Pressure on Eustace

Will Landschulz

Am. Lit Per. 2

Mrs. LaMagdeleine

The pressures of getting Turtle Island up and running, while amusing to the audience (I nearly cracked a rib laughing at the morons who tried to stop Eustace from living in a tepee), are an annoyance and a hassle for Eustace himself, not to mention a danger to his camp and his way of life.  He almost daily whets his patience on the various officials and court charges and inspections, bringing it down to a small, sharp edge that he needs to conceal so as not to anger the idiots that daily descend on his camp.  What is more, his efforts are starting to feel useless.  The audiences of his speaking tours, like us during Morning Meeting, are grateful and awed by the presentation but forget it as soon as they leave for the next period.  This, understandably, burns Eustace out, and he finds himself trying to be alone. 

This aloneness, however, starts to alienate those around him, especially Valarie.  Feeling second-class, she has an affair with Eustace’s best friend.  This transgression might have been eventually forgiven, but she lied to him about it, the final nail in the coffin for Eustace’s relationship with her.  After Valarie left him, it was back to the Girlfriend of the Month cycle. First, a new girl, characterized to an outsider by a love letter to the girl in question.  Next, some thing that makes him break up with the girl, which can be anything from an affair to not putting the relationship first.  After that, a heart-broken entry, also in the journal, lamenting the loss of this “unique” girl.  Lather, rinse, repeat.