In Ian McEwan’s novel, “Saturday,” Henry the protagonist is presented as living the perfect life, secluded in his mansion with a perfect family and a promising career. However, one quickly understands that the events of September 11 have left a lasting impression on Henry. His world is no longer as safe as he once liked to believe it was and the promise of Britain waging war on Iraq, set as the backdrop to his story, constantly creeps into his life during the course of Saturday.
Zoe Heller explains that “Perowne is caught between the vividness of interiority (the clarity of his private, sensuous pleasures) and the confusing demands of what lies outside.” His life has become interwoven with the political world scene and the media’s coverage of the war on terrorism. More importantly, Heller describes Perowne’s “truest sanctuary” as not being in his material wealth, but in “his moments of intimate communion with other people.” Henry’s relationship with his wife, his children, his patients and even his father-in-law make up his world. It is for this reason that his first encounter with Baxter does not constitute a threat to his sense of security. Henry feared for what those three men might do to him when he approached them after wrecking their car, but he approached them anyway in an aggressive manner and later refused to pay them the sum Baxter asked for. Henry felt safe confronting them, and he didn't feel his life as being in real danger even though he received a hard blow on his chest. He even felt guilty of using his medical knowledge to get out of the confrontation. However, it was a totally different story when Baxter showed up at Henry’s house. In this case Baxter was not endangering him, but something more important, his family. By threatening to slit his wife’s throat, humiliating his daughter and hurting his father-in-law, Baxter had waged war against him,, and his world was no longer safe. In this case Baxter is comparable to Al Qaeda and Henry to the western world. To the western world commercial flying would never be the same as it one was: “Everyone agrees, airliners look different in the sky these days, predatory or doomed.” And to Henry that’s the way his world now seemed to him in the face of strangers. This is also made apparent when he thinks of Giulio, the father of his future grandchild, and how he is sure he will ruin his daughter's perfect life.
However, one could also argue that even before this second incident with Baxter he was already expecting something terrible to happen that would cause his world to collapse. At 4am he had watched a plane on fire land at Heathrow. He watched the news throughout the day expecting to hear that some jihadist was responsible. When Baxter showed up at his home he thought “of course, logical that Baxter is here” as if he knew all along that something bad was supposed to happen to him and his family, in the same way Europe was expecting and preparing for a terrorist attack. Henry knew he was not safe. He was unsafe at multiple levels. His world, his family, would not remain the way it was. His children were growing up and that terrorized him.
3 comments:
Very interesting last paragraph--the march is the metaphor for the unsettled atmosphere that Perowne experiences. He wants to pretend it doesn't involve him, but it does throughout the novel.
I like how you used the quote by Heller that said that Henry's safe haven is in "his moments of intimate communion with other people." I think you make a good point referencing Henry's new outlook in consequence of 9/11 as a reason that he is immediately on the defense against Giulio and Daisy's pregnancy. In the same way Baxter threatened the lives of Henry's family when he broke into their home, Henry sees Giulio as threatening Daisy's future happiness. I really like that you pointed this out, because I did not pick up on this when I was reading.
I also think your last paragraph is interesting. I noticed that after Henry witnessed the plane on fire coming out of the sky, he wondered if there was something he could do to help. Heller also posted a quote that said ''His crime was to stand in the safety of his bedroom, wrapped in a woollen dressing gown, without moving or making a sound, half dreaming as he watched people die." I think this same logic could be applied to Henry's opinion on the war in Iraq, and why Daisy was so opposed to it. Henry thought that going to war could possibly stop the terrorism, but Daisy believed that the many innocent deaths that would accumulate from the war were unjust. I think a part of Henry recognized that he would be safe in his home while people died in the war and that made him insecure on his opinion of whether or not he was for the war.
-Stephanie Baker
The metaphor that Henry is a type of western culture and Baxter is representative of a terrorist is shockingly clear now that you mentioned it. The way Baxter has seemingly no regard for the well being of other people, people who have done him no wrong, and his ability to victimize them does mirror the terrorists and their actions. It is something the author likely intended to do, but it was not something everyone, including myself, picked up on until reading this paper. Henry does care more about his family and their safety than he does his own, but I do think he is more concerned about his own safety and well being than you mention. He felt guilty using his medical knowledge to get out of the confrontation, not because he was so strong and brave, but because he knows Baxter has a serious problem, and he felt empathy towards him. I think Henry had been doing a lot of inner reflection after the plane crash he witnessed; it seems he was more aware of his own mortality, when before that morning, he was able to distance himself from the problems of the world. Once Baxter entered his home, Perowne became fully aware just how fragile his life, and the life of his family is.
M. Corkern
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