“The relationship of Max to his mother, who died of cancer when he was seven, helped him get into Rushmore. “My mother read it & thought I should go to Rushmore.” His mother is the reason he’s at Rushmore. She is connected to this situation. He is a performer, wants the glory. He dreams in chapel about being applauded for solving the “hardest geometry problem in the world,” which even Dr. Leakey at MIT couldn’t solve. He cannot achieve glory through academics, & he probably learned this long before. He doesn’t care for private accomplishment or quiet good grades. He seeks applause. It is this recognition that he craves. He has a rather mild & polite relationship with his father. Everything he does is something like Buchan says, “big show, all talk, no results.” He brags of the infamous handjob, which is, as Buchan so eloquently puts it, “a fuckin’ lie.” The show—Max’s play or plays—which are really a public performance of talk, with artificial situations and drama, rather than real “results.” The resounding applause, the “handjob” writ large, are what he desires. As he turns to stare down the actor who punched him in the face, his triumph—overwhelmingly evidenced by the standing ovation as he crosses the stage—comes as a result of a dangerous drive to overcome obstacles. He pursues Miss Cross with a similar vehemence. He ignores his “sudden death academic probation,” & moves forward, completely in his own world, undeterred.”
Saturday, February 27, 2010
