The relationship between Andrew and Mildred Bevel serves as a centerpoint throughout the narrative of Trust. While Andrew makes many claims about his late wife, it isn’t until the last section of the novel that her thoughts are revealed. An interesting aspect of their relationship is their role as business partners- while Andrew served as the head of the business, Mildred was the key to his success. However, Andrew never managed to replicate her financial strategies. His failure is directly tied to his unwillingness to understand her love of music.
Andrew continuously discounts Mildred’s interest in music. Despite having attended many of her recitals, when asked about her favorite musicians, he cannot answer. His disinterest is not just limited to a lack of memory. When discussing her taste in music, he says, “I didn’t like most of the stuff” and “I always thought most people in the audience only pretended to like them” (278). Even after noting that Mildred seemed to understand the music on a greater level, he quickly brushes this aside, referring to it “irrelevant details” (278), then immediately referring to Mildred as “a simple creature” (278). Not only does he not understand her interest in music, but he outright dismisses music as irrelevant and simplistic.
While Andrew’s dismissal of music could simply be a way of illustrating his lack of care towards Mildred, his behavior has a larger connection to what separated his intellect from Mildred’s. In Mildred’s diary, she uses music to explain her thought processes, connecting it to the stock market. When discussing her biggest success, she writes, “In 1929, everyone heard D F# E A, and listening ahead, thought A E F# D... [but] the response ringing in my mind was G C B♭ D” (399). While she clarifies that she was not hearing literal bells, she claims this is the best way of explaining what she perceived and thought. To Mildred, music is an important aspect of her thought process, and what she uses to explain complicated ideas. However, when she tries to explain math principles to Andrew, she writes that, “[he] either pretended to follow my explanation or lost patience” (386). Despite Mildred’s multiple attempts, Andrew is unable to understand subjects like his wife. Mildred largely expresses her knowledge through musical metaphors. Andrew’s inability to understand her genius parallels his unwillingness to understand her music. Mildred even draws a connection between his failure on a financial level to his failure on a musical level, describing his attempts to replicate her work as “the right notes without any sense of rhythm” (380). Mildred sees a connection between his lack of understanding of stocks and business to someone’s lack of understanding of music and rhythm. Through music, Diaz can explore the two characters’ relationships and why, despite his best efforts, Andrew fails to even begin to match her business acumen.
It seems to me that this contrast between the two of them shows the importance of having not only an academic mind, but a creative one as well. Since Bevel lacks this creative side, he is unable to match the success he was able to find with Mildred at his side. This seems to go against what is written about him in the beginning two versions of the book where he expresses a love for the game that was the stock market. Mildred mentions that she "was obsessed with the process; he was addicted to the results" (Diaz 386). Vanner's depiction of Bevel places him more towards the view that Mildred seems to have, one where they enjoy the game that could be played if you knew what decisions to make.
ReplyDeleteBevel's dismissal of music, even in Ida's story brings about an interesting development where, with Mildred gone, no new formulas can be made. This makes Bevel entirely dependent on his lackluster stock abilities which could explain why he is so against speaking about this love of music the Mildred had. Bevel does not want to face that which he can not explain. He must be right at every turn and this is one aspect of his business where no amount of manipulation can make his version of reality correct.
While I noticed throughout the novel that Andrew's obsession with the stock market was at odds with Mildred's love for music, I did not fully grasp the deeper meaning until now.
ReplyDeleteThis post effectively highlights that Andrew's fixation on stocks and his lack of interest in Mildred's musical passion represents a disconnect in their intellectual and emotional connection.
Diaz uses Mildred's diary entries to demonstrate how she uses music as a metaphor to explain complex financial concepts. This not only showcases her intelligence but also highlights the significant difference in their ways of thinking and life philosophies.For example, Mildred consistently refers to the chiming of the “[c]hurch bells……D F# E A…[f]ollowed by…A E F# D…” (364). Meanwhile, Andrew only talks about financial concepts in technical terms, such as when he rambles about how "[p]rofits during the first half of the decade went up 75 per cent, and most of this surplus flowed into the stock market, enormously increasing the value of securities" (176).
This blog post confirmed my view of the book by uncovering the symbolism behind Andrew and Mildred's interests, emphasizing that these very different passions are essential for understanding their relationship dynamics. It effectively explores the meaningful link between Andrew's financial obsession and Mildred's musical genius, which helped me to more deeply understand the mysteries and intricacies of Andrew and Mildred’s relationship.