"The Lucid eye in silver town" by John Updike?

Question

Talk about the theme: Illusion vs Disillusion( Reality)

Answer 1

This is all I could find - sorry.


"Well, on this ordinary Saturday afternoon in May 1964, I remember reading John Updike's story "The Lucid Eye in Silver Town" (Saturday Evening Post, May 23, 1964), with the smell of freshly cut hair and pommade (this was before men ever considered spray). The story line was fairly simple, but the main point eluded me for forty years! What I remembered was that a young man, fascinated by art and living in a modest Pennsylvania town, came to Manhattan with his father to visit a well-to-do uncle and shop for a book about Vermeer. During the visit, the boy, about the age I was when I read the story, looked into the sky and a sliver lodged in his eye. In true O. Henry fashion, the money the father had put aside for the book was spent on a hotel doctor to remove an eyelash from the son's eye. What I remembered was not the spoiled, insolent attitude of the son, but the selfless, almost tragic response of the father. I relate to the father now, so many years later, and I appreciate that my own father would have done the same for me."

"Children are often taught by their parents, but sometimes they must learn things on their own. When coming of age we learn many important lessons that are critical for a successful future. Sometimes the most significant learning experiences are traumatic and painful. In “The Lucid Eye in Silver Town” by John Updike, Jay August is an intellectual, but inexperienced individual that must overcome difficulties of frustration and disappointment to realize his childhood immaturity.
The character of Jay August is developed throughout the story with dialogues that capture his psychological traits more frequently than his physical traits. During the story, Jay reveals his childhood naiveté repeatedly. By saying, “…I was sure that only stupid people took an interest in money” (Updike 490) he reveals that he has not yet learned that money is necessary in life. Throughout the story, he refers to objects with concern for aspiration and beauty, but does not realize that it takes wealth to obtain these objects. To him, New York is the silver town, “Shimmering buildings arrowed upward and glinted through the treetops…Towers of ambition rose, crystalline within me” (Updike 493)."