Why did Noodles disown Max?
He kept calling him "Senator Bailey", even though he clearly knew who he was. Why did he do that? Was it to mock him?
shareMy read is he's staying true to the Max he thought he knew, and to whom he kept a positive memory for the last 30 years. He doesn't want to acknowledge the truth, least of all to the fellow himself. Noodles thus prefers not to acknowledge Bailey's true identity.
It may also be a kind of perverse revenge, that Noodles won't honor the contract offered because it would betray the principals of the Max he thought he knew. But it seems too heartfelt for that.
I viewed it as noodles way of telling max that he would no longer let max manipulate and control him. If you believe it was not real, but part of a drugged dream, or hallucination, then it was noodles convincing himself that max, not noodles was the betrayer (something noodles might have good reason to believe anyway from previous conversations about joining up with a bigger crime organization.)
shareMy read is he's staying true to the Max he thought he knew, and to whom he kept a positive memory for the last 30 years. He doesn't want to acknowledge the truth, least of all to the fellow himself.
That's how I read it too. It's his escapism like his opium smoking before. share
I agree. But also to distance himself from Max (Bailey), to hide some of his current feelings, maybe.
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