armand's reluctance to create a fledgling was really a reflection of how he views existence in general. trying to convince daniel to accept death in san francisco by pointing out the meaningless mundanity of everyday life, a cycle that could've been broken, would've been broken but ultimately couldn't be broken by daniel's own aspirations in life. armand throws these aspirations back at him. wanting success in his career, wanting secure attachments with a family. daniel blames armand for his familial failures because louis never said anything to counteract armand's carefully planted seed of doubt on that subject matter. so when armand meets him in the bowling alley and daniel tells him that armand failed to put him out of his misery, it's just a reflection of armand's own sense of meaninglessness coming back to haunt him. this same ennui was the reason why he interrogated madeleine at great lengths about what she'd do with eternity. he's completely aware of how tempting eternity with claudia can seem because he'd experienced that same temptation with marius. when he asks her what she'll do when claudia inevitably throws herself into the fire, he's confronting his own nihilism. he knows that wanting the gift, accepting it and embracing it doesn't mean you're saved from regretting it. the person you thought you'd spend eternity with dies and you lose yourself. and so each new person who comes into his life is molded into what gives him meaning because that's how he always imagined he'd withstand eternity. every new person molded into the shape of the original purpose.
Loading...
