Richard Powers and his muses….

As i finished Galatea 2.2 I couldn’t help but be struck by the women (or machines identified as women) throughout the course of the novel. C is of course a pervasive entity throughout the story, driving Powers to the ends of the earth, to explore jobs, languages and lifestyles for her. After C, came Diana. a stronger woman who constantly triumphs over every obstacle. Diana proved to be a short lived, unwelcome exploration to Powers. Helen, of course, is the main focus for the reader. She needs to be taught and hand-held trough humanity. Lastly was A, an imaginary personality Powers ascribed to an individual he saw in the hall, Romeo and Juliet style.

What brought these relationships to my attention was the nagging feeling i got that Powers only wants damaged women in his life. He, being emotionally lost, needs someone to take care of, to live for. Constantly throughout the text, Powers says how he wrote for C, to cheer her up. He talks about how he moved each time because she “needed to.” Every time she feels a need for a walk, there’s Powers telling her it is all for her. Near the end, he comments that he “played the martyr.” C was lost from the beginning, not sure what nationality or career she wanted. Powers thrived on being what he referred to as “caregiving.”

Helen, as a human female is obviously incomplete. She needs Powers to show her the world and to take her places. Everything she knows, she must get from him. Powers is world, like he and C were each others’ world. He wants a two person existence, and that’s precisely what he gets from his relationship with Helen. He gets conversation without rejection or fear of not living up to expectations. He has complete control over Helen’s education and he becomes enthralled with the concept.

Powers creates A in his mind’s eye. This makes his obsession with A incredibly creepy to me. He believes he loves this woman he doesn’t know. He “loves” her enough to ask her to marry him, to imagine running away with her and using book money to make it so she would never have to work. He imagines a world where they can exist only for one another, where she’d be reliant on him and what he offers. He would be able to take care of her, make her his life. He gleans some sort of brokeness  from her description of her family and her frustrations with Literary Politics. He presumes that she is an open space for him to pour his needs into her. She proves to be less lonely than Powers assumes and more ambitious than C was, not ready to run from society and form a life with this strange, older man.

Diana posed a problem for Powers. She is sweet and understanding, loving and smart. A little sassy but kind hearted. Powers never is able to connect with this woman who doesn’t need him. She has the power to exists with her children in a world all their own. She is a caregiver and she saves Helen from certain destruction in order to make Powers happy, the role reversaol does not settle well for Powers. He can’t handle that kind of woman.

In the end, i really thought Powers was going off the deep end. He nearly stalks A. He gets to the point where he’s driving by this woman’s house, a woman he doesn’t know, not to mention half his age. He searches for an unknown student by the picture! Just to find out this girl’s name, who he’s never heard speak. He imagines a life with a woman he’d seen maybe twice and never heard speak. The assumptions he makes about her personality are striking, and made me uncomfortable.