It's not that I want to make my protagonist suffer...
Well, there are two of them actually. One is an immigrant who has witnessed unspeakable things in the old country and then in the treatment of immigrants in America. The other -- the gay one -- is from a wealthy, sheltered existence who has never experienced anything negative in his life.
Until he meets his friend who "corrupts" him, in the minds of his parents. In the end, he is forced to sign a statement to that effect which results in the imprisonment of his friend. (The friend is an adult; the character is 17).
After a severe bout of depression and a half-hearted suicide attempt, his mother whisks him out of town to seek help from a forward-thinking group of psychiatrists, neurologists, psychologists. I chose the group in Worcester as they were exposed to Freud and Jung (Hall, the head of the group, was the one to invite Freud to give the lectures). Hall is certainly not a savory character (he was a eugenicist and a proto-Nazi), but he exemplifies a major current in the society at large.
As character #2 (our immigrant friend) is a doctor, I also felt he would be able to find a place in this environment -- working in some lowly position that enables him to observe the masters at work.
The story is a series of conversations between the young, depressed boy who is unable to accept what happened to his friend (and himself, mostly) and the older man who has witnessed so much over the course of time.
I think the suffering is crucial because it shows the young, rich boy how comparatively cushy his life is.
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Well, there are two of them actually. One is an immigrant who has witnessed unspeakable things in the old country and then in the treatment of immigrants in America. The other -- the gay one -- is from a wealthy, sheltered existence who has never experienced anything negative in his life.
Until he meets his friend who "corrupts" him, in the minds of his parents. In the end, he is forced to sign a statement to that effect which results in the imprisonment of his friend. (The friend is an adult; the character is 17).
After a severe bout of depression and a half-hearted suicide attempt, his mother whisks him out of town to seek help from a forward-thinking group of psychiatrists, neurologists, psychologists. I chose the group in Worcester as they were exposed to Freud and Jung (Hall, the head of the group, was the one to invite Freud to give the lectures). Hall is certainly not a savory character (he was a eugenicist and a proto-Nazi), but he exemplifies a major current in the society at large.
As character #2 (our immigrant friend) is a doctor, I also felt he would be able to find a place in this environment -- working in some lowly position that enables him to observe the masters at work.
The story is a series of conversations between the young, depressed boy who is unable to accept what happened to his friend (and himself, mostly) and the older man who has witnessed so much over the course of time.
I think the suffering is crucial because it shows the young, rich boy how comparatively cushy his life is.
But perhaps I just have an axe to grind. LOL