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I was using the movie as a place to hide. My parents had separated a couple of years earlier. Afterward, my mother began having seizures, was diagnosed as having a brain tumor, and had the first of two unsuccessful surgeries. The summer of "Star Wars," she was five or six months from the second surgery, and a year from dying. I spent a certain amount of time that summer trying to distract my grandmother from the coming loss of her only child by pushing my new enthusiasms on her, as if she could replace family with pop culture, as I was doing. She and I had an ongoing argument about rock and roll, one that (it now strikes me) was ultimately a kind of argument about whether our family was a site of tragedy. I sensed that I was on the losing end of it, but in any case I worked to find a hit record that she couldn't quibble with.

http://chud.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-3549.html

About the last half of the paragraph, how does the arguement of rock and roll relate to the frist half of the paragraph? Is it just a description of is his/her grandmother, who didn't like pop culture anyway? Or is it that he/she frist tried to distract her from the loss by pussing his/her enthusiasms of rock and roll on her?

Danyoo · Accepted Answer

It's the latter.

Grandmothers are obviously not into rock and roll. The narrator probably was not a big fan of rock and roll either prior to his parents' divorce. He was just trying to find a place to hide, an outlet. So they had a ongoing argument about rock and roll which neither of them were really interested in, but it gave both of them a relief from the tragedy they were facing.

One inconsistency I see is that, at the beginning the narrator talks about using the movies...but later gives an example regarding rock and roll.

Hope this helps.

MrPedantic · Answer

I'd look at it slightly differently – to my mind, the narrator moves by association of ideas from film > pop culture > rock & roll, where both film and R&R are examples of "pop culture". So:

"...pop culture, as I was doing. For instance, she and I had an ongoing argument about rock and roll, one that (it now strikes me) was ultimately a kind of argument about whether our family was a site of tragedy. I sensed that I was on the losing end of it, but in any case I worked to find a hit record that she couldn't quibble with."

But I wouldn't like to be definitive about a passage of this nature.

It's also unclear whether the narrator means "rock and roll" in the 50s sense, or simply in a general "rock music" sense.

MrP

Davkett · Answer

What's unclear to me is how an argument about rock and roll (pop culture) could be taken as an argument about whether a family is 'a site of tragedy'.

MrPedantic · Answer

<What's unclear to me is how an argument about rock and roll (pop culture) could be taken as an argument about whether a family is 'a site of tragedy'.>

If you go to the website, you'll find that Paul McCartney's Mull of Kintyre was the narrator's "trump card".

Tragedy enough there for anyone, surely...

MrP

Davkett · Answer

I had gone to the website, and , yes, I see now how the tragedy was staring me right in the face.  I've got to work on my ability to spot the obvious.

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