Date: Fri, 02 Aug 2002 14:01:17 -0500
Subject: Re: (urth) Doris
From: Adam Stephanides 

on 8/1/02 2:54 PM, Robert Borski at rborski@charter.net wrote:

Blattid says that your explanation makes the Doris-is-Weer's-daughter theory
plausible to him, but it doesn't to me.  Your major evidence is Weer's
interest in Doris.

> Writes the dog-boy: "You remember that when I was
> at your place we talked about Doris and had fun thinking about what could
> happen to her that could be good." But whysoever would Den be interested at
> all in the life of this poor girl or imagining how it could be better? This
> seems totally alien to the Den Weer we come to know in PEACE; if on the
> other hand Doris is his daughter, that would go a long way to explain his
> interest.

On the contrary, it would make his behavior incomprehensible.  According to
your theory, he learned, at dinner with Charlie, that his daughter was being
horribly abused, and did nothing except make up fairy-tale endings for her;
and this was apparently "fun."  He can't have shown much concern for Doris,
in any case, or Charlie wouldn't have broken the news of Doris's death the
way he does; for one thing, Charlie gives no indication of thinking that
Weer might be sad over her death.  And indeed, Weer shows no sign of being
sad over the "news."  (Of course, since this is something he's
reconstructing in his mind, he already knows Doris is dead, but still there
should be some sign of emotion.)  If Doris really was Weer's daughter, then
Weer is incredibly cold-hearted, and his interest in Doris is more likely to
stem from sadism than concern, something which doesn't fit how Weer is
portrayed.

One could argue that Weer pretended unconcern before Charlie to hide the
fact that Doris was his daughter, and secretly arranged for the woman from
Kilgore to help her.  But this isn't plausible, either.  Why channel help
through the woman from Kilgore, who might never find Doris, and not through
Charlie who sees her every day?  He wouldn't have to tell him she was his
daughter.  And after what Charlie told him at dinner, buying new clothes for
Doris is a pathetically inadequate gesture.  If Weer were really concerned,
he could and would have done much more.

(Of course, if Weer really is the devil, then that would explain everything;
but I don't believe that either.)

As for the assertion that the mysterious woman who buys Doris clothes is
"literally or typologically" Margaret Lorn Price, the only shred of
"evidence" for her being literally Margaret is her living near a town with
the same name as Margaret's great-grandmother.  And her being
"typologically" Margaret would do nothing to show that Doris was Weer's
daughter.

Why, then, does Weer take an interest in Doris?  I suggest that Doris
doesn't exist.  Charlie made up her sad tale to entertain Weer (he seems to
have ambitions of being a writer; at least he compares himself to Dickens).
Doris is too put-upon, and her story parallels Cinderella's too closely, to
be believable.

--Adam


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