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Date Posted: 13:08:04 10/02/06 Mon
Author: Tim de Ferrars
Subject: Re: Baxter = Saddam: Saturday as allegory
In reply to: Glyn Carter 's message, "Baxter = Saddam: Saturday as allegory" on 10:23:32 09/01/06 Fri

Glyn,

A nice idea you advance here. I think the Iraq war is a convenient vehicle for conflict between a father and daughter who are otherwise too close in values and outlook to find much to argue about. And a healthy family needs to fight. The parallel between Baxter and Saddam is ingenious, although memories are short and Saddam is not now depicted in the West as the aggressive expansionist that he was, but rather as an introverted and pernicious predator upon his own people. Baxter, on the other hand, is very much an external force, a violent intrusion into family life. I admire the way that Ian McEwan presents this apparently stable family as a figment, a fragile structure on the point of collapse, but one that proves unexpectedly resilient in the face of assault.

In this sense, Baxter might be better compared with the Bush/Blair axis, or even with Bin Laden. He is the brutal but morally feeble invader who on the one hand lays bare his own pathology, and on the other awakens strength and purpose in those whom he attacks. The novel tempers our judgement of Baxter with the knowledge that he is victim as much as aggressor, and the final chapter is almost a reproach to our vengeful instinct - something that I hardly expect to emerge from the current situation in the Gulf.

Regards,

Tim

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