Clive, You Suck.

Throughout our discussions about the book Amsterdam, we often analyzed Clive and Vernon based on their actions in the section we read. During one section, the one where Clive is working on his symphony in the lake district and witnesses an attack from a rapist that the local police are trying to catch, but does nothing to stop it. Our class had a field day with this. Clive's attitude was that "his proper business in life was to work, to finish a symphony by finding its lyrical summit" (28). Our class verbally attacked Clive from almost every angle. Many thought he was a coward, many claimed he was too conceited to help someone else, and some even claimed that he was too crazy in his own dramatization of the events going on to acknowledge this as a real thing. Thomas however, said that "if you're welfare depended on you finishing the symphony, then I get it", acting as one of 2 or 3 people in the class who supported Clive. Ms. Serensky then said, "Oh, we ALL know that if Thomas had a multi-million dollar symphony on the tip of his tongue, theres no way he's helping anyone else". Clive's reasoning for not helping the woman being attacked was, "if he had approached the couple, a pivotal moment in his career would have been destroyed" (95). This made everyone attack him even more. This I believe, was Clive's worst day. Never have I seen so much anger, frustration and contempt shown towards just one action by one character. Clive also tried to self-justify his inaction by saying that "the melody could not have survived the psychic flurry" (95), which only ensued more hateful thoughts and strongly worded comments from Jackie and others of the quiet sort who all of a sudden became very passionate.