Geek Love - Books III and IV

***Miss Lick - page 155
I find it interesting that Miss Lick eats pretty much only one thing - the frozen dinners. This can be paralleled with the way she sees the world - in only one way. The frozen dinners are her own company's, just as her view of empowerment/good life for women is her own creation. She mentions that the only thing she eats are the frozen dinners at 900 calories a piece, but questions why she is so big. She eats only the one thing but fails to see the problem in her diet. Similarly, her view of the world is quite skewed in believing that painfully burning women's hair or faces, or removing pieces of who they are is liberation. She fails to see that her method of stopping men from expoiting them causes her to exploit them.

***The Horse (Frosty)
While rereading the novel, the symbolism of Frosty stood out to me. Whether Arty has already started to have an idea in his head for the future, or if Frosty is an inspiration that gives Arty the idea for the later Admitted, Frosty represents the start of Arty's control over Chick and the beginning for his later cult. He makes an agreement with Doc P that she can study Chick if she doctors Frosty. This is the same day as the sandstorm. It was unclear to me whether the sandstorm was a normal local occurence, or if it was somehow related to Chick's fear that first day that Arty trapped him in with Doc P. As is common in literature, the storm can be taken as an omen of the future. Further, after Frosty has his legs lopped off, the twins at first thank Arty for the present. However, Elly very shortly realizes the cost that has come, saying, "So this is what it's going to be like" (142). While Chick knows and says the horse has no hurt at all, Elly realizes that Arty is using Chick to remove all the pain. As Chick controls the horse's feelings, so Arty gains control over Chick, making him a slave. Indeed, Oly comments, "whether Chick kept the brute's heart pumping against his will I don't know" (142). Even in the absence of pain, the horse is scared and has lost the will to live; the horse can be considered as a "natural" being untouched by any human will to please Arty as the rest of the characters portray. We, as readers, can see what Arty does to this animal. Does the escape of pain come at the cost of losing one's life in a sense? This is an interesting thought when considering whether lopping off body parts liberates the Admitted later in Arty's Cult. They come wanting fearlessness, courage, compassion, love, and all-encompassing mercy (190) and Arty is just "telling them what they wanted to hear" (144). Norval Sanderson details the feeling from an outside perspective, saying, "I become convinced, for an hour, that Arty is not injuring them but is allowing them to acknowledge the pain in their lives in order to escape from it" (190). I think Frosty offers proof that in reality, this is not so. These people are not liberated as they may think, but lose pieces of their humanity in their cult following of Arty, who knowingly uses them for his own twisted power and sense of self, as well as for their money.