a protagonist who suddenly finds himself afflicted with a doppelgänger he didn't ask for while still wondering whether he brought it on himself.
Wow, yes. This is something I think people experience a lot in life--not the actual doppelgänger (usually) but haunting pursuit by something you have a nagging sense you brought on yourself, while at the same time wanting to thrust it from you completely.
And Bruno's taking literally his wish to strangle his wife again seems like an aspect of not getting what it means to be human: mistaking hyperbole for an actual wish. We've all made that mistake sometimes, and it IS complicated, because sometimes people's hyperbole does actually represent a wish, but maybe one they're not quite ready to own (which Granger's guilty musings reflect, a bit). Then again, if Bruno likes being bad, he may just enjoy taking the hyperbole as fact, all the while recognizing it for what it is.
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Wow, yes. This is something I think people experience a lot in life--not the actual doppelgänger (usually) but haunting pursuit by something you have a nagging sense you brought on yourself, while at the same time wanting to thrust it from you completely.
And Bruno's taking literally his wish to strangle his wife again seems like an aspect of not getting what it means to be human: mistaking hyperbole for an actual wish. We've all made that mistake sometimes, and it IS complicated, because sometimes people's hyperbole does actually represent a wish, but maybe one they're not quite ready to own (which Granger's guilty musings reflect, a bit). Then again, if Bruno likes being bad, he may just enjoy taking the hyperbole as fact, all the while recognizing it for what it is.