndianness\u201d\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Peach and Sexuality<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026the idea of a soft, fuzzy peach, full of juice and sparkling flesh all aglow in flames, was intellectually erotic.\u201d (King, 86)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While describing Alberta\u2019s initial passion for Bob when they first fell in love, King uses the imagery of the peach to help the reader visualize the relationship. The peach has historically been used to symbolize female sexuality and imagery of the fruit in a slow burning flame may also symbolize the budding youth of Alberta at the time and the heat of reaching sexual maturity.<\/p>\n

Long Drive<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAlberta liked to drive. She liked to drive her own car, and she liked to drive alone\u2026a feeling calm always came over her, and the world outside the car disappeared.\u201d (King, 85)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This starting paragraph of the chapter immediately reminded me of the ending scene from the first Terminator film, released in 1986 . Here is a clip of it:<\/p>\n