Shades of Fall

Once again Fall begins to show an entire new side to her, proving she is not as innocent as she seems. For their anniversary Julius's father's limo driver, William, allowed Fall and Julius to have his apartment all to themselves. Fall and Julius decide to go out for dinner at a Korean restaurant they had never been to. There they meet a couple and proceed to have a small conversation with them. Julius gets up to use the washroom and when he gets back the couple is gone. He mentions this to Fall who proceeds to tell him that the husband had been hitting on her while Julius was in the washroom, and while his wife paid the bill, "His wife's looking down, paying the bill and I look over at them, right. And I caught his eye for a second and he's looking at me and he's going like this: You're Hot." (McAdam 241). When Julius hears this he begins to get angry and proceeds to say "I'm gonna kick his ass" (McAdam 241), only to have Fall urge him on saying he should and beginning to laugh while showing Julius the card that the husband gave her, that had his number on it. Julius outraged wants to call him but Fall does instead, pretending that she wants to meet him and saying "I hope I've reached Sean McAdams. You left me your card earlier tonight and I don't know I wanted to talk to you as soon as I was alone. … I can't leave you my number in case my boyfriend answers so maybe I'll try again later." (McAdam 243). Fall begins to treat this as a game and does not care that she is making Julius jealous or could have just ruined a man's marriage. To Fall everything revolves around her and she does whatever, and acts however she wants with out considering the consequences. This again proves that perhaps Fall is the problem, not Noel or Julius, and perhaps the reason the author does not write from her perspective is because the boys are completely oblivious to her true self. 

Poison in Fall

Earlier in the novel the author made what seemed like a simple quote "I like apples" (McAdam 127), but if readers think about that quote on a different level, and dissect its many other meanings, they would be able to see a connection to childhood stories and begin to see an entire new meaning. The classic childhood fable of Snow White dispels the simplicity of an apple and proves it to also be an infectious and poisonous thing. The story of Snow White can tie into the novel Fall by providing a contrary look at the character Fall. 

On page 127 Julius states he likes apples, a very simple thing, he then goes to describe how "Fall's hand will pick up the simplest thing in the world,  her thumb and perfect pointer, and plop the simplest thing in the world, pip, right in my mouth at the back of my tongue because simple is breathing not eating." (McAdam 127). If we take into account what we have learned from Snow White, we can begin to see that perhaps Fall is not as perfect as both boys describe her. 

During the novel we are never told the story from Fall's perspective, Noel, Julius and even limo driver, William, share the story from their perspective but never Fall. Readers have already been shown that Fall is very capable of lying, when she lied to Julius about her plans to go shopping with Noel, and that she can be very persuasive, especially because of her sexual relationship with Julius. All of these factors have led me to take that quote from Julius in a very different way, perhaps Fall has been poisoning Julius and Noel, with what seem like the simplest actions. Perhaps Fall is not an innocent girl, being fought over by two men, but a puppeteer, playing with the hearts of week boys.

Far From a Winter Wonderland

After the fallout between Noel and Fall, Julius is concerned that Fall did not meet him and asks Noel if he has seen her, Noel says that he has not seen her and proceeds to avoid him. After fall denied Noel, he was so angry that he took Fall's crutches and threw them in the lake, leaving her alone, injured, in the snow, far from the rest of the school. Fall did not go back to her room and missed all the rest of the classes for that week. Julius and Fall's best friend begin to worry about her and call her home but there is no answer, and go to her house only to find all the lights off and the doors locked. Not even the school knows what to do about the missing Fall, since they cannot reach her mother, and everyone agrees since Christmas break is only 2 weeks away it would be an odd time to go for a vacation. While everyone is worried about Fall, Noel continues to avoid everyone and passes his time by getting drunk.

