I do read it as a "coming out". I don't deny that I am inferring from my own experience of being gay, but I certainly knew I was attracted to women at an age younger than Miranda is in EoT, and a crush on an older (unobtainable) object was a very safe way for me to sublimate those feelings until I was old enough to want to act on them.
I think the fact that Miranda makes a very clear distinction between her crush on Janice and the type that the Lower Firth had for Eileen and Joyce is important here. She clearly sees hers as different to the ritualised schoolgirl pashes.
The question as to whether Miranda knows it as an early expression of sexual orientation is an interesting one though. EoT is written in 1959 -- that seems pretty daring. By the time "Mask of Apollo" and same-sex attraction is openly mentioned it's the 1970's. I'd like to think AF was writing it the way it the way I received it, but it doesn't matter to me if she wasn't.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Miranda - coming out?
Date: 2014-09-04 09:28 am (UTC)I think the fact that Miranda makes a very clear distinction between her crush on Janice and the type that the Lower Firth had for Eileen and Joyce is important here. She clearly sees hers as different to the ritualised schoolgirl pashes.
The question as to whether Miranda knows it as an early expression of sexual orientation is an interesting one though. EoT is written in 1959 -- that seems pretty daring. By the time "Mask of Apollo" and same-sex attraction is openly mentioned it's the 1970's. I'd like to think AF was writing it the way it the way I received it, but it doesn't matter to me if she wasn't.