[jazzygirlsings]

Just Curious...

What do you think Julie's "Journey" is in "Carousel"? I think it's extremely interesting, especially considering that other characters (Heavenly Friend, in particular) note that "Julie never changes"....

Is this true?

I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

One of the reasons I think Julie is such a difficult character is because her journey is not readily obvious to those around her...

[The Duchess of Mint]

Dear jazzygirlsings,

I think that Julie's "journey" is more realistic than symbolic. After all, Julie's attitude, with regards to her morals, doesn't seem to change much after she marries Billy.

Thus, Julie's "journey" begins when she chooses to get herself fired. She "journies" to the lowest aspects of life, and she stays at that level.

After Billy dies, she has to become more stable, on a mortar-and-boards sort of level, because she has to literally keep a roof over Louise's head.

Yet, her attitude towards life doesn't really change.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

[jazzygirlsings]

That's an interesting insight...

I think her options at that time period (which was historically a time of financial depression) were: work in the mill or get married. I'm not sure if she realized at that moment that she was dropping to the lowest aspects of life...

Though this does give me an interesting thought regarding people who try to see the good in everyone. I think she sees in Billy what nobody else sees (a childlike vulnerability, gentleness- among other things) and gives a great deal of energy to him in trying to have him realize that for himself. But he never does...

And he never tells her (while he's alive) that he loves her.

His death is a "failure" for her, I think. I think she's renewed by the birth of her daughter, to an extent...but by that time, she is struggling with the realities of raising a daughter as a single mother.

Do you agree with this?

[The Duchess of Mint]

Dear jazzygirlsings,

I agree with you, with regards to Julie's era-oriented options. I think that she could have tried to get another job, but, then again, mill work might have been the only type of work which she knew.

I hadn't really thought much about the relationship between Julie and Billy, except with regards to the fact that Julie is Billy's enabler. I think that Julie may well believe that it's her job to try to ensure Billy's success. I know that after Billy dies, Julie wonders what will become of her. That statement can be taken as a statement which relates purely to self-preservation, but it can also be viewed as a statement which speaks of the desperation of idleness (Ie: Julie could well be symbolically asking "What will I occupy myself with during my future hours of idle solitude, now that I have no Billy to support?", instead of merely asking "What in the world is going to become of me?").

I think that Louise's birth might be a high point of Julie's life, but, from the looks of the movie, Julie is much too busy "keeping her head above water" to help Louise. The girl doesn't look super well-dressed, and she doesn't seem very comforted, doted upon, etc. I think that Louise's rebelliousness may fly in the face of some of the good that Julie is trying to bring to her life.

What do you think?

Thanks in advance for your reply.