Transparent Things -Armande

As I have written before, and my entire paper focuses on, my love for Transparent Things. For some reason I love the connections and the story itself, not that because it is shorter it is any easier, if anything it is not. It just means that Nabokov tries to smash as much into a short novella rather than the epic length he usually likes, or at least they feel that way when you sit down to read them!

As I reread Transparent Things for class awhile back I was struck how each time I really start to dislike Armande more and more. I mean Hugh is not my favorite person either, and all of the characters are really not the role models or kind of characters you look up to as a reader, but Armande each time I read it seems to get worse.

I guess I am just so struck by her attitude about Hugh and just life in general. I think Doug was right in his presentation she is the whore of the novel, but at the same time she is so cold. Each time Hugh remembers having sex with her just lays there and either forces him to have a conversation with him, or she is on the phone chatting with a friend and at that she is fully dressed.

I just kept thinking to myself if he is really that bad why did you marry him? It seemed as if a bad match from the beginning but at the same time a perfect one. Like Doug talked about in his dense presentation on Tuesday, I am sure I did not get all of it, they are their counterparts.

Hugh is the virgin, inexperienced, kind of drab and boring guy and Armande is the over sexed, cold and interesting but at the same time you are unsure if you want to get to close to her person.

Hugh and Armande complete each other in a sense in Transparent Things. In each reading though I seem to despise Armande more and more, even though I dislike Hugh at the same time. They deserve each other and their relationship is dysfunctional but adds another element to the novel. I have to say I would have strangled her as well, and perhaps not even in my sleep!