Throughout the novel Murray seems to consider things is Jack’s life that Jack has not given any thought. When he is giving his speech to Jack about death and killing people, I found myself debating on whether to agree with his assessments or disregard them completely. Though I think Murray is just somewhat of a fortune cookie, he does have some relevant assessments of Jack’s psyche. This is the first time Jack’s preoccupation with death is really analyzed from a psychological perspective. Though I want to know why he fears death so much, Murray seems to comment on Jack’s methods of dealing with death.
According to Murray, everyone fears death to some extent and just have ways of dealing with it. The ways to get around death, Murray says, for Jack is to conceal himself in Hitler’s works OR “use him to grow in significance and strength” (287). Thus, Jack is struggling with fearing death because he is using both methods and should have only used one or the other. Personally, and probably obviously, I do not think even his picking one method to go about getting around death would make him less fearful of it. I do think he used Hitler to deal with death though.
Murray says “helpless and fearful people are drawn to magical figures, mythic figures, epic men who intimidate and darkly loom,” and refers to Hitler as “larger than death” (287). Jack realizes that death is frightening and unknown to him but was the security and craft of Hitler. Jack is comforted by the studies of him because Hitler was so confident in death. We questioned in class whether Jack compares himself to Hitler or idolizes him and I think he just wanted to learn from Hitler and his ways of being a killer and not a dier. Thus, Murray has a point in that Jack thought Hitler would protect him but just by absorbing his confidence in death, and possibly accepting it in his own life. Professionalizing in the study of man whose life revolved around death and Murray’s speeches as his only psychotherapy cannot be helping his fear.
A good start - you might extend by defining more specifically Murray's purpose in the novel. Is his view of Jack meant to be our window into Jack's own ridiculousness? Ultimately what does death represent for Jack/for the novel?
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