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24 2 UNDERGRADUATE YEARS 1930–1934 Monro began undergraduate life in Smith Hall, where he shared a top-floor dormer suite with Arthur T. Hamlin and George W. “Cat” Caturani (Hamlin 1). Fortunately for posterity, Hamlin was so fascinated by Monro that he wrote an informal memoir-sketch of their years together, filling it with vivid descriptions of his suite mate’s behavior and appearance. Monro struck him as obsessively focused on his academic goals: “He was at Harvard to study, to get A’s in fact, and really for no other purpose. . . . He would be a good guy, and he would give us a little of his time for sociability, but only a little” (3). According to Hamlin, in addition to “killing himself” to get an A in history, Monro lavished hours on his intensive German course: “He sat there at his desk, chair tilted back, expounding in German by the hour. He was never one to whisper , and I was glad of a thick door to my room” (8). Once the suite mates acquired a radio, the German recitations were accompanied by an endless stream of jazz, with Monro beating out the tempo, then re-creating it on the Common Room piano (5). He also flirted briefly with communism, attending seminars on Marxism but ultimately deciding against party membership: “Any time you disagreed to any item of dogma, they’d try to bulldoze you out of the way instead of arguing with you,” he later recalled. “I was never a very good theorist, but I did and still do believe in historical materialism—that whoever owns the means of production governs our lives in this country. But I decided that I could profit from knowing that without joining the party” (qtd. in Greenhouse 57). No matter how busy he got, his mother expected “Johnnie”—as Frances called him all her life—to write frequently during the week and come home on weekends. She scrutinized his daily life to the extent that she could from a So much does the college differ from the cold, wide world. —claxton monro 25 UNDERGRADUATE YEARS, 1930–1934 distance, suggesting that he and his roommates put up curtains (22 Sept. 1930), inviting them all home for Thanksgiving (23 Oct. 1930), reminding him to get enough sleep (15 Jan. 1931), making doctor’s appointments for him (31 Oct. 1930), and lecturing him on the importance of keeping up with his laundry (29 Jan. 1931). When John skipped a weekend at home, she made her disappointment clear: “We all kind of sat around waiting for you in the afternoon” (8 Oct. 1930). Frances was so emotionally invested in him that his father, who rarely criticized, felt compelled to chide John on a major oversight: “You forgot your mother’s birthday . . . and should write her—she missed your greeting” (5 Mar. 1931).1 Dottie, majoring in home economics at Framingham Teachers College, expected John to write to her too, even though they saw each other most weekends in Andover. She seldom came to Harvard, but she staked her claim to Monro out of all proportion to her physical presence, and Hamlin marveled at “the fierce possessiveness of this very attractive, very quiet young lady” (4). Claxton Sr. also wrote regularly to John, but his letters differed dramatically in both tone and content from those of his wife. Given the fact that he was often described as distant and emotionally inaccessible, the letters are surprisingly affectionate and positive, written man-to-man and emphasizing shared experiences . Fiercely proud of his Harvard degree, he saw his own undergraduate years through rose-colored glasses and was delighted that his eldest son was following in his footsteps. He praised John for picking good courses and getting off to a strong start: “I think you are handling things splendidly. . . . Your instructors will be aware, in that rather uncanny way that Harvard instructors have, of your previous work in their subject, and you will find ready help and encouragement to meet your earnest effort—so much does the college differ from the cold wide world!” (21 Sept. 1930). Claxton liked to linger in John’s rooms at Harvard after driving him back from weekends at home, and during these visits Hamlin was impressed by the closeness between father and son, whose mutual love and respect were obvious. When John talked about his father, Hamlin noticed, “his voice took on a slightly different timbre” than when he was discussing more pedestrian...

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