Dear Squad,
I have a confession to make. I have never been able to read "Lila" all the
way through. Can you guess why? It is because I am a woman. I shall
explain. Page 1, paragraph 2 begins:
"The light from the open hatch above was so dim it concealed whatever lines
of cosmetics and age were there and now she looked softly cherubic, like a
small girl with blond hair, wide cheekbones, a small turned-up nose, and a
common child's face that seemed so familiar it attracted a certain natural
affection."
My worst fears are rising in my throat. I feel desolate and a little sick,
but I keep reading:
"But that isn't how it would be. When Lila's eyes opened in a hung-over
daze she'd look into the features of a gray-haired man she wouldn't even
remember..."
Obviously to me, paragraph 3 is intended to mitigate the misogyny of
paragraph 2. Lila is defined as a drunken whore, not worthy of our
compassion. What are Pirsig's motives? My first thought is to give him the
benefit of a doubt. He must be just using this hackneyed device to set the
stage for the reader. But does he really believe his readers are so dumb?
Is it really necessary to open the book with the central female character
portrayed as so shallow and contemptible? Doesn't he realize that he has
just struck at women with the most heinous blow western society has to
offer?
With few exceptions, almost all of the Lila Squad contributors are men.
Let's not bring Diana into this since she has defined her role to be our
leader, director, and synthesizer of the MoQ. Now the MoQ is very worthy of
discussion. I have only the highest regard for Pirsig's efforts; but, it
has thusfar been a primarily masculine exercise. If the goal is to clarify
and synthesize the MoQ so that it is understandable to those who have not
read Pirsig's work, nor had the time or inclination to think about it for a
year if they had; then we have a problem.
Later in the book I understand that Phaedrus learns a lot of things from his
observations of Lila, but she is never redeemed. For example, she does not
turn out to be a hero; a misunderstood personality of great depth (which is
generally what all heroes are).
Less is more. I will end here, but I sincerely invite your comments. I
view this as a central problem for the promulgation of the MoQ. View this
as a feminine entreaty to the masculine world.
Yours in Quality and always
Wishing you happiness,
Mary Wittler
mwittler@geocities.com
ICQ# 19168557
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/8087/index.html
homepage - http://www.moq.org
queries - mailto:moq@moq.org
unsubscribe - mailto:majordomo@moq.org with UNSUBSCRIBE MOQ_DISCUSS in
body of email
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:02:40 BST