Commentary on Charles Baxter's "The Cousin"

by annatran (student)

International Baccalaureate World Literature

QUYEN NGUYEN

English Composition I

The Cousins (2)

Charles Baxter’s “The Cousin” concerns the narrator, named Benjamin, who does not understand people around him. “The Cousins” describes the relationship between the narrator and his cousin, the image of Giulietta’s glasses, and the image of “the ninth heart” to demonstrate it is not easy to understand others if we neglect them.

First, through the conversation between the narrator and his cousin named Brantford, readers can see the way the narrator thought he understands Brantford, but in fact, he does not understand him at all. When Brantford told the narrator about his dream to become a concert pianist, the narrator denied that. He thinks that he knows what the best is for his cousin, but he does not understand that becoming a concert pianist is Brantford’s desire. Instead of discouraging his cousin’s dream, he should encourage Brantford tries to achieve his dream. In addition, the narrator comes up with questions as suggestions of what the cousin should do to make a living such as “What about the animals?” or “Veterinary school?” Brantford sees animals as his family and never does a thing to harm animals. He will never live off animals. The narrator always acts like he understands everything about Brantford, but he really does not. When Benjamin knows Brantford found a girlfriend named Camille, he does not care to come and visit them for a long time until the day he sees Camille at Brantford’s memorial service. He tries to get to know her, but it is too late. He should have done that earlier when Brantford was still alive. He does not understand why Camille seems to be rude to him, and he does not recognize his neglect of his cousin. He even does not understand his wife, Giulietta, either.

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The image of Giulietta’s glasses is like a wall between the narrator and his wife. He can never reach his wife’s soul. He cannot see her eyes behind those glasses. He seems to just care about what he wants and what he thinks. Even though Giulietta does not want to go to a party, he tries to convince her, even asks her to be clever at the party. Giuliette is not a person who can be funny, sparkling, or amusing. He does not even understand what Giuliette thinks and what she wants, or he may not care to understand her. He even does not know Giuliette has disappeared at the party until he goes to look for her help. At the end of the story, the narrator cannot get in his house. It is an implication of not being able to understand his family and to reach their souls. He cannot see through his wife’s dark glasses. He still cannot understand her even though he has lived with her for a long time. It seems like he recognizes his mistake at the last moment. “I would have to fix that bell.” He wants to fix his mistakes and prepare to fix his faults until he can understand his family because he loves his life with them so much.

Third, the image of the ninth heart clarifies the idea of it not being easy to reach to the soul of a person. It is a long process to be able to understand someone because people have nine hearts, and they will reveal false ones first. People cannot completely understand others just by looking at their appearance or talking to them for a few times. For example, in the story the narrator meets the poet named Burroughs Hammond for the first time, but he acts like he knows everything about him. The narrator talks a lot and he compares the poetry of the poet to cartoons and how much he loves his poetry. He thinks he knows exactly what the poet is thinking. But in fact, he does not understand at all. The evidence is that he makes the poet angry at him. What the narrator sees in people around him are just their false hearts. He does not try to reach the true one which is the door to the soul. He always thinks that he understands them and that is enough. So that is the reason no one truly feels comfortable with him.

“The Cousin” gives readers a message that it is difficult to understand the loving and caring people around. It is not easy to open the door to people’s soul. It requires a long process to understand someone. “The Cousins” portrays the relationship between the narrator and his cousin, the image of Giulietta’s glasses, and the image of the ninth heart to prove that the way to reach people’s soul is hard. People’s neglect will never lead them to reach the souls of others.