misleading title:
pseudo-conversation - no
direct speech of social worker
( more like monologue)
Affinity to confessional or
therapeutic narratives
Initiation narrative:
integration of young
protagonist into society
Main questions/issues
adulthood/maturity
"How did I become an adult? I'll tell you, I never did learn. I have to
pretend. All the things you take for granted I have to do it all
consciously. I'm always thinking about it, like I was on the stage."
masculinity
"He always wore blue suits. He owned a garage in Clapham and because he was
big and successful he hated me at first sight. ... He was so big and strong and full of
himself I suppose he couldn't bear to think that people like me existed."
social norms and individual " normality"
"You might say that at least he was normal. But I'd rather be me anyday."
Individual identity (and its instability)
"He never remembered our last conversation or who
he was. I don't think he knew who he was himself. Like
he didn't have an identity of hiw own."
critique
Indirect social critique: is it desirable to be
a member of the society depicted in the
story?
ambivalent reception perspective: Cupboard Man as "freak" or as social critic?
Ironic inversion of conventional
initiation structure: Cupboard Man
unable/ unwilling to integrate
no progression/ maturation, but
regression and withdrawal from
society