Alan and Clara
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kaskait — 14 years ago(May 06, 2011 12:39 PM)
I've had the notion that Alan may have been homosexual. But there are so many various factors working in the film against this pair.
One of the main reasons, unspoken but shown loud and clear, was the class issue. Clara was definitely NOT from a blue blood family. And her father is just a step up from the criminal class. She is not someone Alan would marry nor would his family accept a marriage to her.
I definitely had the feeling that he kept Clara on the leash as a form of rebellion against his mother and the rest of the family.
As for Clara, I think she liked the idea of possibly being a member of an old blood family. That fantasy kept her running after Alan when it was clear he wasn't that serious about her. -
Miinerva — 14 years ago(August 26, 2011 10:54 PM)
"that he's a "sissy"? "
You could make a good argument for either distinction. I
don't
think the character's gay. And if Varner actually did think he is, why on earth would he want Clara anywhere near him? He would have found someone else.
I do think Alan liked his low-keyed southern gentleman, man-of-leisure approach to small town life. He wasn't about to change.
"Mr. Willoughby, you are not welcome here." -
tmcdaniel1 — 12 years ago(March 03, 2014 12:50 PM)
Have to say this is the most independent analysis so far. Most of the posters are quick to call him gay but, that maybe, just maybe, he is running things just the way he wants them.
He has status in the community. He has a nice home and, perhaps, more money than certain people think. He gets to do what he wants when he wants. How many of us can say that?
At that time, having children is a must do thing if you married. Maybe he just doesn't want that responsibility or burden. Maybe he just doesn't like kids that much. Who knows what his ambitions are? The story never shows that clearly.
Combine all that with a low sex drive (compared to the Varner/Quick crowd) and you have a unique individual that performs his social duties (remaining part of the culture) without being pulled into things that don't attract him.
I say he's a cool one, that Alan. -
mike-848 — 12 years ago(July 04, 2013 10:20 PM)
I don't see the gay angle. I see the class angle. Varner may have been rich, but he was a brute and ungentlemanly. Alan was of the old money, landed gentry.
Clara was intelligent and beautiful but I think Alan just couldn't go further in their relationship because of her father. -
joeparkson — 11 years ago(July 22, 2014 11:27 AM)
It's fashionable to read a gay subtext into a character. Stewart didn't back down from Varner, nor did he hesitate to get into Quick's face at the picnic. True, he was not romantic. Many men are like that; cool, reserved, undemonstrative. Doesn't mean they're gay. I can see however, why Clara is disappointed. He sure doesn't radiate sexual excitement.
Soy 'un hijo de la playa' -
mike-848 — 11 years ago(July 22, 2014 01:54 PM)
Yes, he was sickly also. He would sit outside with a blanket on him during a hot humid Mississippi summer. Maybe he had the effects of malaria from the war? His illness is never explained.
Anyway, Clara was also a cold fish because she wasted all those years for Stewart to make a move towards the alter. It took a rascal like Quick to open up her inner sexual desires. She showed those hidden desires in her fathers store when Quick kissed her long and hard and she reciprocated.