I think one of the slept on things that makes The Secret History feel like a real world is Donna Tartt's willingness to introduce a character that is just never brought up again (or brought up once or twice again.)
Because i'm real life, not every person you meet is going to have significance in your life. Not everyone is going to change that plot. Think about the teacher that takes over when Julian leaves. Or the farmer who claims to have seen Bunny. Or Richard's one night stand. Even the man stalking Henry and Bunny in Italy doesn't show up later.
And not only does this fill the gaps in the world, it absolutely helps build suspense. You never know if a character might have significance later, because there's simply no pattern to follow. It keeps you guessing.
Did I mention I started rereading The Secret History
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Just thinking about the secret history and Camilla character is truly so sad like the hole ritual part where the guys remember that they were chasing a deer and Camilla remember being a deer while forever haunt me and the fact that she spent that night alone and was covered in blood like it’s truly haunting
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TSH spoilers:
I feel like we as a fandom do not talk about Henry’s symbolism in TSH enough. Like, that dude is the literal embodiment of death, and I just think it’s so damn cool. I mean, his whole obsession with language and literature stemmed from the fact that he almost died in a car accident. And then every death we see in the book (the farmer’s, Bunny’s, and his very own) is directly at his hands. The others were accomplices, sure, but Henry’s the one who takes action every time. And in Francis’s failed suicide and Richard’s near death in the epilogue, they both see Henry, not Bunny or Charles or what have you.
Henry is not only obsessed with death, he IS death. He’s the reaper who’s friends toy with their mortality all the time through drugs and booze. The reason they all admire him is not only because of his size and stature and brilliance; it’s because he’s dangerous. If beauty is indeed terror, than he’s the most beautiful of them all. They all have the life preservation skills of a fly, so of course they love Henry. And of course his actions constantly bring them closer to danger and death.
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- on fathers & their anger & everything that they leave behind
Woodtangle, Mary Ruefle // Susan Smith, wych elm // @veniennes on tiktok // @veniennes on tiktok // Li-Young Lee, Folding a Five-Cornered Star So the Corners Meet // Jamaica Kincaid, from The Autobiography of My Mother // I hope this reaches her in time, by R.H. Sin // Liv Ullmann, Changing // excerpted from Sarah Kay's poem: "Hand me Downs", from her book "No Matter The Wreckage" // I Would Leave Me If I Could: A Collection of Poetry, Halsey // It lingers for your whole life by katie maria (heavensghost on tumblr) // Cut, Catherine Lacey // Seven - Taylor Swift // Mouthful of Forevers, Clementine von Radics // @lilcowgirl7-deactivated20210223 // Thoman Builds-The-Fire, Smoke Signals (Sherman Alexie) // Desireé Dallagiacomo - I Forgive You
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Anne Carson, from Red Doc>
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