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Part II: Zarjo, The Fall, 11 June 1962

#99: Sept. - Oct. 2011 (Fiction)
lindad_amato
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Part II: Zarjo, The Fall, 11 June 1962

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Chapters 7, 8, 9 of Part II
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giselle

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Re: Part II: Zarjo, The Fall, 11 June 1962

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The arrival of Dirk Burnaby with Zarjo and the resulting scene in the household is odd and in a way rather funny - the pandemonium and excitement. I felt Dirk was trying to somehow compensate or make up for what he did while not admitting that he did anything wrong ... in his mind he had done nothing wrong ... in any case, it was rather pathetic attempt at reconciliation. Really, I don't think he had reconciliation with Ariah in mind at this point. He wanted to see the joy on his kids faces that he knew the puppy would produce and then run for the hills. The repetition of 'Daddy' over and over was quite effective in that it stressed what he was not. Perhaps the puppy was somehow a replacement, a sort of surrogate 'dad' that could be with his family while he went off to pursue his real priorities.
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realiz

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Re: Part II: Zarjo, The Fall, 11 June 1962

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Yes, I think the puppy was his replacement. This replacement was more permanent than he realized. He could not admit to himself just how much he had left his family and how much of himself he had given to the other woman. He had found another woman who needed rescuing as Ariah had when he first fell in love with her. He devoted all his time, energy, and money to this other woman's cause but tried to convince himself that he still loved his wife and family.

In some ways, Ariah's reaction could be thought of as an overreaction, or that she believed the worst because of her preconceived idea that Dirk would leave her eventually. On the surface one could argue that Dirk had done no wrong, there was no affair, he was just her lawyer fighting for a justice in the worthy case. Yet, before he met the lady in black, Dirk had no interest in this type of case. It was her and her alone that spurned is interest and zeal.

I felt a little sorry for Dirk as Ariah was not an easy person to have a relationship with and she really did push him away. He needed to be needed and he should have been much more involved with his family.
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giselle

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Re: Part II: Zarjo, The Fall, 11 June 1962

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Dirk does seem to have bad case of 'knight in shining armour' complex ... he falls in love in the midst of all his 'rescuing', but his feelings are all wrapped up with the drama of their 'cause' and the rescue. I'm not sure if he loves the drama more than the women perhaps. And I think he miscalculates and underestimates the women, seeing them as weak and vulnerable, probably part of that 'complex'.
Last edited by giselle on Fri Sep 23, 2011 6:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
lindad_amato
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Re: Part II: Zarjo, The Fall, 11 June 1962

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I'm more sympathetic to Dirk in general. Ariah just seems to strange and self-involved to me. Although I do feel that Dirk is in love with the act of helping women who appear to need the help. Perhaps this stems from wanting to be free of his over-bearing mother. He seems to have the need to be involved with women who don't dominate him.
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Re: Part II: Zarjo, The Fall, 11 June 1962

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What brought about Dirk's demise? He had lived such a charmed life. Was it something that he did which caused his downfall or was there something more cosmic happening?
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realiz

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Re: Part II: Zarjo, The Fall, 11 June 1962

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When Dirk first fell in love with Ariah, his life seemed to very little of substance in it. He had managed to move away from being dependant on his mother, but not completely as he knew that his lifestyle would not have been possible without the initial help from her. His friends and romantic interest and activities were all fairly superficial. Rescuing Ariah could have also been an attempt to break out of his old life.

He did devote himself to Ariah and to the role of husband and provider in the beginning. He gave of much of his old life other than his work, which did not seem to change much. I think then as the years went by, he found himself once again feeling superficial in life or disconnected. He was both afraid of change (his initial fear of The Lady In Black) and could not seem to escape it. Once he had a taste of a new passion in life, he could not turn away even though he had to turn his back on his family and his friends.

I think what lead to his demise was the 'drug' of passion. Did some other force bring him and Nina together? Was he destined to become involved with her and her cause? Was it fate? Those beliefs would make it easier to give in to.
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Re: Part II: Zarjo, The Fall, 11 June 1962

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I like the word you used to describe Dirk's life, "superficial". He seems to make somewhat radical changes in his life when he feels that he's in a rut. He left the sporting life to marry Ariah and then put his marriage and career in danger with Nina.
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Re: Part II: Zarjo, The Fall, 11 June 1962

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Nina seemed to open his eyes to many things that he had missed before or not thought about before, but also caused him to close his eyes to what he was doing to his family. I guess in a sense he was seeing the world through Nina's eyes, so as we commented before on 'souls', perhaps Nina had taken his soul, or they'd joined souls.
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Re: Part II: Zarjo, The Fall, 11 June 1962

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In the realm of things spiritual I believe some people think that a soul can enter another body and see through that persons eyes. Perhaps this is the case with Nina and Dirk. Whatever the reason he certainly did have an awakening of how less fortunate people live. It must have been quite a jolt for him to see the world from a less than advantaged point of view. However, as seems to be the case with Dirk, he became over emotionally involved.
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