Once again as the winter weather enters the story we see another dramatic change to Noel. The first change we saw during the winter was Noel's metaphoric death of him becoming a stronger more confident person, proof of this is the dramatic physical change he underwent by working out and also mental change, after having his first true sexual encounter in Australia. The change that we see this winter, within Noel, is the metaphoric death of his compassion for Fall. Noel has always spoken highly of Fall and has been obsessed with knowing every detail of her, but after having her deny him and him becoming violent towards her, he refuses to think, or look for her, and chooses to get drunk instead. Now readers are seeing a completely new, savage version of Noel, if he regrets what he did he does not admit it to himself, and if he is concerned about Fall and what has happened to her he does not seem to show it. Noel has become completely selfish and has no morality for what he has done. Julius on the other hand has done nothing but worry about Fall, he has done everything he can from trying to search the school, drive to her home, and has asked everyone if they have seen her. This also ties into the perdition made by Chuck in Chapter 2 when he says that there is something about Noel that he just does not trust, "There's something I don't trust. You had to see it J" (McAdam 113). Chuck tried to tell Julius about his suspicion but Julius would not listen, maybe if he had Fall would not be missing.

With the last scene involving Fall being her stuck in a secluded forest, injured and alone, far from any of the campus buildings, I can only predict that something grim has happened to her. My reasoning for this assumption is that Fall cares for Julius and her best friend Sarah, so for her to leave without saying goodbye does not fit the persona the author has depicted throughout the story. Also Fall was always chiding Julius for skipping classes and was a very intelligent and diligent student, and so it is unusual for her to not attend class.

Elizabethan concept applied

The strong negative opinions developed during the Elizabethan times towards acting and taking on the role or life of someone that is not your own, can easily be tied into the previous scene of Noel because it shows how a person may become confused with what is fiction and what is reality. If a person spends a lot of time pretending to be someone or acting a certain way, the mind may begin to blur the originally distinct personal persona and slowly erase that defined sense of self. Several outside examples where this theory has been proven true are the death of Heath Ledger, the movie Inception and also the saying "If you tell a lie enough times, you will begin to believe it."

The tragic accidental death of young actor Heath Ledger is and example of how taking on the persona or life of a different person or character can prove to be deadly. Heath Ledger can be used as an example because of his part in the movie Black Knight, the role that led to his accidental death. In the movie Black Knight Heath Ledger played a psychopathic killer with a dark past of abuse. It was said that as a result of having to emerge himself in this psychopathic role everyday cause Heath to develop difficulty sleeping, and a large amount of anxiety which led him to be on various prescribed medication. "Last week I probably sleep an average of two hours a night… I couldn't stop thinking " said Heath to a reporter from the New York times. A few weeks before the opening release of the Dark Knight, Heath died in his Manhattan apartment on January 22, 2008, the cause of his death was an overdose of prescription drugs that included painkillers, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication. This is an example of how acting or taking on the role of someone else can be deadly because Heath became so caught up with his role, The Joker, that he began to loose sight that it was just a role he was playing. He began to develop severe anxiety and sleep problems which led to him use any means necessary to allow him to rest, until it finally cause him to overdose and die. 

In the movie Inception, one of the significant details to the story is the characters ability to completely loose sight of reality. In the movie main characters Cobb and his wife, Mal, create an imaginary world for the two of them. Cobb begins to grow tired of this imaginary world and misses his children so he plants the thought in his wife's head that this world is not real and the only way to escape it is death. When Cobb and his wife enter the real world she is still convinced that this world is not real and that they both must kill themselves in order to return to the real world to see their children. Cobb tries to convince her that the world they are in is real but to no avail, Mal commits suicide by jumping off a building in front of Cobb. This shows how easily people may become confused with what is fiction and what is reality. Mal's mind had become so warped, and had thought that this world is not real so often that she eventually believed it and killed herself as a result. 

The saying "If you tell a lie enough times, you will begin to believe it" pertains to Noel in this situation because he had told himself over and over that Fall cares about him and loves him and that he is better than Julius. The more Noel said these the worse his obsession grew and the more he believed what he was saying. Noel had convinced himself all of these supposed facts by telling himself these things on a daily basis. This is the case with most lies, people continually tell the lie when asked and eventually the answer becomes so automatic that the person begins to believe it. 

