“Danny and Lucy’s Marriage”
Anne Tyler explicates, “Danny and Lucy were married a week later, in the Presbyterian church on Dober Street that the Bedloes sporadically attended…Pathetically few guests dotted the bride’s side of the church…But the groom’s side! First came the parents, Doug Bedloe belted in and slicked down in an unfamiliar way and Bee wearing a new striped dress from Hutzler’s. Then in the second pew, a row of Daleys—Claudia and her husband, Macy, and all five of their rustling, fidgeting children, even little Ellen, although a sitter had been hired to lurk at the rear of the church just in case. Ian sat in the third pew with Cicely, holding hands. And if he turned around, he could see Danny’s friends from high school and his co-workers from the post office and just about the whole neighbourhood as well: the Cahns, the Crains, the Mercers, Cicely’s parents and her brother Stevie, Mrs. Jordan in her bald fur stole even on this warm May day, and every last one of the foreigners—a row of tan young men wearing identical shiny black suits.” By all accounts, the wedding ceremony is exhilarating and gratifying notwithstanding that a few of Lucy’s family are present. The groom’s family dominates the wedding demonstrating that they are supportive of Danny; hence, these people would want him to be categorically gratified with Lucy. The wedding substantiates the tight bonds which link Danny’s family.
The Imagery of Amoeba
Anne Tyler reports, “In his ninth-grade biology class, Ian had watched through a microscope while an amoeba shaped like a splash approached a dot of food and gradually surrounded it. Then it had moved on, wider now and blunter, distorted to accommodate the dot of food within. As Ian accommodated, over and over, absorbing the fact of Danny’s death. He would see it looming in his path—something dark and stony that got in the way of every happy moment. He’d be splitting a pizza with Pig and Andrew or listening to records with Cicely and all at once it would rise up in front of him: Danny is dead. He died. Died. And then a thought that was even worse: He died on purpose. He killed himself. And finally the most horrible thought of all: Because of what I told him. He learned to deal with these thoughts in order, first things first. All right, he’s dead. I will never see him again. He’s in Pleasant Memory Cemetery underneath a lilac bush. He won’t be helping me with my fast ball. He hasn’t heard I got accepted at Sumner College.” Ian is equivalent to the food which the amoeba consumes because the thoughts regarding Danny worry him omnipresently. The judgments are so robust to the degree that they portend to consume his life in the same way that the amoeba swamps the food. His remorse magnifies the intimidating nature of the opinions which are injurious to his tranquility. Perhaps, had he not been guilty for subsidizing Danny's death, the thoughts would not have badgered him insistently. Ian’s unconsciously remorse over his brother’s death is injurious to his mental well-being, since he is at risk of anxiety ailments.
