i just finished iwwv and i really enjoyed it!!! even though it is likely the most harrowing thing i've read in a while, it was also the most beautiful, so. ANYWAYS i'm really surprised no one's ever asked you why james broke oliver's nose, because honestly for me that's one of the biggest questions?? idk if you'd want to answer but why does he?? if you want to say?? i get the impression it's the same kind of overwhelming panic that accompanies a lot of his actions later in the book but idk
As to your question: this is one of those things that’s actually already in the text if you look closely. James tells Oliver himself: “I want to hurt the whole world.” From about Act III onward, James is in a state of constant moral crisis, but more important than that, he is in a constant state of crippling fear. Not just a momentary panic–though there is that, too–but a constant, uninterrupted state of terror. We often talk about Macbeth in terms of guilt; guilt drives Lady Macbeth crazy, guilt drives Macbeth to commit murder after murder… or does it? Now, of course, I can’t remember the article but I once read a fascinating study of the play which argued that guilt actually has very little to do with the Macbeths’ eventual descent into madness. Rather, they’re constantly, cripplingly afraid of being found out and being punished for what they’ve done, and that unrelenting dread is really what undoes them. The same is very true of James. He’s terrified all the time, he hates being terrified all the time, and that makes him furious. Have you ever gotten into an argument, started to cry, been furious with yourself for showing that weakness–and started to cry harder because of that self-loathing? Imagine that, but a million times worse. That is the emotional place where James lives for five months, and this is his breaking point. Why Oliver? Because he’s the person James has been closest to for so long and he can’t tell him what’s happening because he’s afraid–again, afraid–of Oliver learning the truth and being horrified by it. But he’s also furious with Oliver. Furious with him for going upstairs with Meredith at the Caesar party and touching off that powder keg. Furious with him for helping to persuade him to agree to do nothing when there was still a chance of undoing this terrible thing he did. And yes, of course furious with him for getting so deeply entangled with Meredith after all the damage they’ve already done. Finally, he’s furious with himself for being too afraid to tell Oliver any of these truths. James is a profoundly fearful person. He is easily frightened, and he hates that about himself, he hates that he carries this fear which is, in his estimation, not his fault but is (partly) Oliver’s, and through some combination of convoluted logic and sheer emotional trauma he focuses all that profoundly destructive energy on Oliver in this moment of close physical engagement and acting enemies.
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