Music For Torching by A.M. Holmes Essay -- Music Torching Holmes Essay

Music For Torching by A.M. HolmesA.M. Holmes critique of the American dreams malfunction in modern suburbia examines modern-day domestic life through a variety of socially lifelike metaphors. No metaphor is a stronger critic of the dark domestic arna she presents than the recurring theme of clothing as a mask which her characters social occasion to hide their true identities. The novel focuses on the importance of socially grateful clothing as an expression of each characters boilers suit desire to reach a state of normalcy, if not perfection. Yet badinage arises out the representation of clothing as both filling its universal role as a cover-up, and simultaneously being used as a medium of exposure. This ironical situation of clothing as a literal and abstract costume to hide physical and mental blemish reinforces the assertion that the real desires of Homes characters are often shielded from themselves and from others, and yet are ultimately revealed through what they w ear. The juxtaposition of the clothing motif is that clothing, or the privation thereof, serves as to conceal as well as reveal midland conflicts of sexuality, discontentment, or soulal esteem.The use of clothing as a conceal is primarily apparent in its role of covering up the surreptitious sexual lives of the characters. Each time she calls, Henrys date asks the person on the other line, What are you wearing? Her constant desire to greet the characters clothing reveals the importance that outward appearance holds in a sexual connotation the characters are repeatedly in several(a) states of dress and undress. Nates mother, whom Paul refers to as Mrs. Apple, answers her door wearing her married mans shirt. The incongruity lies in the seeming normalcy of her appearanc... ...ugged off particularly by his mother Mrs. Apple, who excuses his frequent absences to conventions and war games as if they were trivial and acceptable behavior for men. N bingletheless, his receives abse nce compels Nate to mimic and adopt his fathers appreciation of guns and ammunition with a warped sense of masculinity, final in the death of Sammy and the death of the novels innocence as a whole.Music For Torching inverts many societal conventions as satirical gossip on the secretly flawed world of American suburbanites. The typical societal convention for clothings purpose is covering up ones own body however, in Holmes novel, clothings recognized function is elongated and in like manner reversed. Clothing not only covers up the physical body as well unspoken thoughts and entities, but also reveals such entities through a mixture of subtle and thematic details.