A keeper of petty injustices… I was exposed to self-pity at a tender age.
Fred ‘Bogus’ Trumper, in generally, is a coward. He avoids confrontation of any kind, whether they are in accepting affection for his wife, Bigige, or accepting the fact that he is having trouble completing his education. He can’t even accept that his problems are due to his non-confrontational nature. So, when he is rejected for any financial support by his father, he begins to blame him instead of himself for his condition by keeping tabs of mundane things that he feels are an injustice done to him by his father, and start to pity himself instead.
Rituals are more revealing than facts!
Trumper says this to himself in a monologue. He feels that even though a certain fact may prove otherwise, the facts may not always support the truth, it’s the rituals that do. He presents this premise with an example to support. Even though, he never sent any letters to Biggie, he always wrote these letters. It may be said that he had moved on from the relationship, but he still cared enough about the two to write frequent letters
What I object to is that my upstairs life is so cluttered with little things – errors of judgement, but never crimes.
Trumper had been fixing a fuse in his house’s basement when he comes with the idea that he has been doing nothing substantial with his life for a very long time. All these things have caused him to suffer a great deal, but none of it is of any substance that he could justify the sadness of his life. He is regretful that all of his life is full of discomforts, and he may have been ok if that have been due to some grave crime or accident, but it all has been due to inconsequential events.
Oh, sympathy and comfort. It's a queer thing that when you're given a little, you only want a lot.
Couth experiences this in an ironic fashion. He tries to prevent Lydia Kindle knowing that he sold little knick-knacks to sustain himself, and in process ends up getting wounded, robbed and humiliated. He says he doesn’t wants to be pitied but when Lydia shows him some sympathy he wants to experience more of it.
Cattle are safe, Couth, and they’re content.
Trumper is fearful for Colm’s health even though he is normal. He is constantly worried about his growth and, in order to shield him from the harmful world, tries to nurture him in a simulated environment where he would not be able to see old age, or death or anything depressing. Couth remarks that his way of raising children is similar of the way cattle are raised, to survive. But, Trumper thinks that even if it is not ambitious, at least it’s safe.
