A Seamless Robe

There is a wonderful “New Yorker” magazine cartoon which depicts a woman, scowling, as she says:

One day Arnie, my husband, pointed out to me that every word I said sounded exactly like my mother. So he sent me into analysis and I worked on it for a year. But when I thought I sounded better, Arnie, my husband, pointed out to me that every word I said sounded exactly like my father. He sent me back into analysis and I worked on it for a year. But when I thought I sounded better, Arnie (he’s my husband) pointed out that every word I said sounded like my analyst. So he had me change analysts and I worked on it for a year. Now it is over six months and every word I say sounds like my husband. He thinks I’m cured!

The poet E. E. Cummings once said that in a world that is doing its best day and night to make…