Eva thinks, “[I]t didn’t matter what a person said about themselves; it mattered only what others said about them.” In what ways do you see this this playing out in the novel? Do you agree with her?
I do not agree with her, I think people can say so many different things about another, and they can be contradictory, so how can it be the most important thing is there is no agreement? I think what you believe about yourself is important. If you spend your life worrying about what others say about you, you will spend your life twisting yourself in knots trying to please them. Eva has closed herself off and reinvented herself over and over so she can survive, and also because she is afraid of what others will think of her. Melanie also worries about what others think of her, but that is also important for her career goals. One has recused herself from the world, so she is not thinking about what anyone thinks of her.
With Eva, she couldn’t say anything about herself, so to her it only mattered what others said. It’s understandable why she felt this way.
With Melanie, I think the same was also true. She tried to deny the communist claims, but what she said didn’t affect her situation. All that mattered was what others said about her.
With June, she didn’t seem to care what others thought of her.
I don’t really agree with Eva, I think it is more important what one says about themself. I’m not into worrying about what others say about me.
I don’t believe that at all, and it has not been true in my life. We’ve all been the subject of gossip in one context or another, major or minor. We’ve all gossiped about others at one time. How much is believed and how much is just noise? The older I get, the less I care because the more I realize it’s what you do that will be remembered, far more than what you say. It’s how you treat others, whether you stand up and are counted when it matters.
The only way I see it playing out in the book is with the blacklist. During that scandalous time, denials fell on deaf ears. Evidence was irrelevant. Those accused were expected to accuse others in order to clear their own names. It was disgraceful.