Crash, ch 11 - 17

As James’ relationship with Vaughn deepens, the readers perception of James shifts in a rather unexpected way. At first, James appears as dark, perverse, spontaneous and carless as Vaughn. It wouldn’t be odd to see them as almost similar personalities. But more and more James is becoming hesitant around Vaughn, appearing timid and nervous, more cautious than we had ever originally imagined. For instance, James questions Vaughn’s detached hostility towards the worn-out Seagrave. Also James refuses to drink wine while driving alongside a prostitute as Vaughn dives in deep with a bottle of wine in one hand, hash cigarette held between his lips, and a prostitutes breast in his other hand in the back seat. 

Additionally, it seems J.G. Ballard’s world within “Crash” contains only the perverse and the overly-sexually driven. Affairs appear casual and are accepted among marriages, recent widowers, etc.. However, it becomes apparent that the characters in this world, all of them, have a suppressed or not-yet-discovered sexual urge involving the new physical limits brought to them via twisted and warped chromium cars. After a crowd gathered to spectate the gruesome scene of a multiple car pile-up James notices two couple engaging in gentle foreplay on the way to their cars, presumably enticed by the violent automobile performance. Catherine is also affected by this. Despite never being in an automobile accident herself, she too becomes enthralled by the coupling of flesh and chromium. James realizes this, “the multiple car-crash we had seen had sprung the same traps in her mind as in mine” (159).

One other small yet significant detail is that of pedestrians. “Vaughn isn’t interested in pedestrians” (150). Why? It seems that human can still become violently meshed with technology. However, to J.G. Ballard, it is more important that death occurs within the automobile. For death to occur outside of an automobile may be something entirely different in what Ballard is focusing his issue with technology on.