Bruno

Discussion ¬

1. 
   Peter Rogan

   February 2, 2019 at 7:15 pm | #

   Symbolic self-destruction. If it were anyone but Bruno, this wouldn’t be progress.

   But we’ve been along on the ride long enough to know that Bruno’s fears are entwined with her perceptions and her self-understanding of worry, insufficiency, embarrassment, and social friction. Which is why she keeps returning to flight as a solution, metaphorically and actually.

   It’s easy to peer in from the outside and say that Bruno needs to stop overthinking these things, to make what reasonable preliminary steps she can to handle foreseeable problems, and let the problems happen before she panics and runs. The problem, of course, is that Bruno very quickly categorizes her situation, compares it to others she could not or would not handle, and flees anyway, because that ALWAYS works.

   Her brief stint managing the mailroom ought to have been enough to show Bruno that she has at least a modicum of competency, and has demonstrated some leadership ability. But she has no way of knowing how much more there is to learn, and enough self-awareness of her abilities to think she can’t master what little lies before her, not realizing the whole wide world awaits her. That would scare her to death.

   Bruno is too scared of living incorrectly to be able to live at all. The solution, of course, is just to live through it and cope — something Bruno fears she will prove unable to do, given her fears and her history of flight. Insert ’self-fulfilling’ prophecy here. She lacks the nerve to just take it in and learn — though she has already done so, as her stint as an exotic dancer shows. And there really is no permanent solution for her than to do just that — sit there and take it. To stop being her own fear of failure.

   Can she turn herself around to face herself and see this? Gina’s doing her best to keep things happening to her fast enough to keep her from collapsing in self-doubt. But the final step must be Bruno’s, alone. Can she do it?