Life imitating art... John McCain as Archie Jones

I cannot imagine what John McCain must have felt like in that POW camp in Vietnam, but one can imagine that he must have felt helpless and that his situation was hopeless. Once he was rescued, he had a new lease on life. Archie experienced the same feelings when he was "rescued", not from a POW camp, but from trying to take his own life. White Teeth describes Archie as feeling that '... Fate was pulling him toward another life' (p. 15). McCain must have felt the same way. Archie was being pulled toward Clara (his second wife), and pulled McCain toward Cindy (HIS second wife).

In order to be pulled toward a second spouse, one must first leave (or be left by) a first spouse. Archie was left by his first wife, Ophelia. McCain left his first wife. White Teeth puts it well when it says, '... men retain the ancient ability to leave a family and a past. They just unhook themselves, like removing a fake beard, and skulk discreetly back into society, changed men.' (p. 15) Seeing how his first wife, Carol, had been disfigured in a car accident, McCain leaves her, his family and his past and re-enters society with Cindy. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html - website originally referenced in a post by Change is Necessary for Growth, 6-29-08)

History shows that neither man is well-suited for relationships. Archie is attracted to women 'only if they [wear] haloes' (p. 7). Clara is younger and prettier than Ophelia. Clara quickly discovers that Archie is 'no romantic hero' (p. 40) and feels that as 'average' as he is (p. 41), he should 'at least be utterly devoted to... [her] beauty, ... [her] youth' (p. 41). Instead he spends his time with Samad Iqbal, reminiscing about the way it was. The same can be said for McCain - Cindy is younger and supposedly even prettier than Carol. He is average and has not been described (to my knowledge) as passionate about anything other than his career. McCain's Samad Iqbal, in that respect, would be his country and now his desire to be the next president of the United States.