I chose to look at Scott’s final scene in Mao II. He remains at Bill’s house, despite the fact that Bill has gone missing. Hurt that Bill is gone, and refusing to acknowledge that he might not come back, Scott goes through the motions of everyday life as if everything was still the same. Scott continues to do mundane tasks of making lists and completing the items on the list. Scott’s obsession with Bill is prevalent throughout the novel; Scott tracks Bill down when Bill does not want to be found. Scott also keeps Bill confined to the house, wanting him to continue writing. Mark Osteen points out that “we can’t be sure whether Scott belittles the book because it really is weak or because in writing it Gray has dared to alter the fetishized image that Scott worships” (Osteen 649). But by keeping Bill in this state, Scott can continue to maintain the same image of Bill. Osteen sees Scott creating Bill into a god-like figure. Scott remaining in Bill’s house shows how Scott is “keep[ing] the faith” until Bill returns (Osteen 658). Scott is also the only person who knows Bill’s real name, Willard Skansey, which he cherishes as his little secret.
Once Karen comes back, however, Scott and Karen find comfort in one another and realize they need to move on without Bill. Scott, however, only does this by freeing himself of the “real” Bill, not the Bill he has always imagined (Osteen 658). We see this when Scott “put his face to the keys and blew,” erasing all traces of Bill from the typewriter (DeLillo 141). Instead Scott has Bill’s books and photographs in his possession so he can manipulate Bill’s image into the one he wants. He will not let the public see Bill’s last work but he will allow Brita’s photographs to be shown to the public. Brita’s photographs are her interpretation of Bill, not Scott’s. Scott sees Brita as “trying to deliver her subject from every mystery that hovered over his chosen life…that erased his seclusion” (22). That seclusion is precisely what Scott is striving to keep. By withholding the last book from the public, Scott maintains the image he has of Bill, which will collect “aura and force,” while giving the public Brita’s interpretation instead (DeLillo 224).
I do not fully understand the obsession that Scott has with Bill. I know that he admires his work and that is the reason why he is Bill’s assistant, but sometimes its more of a relationship of lovers than assistant and boss. By holding on to Bill’s manuscript, it’s like a lover holding on to the last tangible object that he or she has of the person they love. Scott’s obsession with Bill is almost creepy in that he gets upset when Bill disappears, and in that he wouldn’t even allow for him to spend time with Karen and Brita. Instead of walking around with the women like Bill wanted to do, Scott sends him to his room to write as if he were a 12 year old boy. In Scott’s last scene, however, he says “And we are absolutely the last people on earth to require an explanation” which to me, I understood this as Scott acknowledging that he cannot posses Bill – Bill is an individual person, not Scott’s property.
I like the quote you mentioned, I think that’s a great way to show how Scott tries to let go. You also reminded me about something in the novel when you talk about Bill and Scott having a relationship like lovers. it made me think of how they both sleep with Karen. I also thought it was very odd that Scott sleeps with Brita right after they hear the voice message on phone. It’s almost felt like Scott had to be with Brita because Bill wanted her.