The fact that two large milestones are so coincidental seem to me to be no accident. I think that McLarty used the weight loss as a more physical representation of the change that Smithy is going through on his journey.
Throughout his 2,970 mile ride from East Providence, Rhode Island, to Los Angeles, CA, he changes significantly. Not just in terms of his size. Smithy has begun to eat (and enjoy) healthy foods again. He's jumped back into reading. He's discovered new things about himself (that he enjoys talking to people, that he loves Norma, etc). And all of these things would not have happened if he stayed at his riveting job at the toy factory.
These huge changes are hard to convey in writing. I'm actually having trouble describing the changes I see in Smithy. And yet, they're still there. Just because I can't put them into words doesn't change that. Smithy's personality, tendencies, emotions, ideas, ethics, morals, and so much more have changed over this journey.
Those are kind of hard things to describe. So why not put those huge changes into something physical? McLarty uses Smithy's weight loss to "personify" the changes we see in other areas of his life. As Smithy grows as a person, we see his waistline shrinking. This direct correlation makes the other larger changes easier to see and observe.
Thank you for reminding me that Smithy actually made some character developments throughout the story. I think he made some changes that were good and bad. He lost weight and started eating healthy but at the same time his feelings for his sister kept making me feel uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that much attention was paid to Smithy's weight loss. Not enough as I imagined. Last year, a few family friends biked across the country, from California to Delaware (I think). In preparation for their trip, they trained for months, but it still took them most of the summer to get across. I think it's odd that, with such a physically demanding task at hand, such little attention was paid to Smithy's weight loss / muscle gain.
ReplyDeleteI think the weight loss was just sort of a side effect of Smithy's journey. Before the journey, he never exercised, he ate horribly, and he was an alcoholic. Now that he is biking literally all day (on top of eating well), there seems like there would be no way for him to not lose weight. I actually agree with Ansel that I was surprised by how little Smithy talked about his weight loss. For someone who was so preoccupied with his size before, he barely mentioned or noticed that he was becoming smaller.
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