The seductive lulling "You are loved" — the pacifying maternal address that closes the story
echoes
From: Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (in Girl With Curious Hair)
- Early text:
quote the novella's direct-address close: "Close your eye... Relax. Lie back. I want nothing from you. Lie back. Relax... Listen to the silence behind the engines' noise. Jesus, Sweets, listen. Hear it? It's a love song." [westward-the-course-of-empire-takes-its-way:p909], resolving to "For whom? / You are loved." [westward-the-course-of-empire-takes-its-way:p910]–[:p911]; inside the inner story, L—— "wishes Dave to tell her, instead of that he loves her, that she is loved. Her father used to say it as he tucked her gently into his USMC-surplus poncho-liner at bedtime" [westward-the-course-of-empire-takes-its-way:p841].
- IJ echo: The Entertainment's rumored content — a veiled/blurred maternal figure, filmed from a crib's-eye POV, telling the infantilized viewer they are sorry / that they are loved; Molly Notkin's account of Joelle's role and the film's maternal/apology conceit (scene 159, pp. 787–795); Joelle interviewed about her role (scene 178, pp. 938–941).
- Weight: shared-preoccupation