Happy Hour with Dan and Wendi

Wendi: As many know by now, Rupert Thomson's Divided Kingdom is a dystopian novel of a society segregated by personality type. There's the "Red Quarter," where the optimistic and  sanguine reside; a "Blue Quarter" for empathetic phlegmatic types; a "Yellow Quarter" populated by impulsive and aggressive cholerics; and a "Green Quarter" where the melancholic and introspective live.

And where  would you fit in under the Rearrangement? Take the quiz and find out. You might be surprised.

It should come as no surprise to some that the Happy Booker belongs in the Red Quarter, the Sanguine sector for those optimistic, even-tempered and constructive types. But before you dismiss us all as shiny happy people, take a closer look. Things are not always what they seem.

The Sanguine quarter has dark origins—displaced people, families torn apart, children taken from their homes for re-education. Happy, happy, right?

It's nature vs. nurture time in Divided Kingdom. And for me, this is one of the central themes of the book:  are we the way we are because we were born that way, or are our true personalities formed by circumstance? Or maybe the truth lies somewhere between the borders. 

Dan, you're a fellow member of the Sanguine tribe, did you see this as a meditation on identity and the origins of personality or as something totally different?

Dan: I took a similar approach in reading this as you did Wendi.  My thoughts while reading the early section of the novel where the family members are pulled away from each other and the explanation of what was going on during the re-education of the youth in the Red Quarter slipped right into those questions you ask.

Was Thomson taking a look at the question of how we develop - is it our families that define us, our social status, or some other means of development?  Was he going to take a look at things like racism and if it was possible to eliminate it through this new society?

As I moved further into the novel I was pleased to find that he was indeed looking at these topics and he was doing so by looking through the eyes of a sanguine resident and as Wendi noted earlier, this meant the protagonist, Thomas Parry, was optimistic, even-tempered, and constructive.  He was one prone to thinking things through, and not reacting emotionally to events as one would expect those from the other quarters.

Both the reader and Parry are aware early on that his parents were not of the sanguine personality.  While not aware of what personality type they were, as he is removed from their care and put into the re-education program, it is apparent that they have been placed in a different quarter.

So the question comes to the reader, how will he react if he faces events or circumstances out of the ordinary?  Will he calmly think things through and react without emotion as his environment and personality have trained him?  Will any of the family genes sneak through this environment?

I found the situations that Thomson tossed at his narrator only enhanced this particular reading of Divided Kingdom as they forced him to react to events both in and out of his control.

Knowing you read this the same way Wendi, how did you think Thomson handled the idea of nature vs. nurture?  Do you think he was consistent with his characters?  Did he give his readers a clear answer as to his views, or does he leave the topic an open one in your mind?   

Wendi: Great questions, Dan. For my reading, I think Thomson does raise questions about nature vs. nature, and then goes on to explore them. And the answers? Well, readers are going to have to journey along with Thomas Parry and draw their own conclusions. But I will say that there are key issues brought up here, not only about identity but also about crossing borders, both external and interior, as Parry's journey across each quarter brings him closer to his real self.

Sure, dividing people by personality type is reductionist. Thomson knows this. He also knows its not any different from the judgments, determinations and classifications people make about others every day. The strength of the book for me is how Thomson skillfully uses these "types,"  turning them inside out to expose the false and hollow. The idea of a household of supposedly cheerful Sanguiners hanging around the house, depressed, lonely  and grieving, is wonderfully drawn. This is the power  of juxtaposition at work as Thomson plays against type to reveal deeper truths about his characters, and perhaps about us all.

You ask me about a clear answer on Thomson's views. For this, I think I will let Thomson speak for himself. In an interview when Thomson was asked how he would fair in the Rearrangement, he replied that he would have to be a mixture of Sanguine and Melancholic.

"Sanguine because they are naive or optimistic enough to think that the world needs yet another book, or that their book might do something no book has done before, and melancholic because of the morbid, solitary and inward-looking nature of writing fiction."

The answer is never clear or singular—nature or nurture— but lies somewhere in the blurring of lines, in the mixture of the public and private, alien and insider, sanguine and melancholic, that we all carry with us and what Thomson so aptly portrays in his novel.

Dan: I agree with you about how Thomson threw juxtapositions at both Parry and the reader throughout Parry's travels from quarter to quarter.  The example of his new family of a Sanguine father and daughter, both of whom are depressed to the level of being nearly clinical, is probably the best one - maybe because he took some more time developing these characters.

However, there are similar examples as Parry visits the Blue Quarter and then through actions both accidental and of his own volition, ends up going through the Yellow and Green Quarters as well (for those trying to remember each of the quarters, Kassia's From the Blue Quarter, posted below, is perfect in tone and example).

Between these examples and the quote you pull from Thomson's interview, I suppose we can see his views on the nature vs. nurture debate - but it's much more fun to sit down for a day or two and read his fictional exploration into the territory.

Wendi: I agree completely—which is really what Sanguine is all about, right?

Comments

[Megan]

In a way, the whole division of the kingdom shows how arbitrary divisions are in real life. And how arbitrary families are put together. 4 Sanguines does not a family make. How absurd to think that people can fit in these neat boxes. Only a government could come up with something so dumb. It's like red states versus blue states today. The lines aren't really that clear are they.

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In a question, someone answered that if we were able to travel the speed of light, then we could somehow achieve time travel. How would this happen?

Also, how could we make time travel possible? Is there some formula to it? I think time travel is a really awesome concept, and I want to learn more about it.

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Since natural things was form due to nature,How could most of the Philippine'sChocolate hills have the same form and heights and distributed fairly over the area?
I dont think it was form by shifting of plates or erosion.Please give me a website about hills formation like Philippine chocolate hills.

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Farber's mentions feature at least two bonafide underground classics: the tension-filled process film No Highway, and Anthony Mann's great account of a foiled Lincoln assassination plot, The Tall Target (not to be confused with Boetticher's The Tall T, and now available via Warner Archives). Many of the others constitute Subjects For Further Research. As for the Chuck Jones cartoon, we've got its number. And title. It's A Hound For Trouble, and it's an extra on the Warner DVD of the Doris Day flick On Moonlight Bay. (Farber on Day: "Cute.")

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Dan and Wendi did a great job in the interview with their favorite books and their opinion in different topics.