In conclusion the negative opinions developed during the Elizabethan times towards acting and taking on the role or life of someone that is not your own can be tied to the situation the Noel was in because it shows how confused and wrapped a person's mind may become when taking on the role of someone else, or constantly lying to themselves.

Noel Vs Rebecca

Many books and movies have been written of characters who try to assume the role and life of someone else. Some of these swaps become successful learning experiences, while others become violent. The novel Fall is no different from the life swap phenomenon. Noel wants everything Julius has, especially his girlfriend Fall, and now there close friendship only fuels Noels obsession. 

When Julius is away from school for the weekend Noel has taken up a habit of dressing in Julius' clothes, smelling the clothes that Julius has worn while with Fall and doing whatever he can to spend time with Fall. Now that Noel is good friends with Julius he has finally started talking to Fall, and she has even asked him to go shopping with her to buy a present for Julius. As harmless as these occurrences may seem to Fall they have become distorted in Noel's mind, every conversation, every smile, every glance has become something more private and sensual then originally intended. 

As Julius's and Fall's one year anniversary approaches Fall slips a letter in the boy's room telling Julius to meet her the first day of school after there romantic weekend. Noel sees the letter and decides to hide it from Julius. When the day specified in the letter approaches Noel dresses in Julius' clothes and goes to meet Fall instead. His thoughts become so warped that he has convinced himself that Fall loves him and tries to force himself on her by grabbing her and kissing her, refusing to let go. When Fall denies him he becomes frustrated and violent. He returns back to his room only to have Julius ask him if he has seen Fall. 

These few scenes strongly remind me of the movie The Roommate. 

              Similarities                    Differences

- Roommate becomes jealous of the other - Takes place in University

- Roommate begins to dress and act like the other  - The two roommates are girls

- Roommate begins to act violently                 - Roommate kills all competition 

- In the roommate's eyes, the object of their desire

 feels the same way about them

- Friends become suspicious of the roommate

Fighting for Fall

As the story progresses, readers are continually shown the inner wants and conflicts of main character Noel. 

The beginning few chapters of Fall make reference to Noels secret feelings for Fall. Fall is the girlfriend of Noel's new roommate, Julius, and even though Noel has never spoken to Fall he still has very deep feelings for her. This was not a problem at the beginning of the book because the two boys had never spoken with each other, let alone been friends, but as time passes, the two boys begin to talk and start to become close. Julius entrusts in Noel all his inner fears and insecurities, including his love for Fall and fear that he will lose her. Noel takes all this news in and says the appropriate advice a friend would give but does not tell Julius about his feelings for Fall. Noel is torn between his inner conflicts of betraying his new friend by making a pass at the girl of his dreams, or staying true to his new friendship and accepting that Fall is with someone else.

I believe that this inner conflict foreshadows events that may occur later in the story. In my opinion Noel's inner conflict foreshadows a possible fight between Noel and Julius for Fall. Let the best man win.

Symbols so far

An important symbol that I found in the beginning chapters of Fall is Noels transformation. Noel leaves boarding school for Canadian Christmas break (winter) to visit his family in Australia, where it is summer time. This ties into the patterns of literature chart we learned, where winter symbolizes a metaphoric death and summer symbolizes maturing. The symbolic chart ties into the change that, main character, Noel goes through by using the setting to emphasize the metaphoric change that occurs.

When Noel left for Christmas break he was considered weak both physically and emotionally. He had no friends and rarely talked to anyone. During his Christmas break he went to Australia where it was summer, there he underwent an enormous change both physically and mentally. He began working out daily, pushing himself to new limits, and met a girl, who he shared a short graphic night with. When he returned to school the following semester, the weak character he used to be had died and he had become a new stronger Noel.