Wow, DJ, Sue, this chapter turned out to be an incredibly interesting and thought-provoking description of Clark's feelings and reactions concerning his breakup with Lois. I so admire how you managed to write his inner conflict, how he was almost torn apart by his two conflicting wishes regarding Lois: his aching need to be with her, and his supposedly noble, morally admirable decision to break up with her.
I still think that Clark is a supreme lunkhead, I still want to kick him, and I still hate what he is doing to Lois. But I don't hate what I think are his true reasons for doing what he is doing. I don't approve of those reasons, either, but I think I'm beginning to see the complexity of his reasons for his rejection of Lois, reasons that I think he may not entirely understand himself.
I apologize very much for bringing President Bush and the Iraq war into this. I don't want to discuss the merits of the Iraq war at all, and I don't want to discuss whether President Bush is "objectively" right or wrong about what he is doing. I only want to bring up the undeniable fact that most Americans are against the war and want President Bush to begin taking home the troops, whereas the President seems determined to do the exact opposite, namely, send more troops. Again, please, let's not discuss what is the right or wrong course for America in Iraq - and please remember that none of us has a crystal ball, so we can't know what is the right course - but let's consider this question instead: When he's facing so much opposition, what could be the reason for President Bush's refusal to change his mind about Iraq?
Personally, I think it could be the President's need to show everyone, himself included, that he is the President. He was elected to make precisely this kind of decisions. He made the decision about Iraq and invested almost all his own prestige into this project. He asked the American people to trust him on this one. If he were to back down now, wouldn't that mean he'd be admitting to everybody that he now thinks he was more or less wrong about Iraq? And if he was wrong about that, how can he ask the American people to trust him again? Wouldn't he be undermining his own presidency in the eyes of the public if he were to change his mind about Iraq? (Again, we don't know the future, and for all we know President Bush may still be right about Iraq.)
Now let's consider Clark's stubborn clinging to his own decision to break up with Lois. His reasons for sticking by that decision can't be the same as President Bush's reasons for sticking by his own Iraq policy. Unlike Bush, Clark (or Superman) has not made his decision publicly known. He doesn't have to fear that people will laugh at Superman or lose their respect for Superman if he is seen vacillating back and forth in his relationship with Lois Lane.
Nevertheless, Clark is Superman, and there is at least some similarities between Superman and the President of the United States. Unlike the President, Superman has not been elected. But just like the President, Superman has to make life-and-death decisions affecting other people all the time. And just like the President, or perhaps even more than the President, Superman needs - absolutely, totally needs - the trust of the general public. And, I think this is true both for Superman and for the President: they are not comfortable asking for the trust of the public, if they are not ready to trust themselves.
Personally, therefore, I think that President Bush may be sticking to his Iraq policy because he needs to believe in his own decisions. Similarly, I think Clark may be sticking to his own decision to break up with Lois because he needs to believe in his own ability to do the right thing when he is faced with life-and-death decisions. He decided that that his own relationship with Lois was endangering her life. How can he believe in his own ability to be Superman again, how can he believe in his own right to bodily interfere with other people's lives again, if he can't trust his own ability to know when people are truly in danger and when they are not?
The simple fact that Clark made up his mind once and for all that he and Lois can't be together because of Superman means that he now has to stick by that decision so that he won't lose faith in his own right and ability to sit in "judgement" of other people and bodily interfere with them when he decides that they are in danger. If he is to believe in his right to make decisions for other people as Superman, he thinks he has to stick by his decision to protect Lois from having a relationship with Clark Superman Kent.
So why does he think it is all right for Lois to still be friends with Clark Superman Kent, then? I think that is a decision he has made entirely for selfish reasons. Clark likes to friends with Lois. He has never made love to her, and he has never had sex even once in his entire life, so the idea of giving up a sexual relationship with Lois doens't strike him as all that devastating. After all, as a virgin he doesn't know what he is missing. But he knows what it is like to be friends with Lois, and he would miss it terribly if he were to lose it. He also knows what it is like to have Lois smiling at him and showing her affection for him, and he would miss that so badly, too, if he couldn't have it anymore. So he wants to put the brake on things, freeze time, be friends with Lois, watch her give up all other men for her chaste friendship with him, and feel comfortable about his own ability to understand the dangers that threaten others, and feel comfortable about his own right to be Superman, and to sit in judgement of others.
I guess this sounds very harsh, this thing about sitting in judgement of others. But honestly, that is what Superman has to do. And we all know that Clark only wants to use his powers to make the world a better place. He wants to save people, and he can't always ask people if they want to be saved.
To summarize, I believe that Clark made the decision to break up with Lois for her sake, to protect her, but I believe that he sticks by that decision for his own sake, to bolster his own belief that he can do the right thing when he is making decisions for others.
But Clark, this time you have to back down. You have to understand that you have the right to make decisions for others sometimes, but that doesn't mean you have the right to make decisions for others every time.
This is utterly fascinating, DJ and Sue.
Ann
