Buddy's Day

It seems like Buddy, just like any other guy, wasn't really satisfied with his life. Ondaatje describes Bolden's daily routines:

"It was a financial tragedy that sleep sobered Bolden up completely, that his mind on waking was clear as an empty road and he began to casually drink again although never hard now for he played in the evenings. He slept from 4 till 8. His day had begun at 7 when he walked the kids a mile to school buying them breakfast along the way at the fruit stands. A half hour's walk and another 30 minutes for them to sit on the embankment and eat the huge meal of fruit." (177)

First of all, Bolden worked as a barber after left his kids at school until his nap at four. His life seems to be very decent, but his "financial tragedy" of spending his money on alcohol implies his wanting to forget reality. Even his everlasting 4-hour nap shows signs of dissatisfaction of the world. And once he does finally wake up, he goes out in the evening to let out all his emotions by playing his cornet. Obviously, he doesn't seem to like his job as a barber much because it's not even mentioned in this passage about his daily routine. Yes, it feels like as if Bolden is some kind of an emo that hates his job, but no. As we keep reading, it can be noticed that the second half of this paragraph is dedicated to his lovely kids. Clearly, Bolden values his kids with great importance. I don't know about other people, but in my personal opinion, waking up every day before seven just to spend about two hours walking a mile and buying food for someone else is not a very easy task. But, "his day had begun at 7" tells us that Bolden thought of his morning with his children as something positive, something that sparked up his will to keep up and survive throughout the day. Of course, Bolden's current anxiety slowly keeps on building up throughout the novel which probably is the reason he eventually leads to his insanity, but for now, he still has at least a bit of hope, not to live, but to survive.

Reading Through Bolden

After reading Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje, I've decided to do a close reading. Here's a quote taken from the book, in which Bolden, the main character, meets up again with Nora, his wife he had left for two years:

"They lay there without words. Moving all over her chest and arms and armpits and stomach as if placing mines on her with his mouth and then leaned up and looked at her body glistening with his own spit. Together closing up her skirt, slipping the buttons back into their holes so she was dressed again. Not going further because it was friendship that had to be guarded, that they both wanted. The diamond had to love the earth it passed along the way, every speck and angle of the other’s history, for the diamond had been the earth too.” (118)

Sentence one: "They" (more than one person), including Buddy, have some kind of an ineffable emotion going on inside them.

Sentence two: Through the actions he does and the way that he appreciates every part of her body implies that he likes her (or at least he's about to have a sexual relationship). But because Buddy leaned up and stares at what's happening ("looked at her body glistening with his own spit"), I can infer that he's rethinking his actions.

Sentence three: Buddy stops what he's doing. I can infer that he is at least thinking about his actions and has a sense of why he shouldn't do what he was about to do. His stopping also implies that Buddy now either has more respect or his interest in Nora (or woman in general) has decreased.

Sentence four: Buddy has to keep his friendship with Nora the way it is either because of some kind of a past experience or because of some kind of a constraint. "...that they both wanted" implies that Nora understands Buddy's situation and feelings. I can infer that Buddy realizes that it's not worth risking his relationship with Nora.

Sentence five: Even though Bolden has now changed a lot compared to his previous years, he realizes that he was still a part of Nora, who has not changed much. He bases his actions on the past and decides that he has to respect his wife.