Thoughts Dedicated to a Wonderful Young Woman with Whom I Once Went Out Before She Met and Married One of the Most Wonderful Young Men Around.

[Editor’s Note: Contains Plot Spoilers]

Last night I went to watch The Dark Knight with two people I love. Rachel writes a note to Bruce saying that she will be marrying Harvey Dent, because she cannot wait until Bruce no longer needs Batman, because that day may never come. The note is given to Alfred, who is allowed to read it, with the direction to give it to Bruce when the time is right. After Rachel’s death Alfred places the note on Bruce’s breakfast tray. Before Alfred leaves Bruce says, “She would have waited for me.” As Alfred walks away he takes the note with him.

The 1966 Fahrenheit 451, directed by François Truffaut, makes significant changes from Ray Bradbury’s novel. In the novel, Montag becomes Ecclesiastes. In Truffaut’s work he becomes David Copperfield. Before this happens, when he is first experimenting with reading, Montag gets up in the middle of the night and begins going over this novel with trouble, sounding out the words. “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”

The speaker of The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock says

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous.

“She would have waited for me.”

It is nice to not know how often I am not the hero of my own life.