The choices that Marlene made in regard to giving her child to her sister are not at all limited to the choices of women. Men too, have as much capability of giving up responsibility for their child, leaving women as single mothers, or leaving children parentless. Men are far less committed to a child simply because they aren’t the ones giving birth to it. Traditionally, men have had the responsibility of, “upholding the family system,” and providing for their dependents. However, society is pushing away from the standard family structure; having a child doesn’t necessarily mean starting a family these days. A main theme Churchill hints at is: the negative impact having a child has on females in terms of career and achieving success in a patriarchal society.

Response to Janet Danks:

Janet shows clear understanding of the dinner party guests and their reflection in other characters in the following acts of the play. It was very insightful of her to point out Isabella’s remorse of her sister Hennie, whom she loved dearly, but left behind while she went journeying. Their relationship is a direct parallel to Marlene and her sister, whom Marlene burdened with a child so that she could pursue her own interests. Joan, whose ultimate demise was her child’s birth, has great reflection in context of Marlene’s life as well. Her denouncement and humiliation are symbolic of the kind of disaster that may have befallen Marlene, had she decided to keep the child.

Another notable difference is the characteristic, ‘bluebeard’ that the husband has in Bluebeard, but lacks in The Bloody Chamber. This fairy-tale quality is left out by Carter’s modernization of the story to a more realist, (could actually happen) style. I think Carter uses the moral of the fairy tale as a basis of her work, but adapts the story so that readers can take the moral of the story and apply it their own lives (in a creepy gothic way).

2. St. Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians and church music. She is said to have followed martyrdom after her husband and brothers. Her executioner attempted to behead her 3 times, before running away. St. Cecilia lived for 3 days after her ‘beheading’.

This intertextual knowledge adds to the reading as a great sense of foreboding. In knowing St. Cecilia’s history, it becomes clear the Marquis has long premeditated everything, even bringing in a picture symbolic of the narrator’s imminent death.

Reading Question:

The narrator sees the mark on her forehead as a “mark of shame,” because it is a constant reminder of her compulsive actions. The mark serves as a symbol of the negative effects of curiosity and giving in to temptation. The narrator was tempted into the luxurious lifestyle of the Marquis so quickly so was blind-sided to the ominous points of her husband’s wolf-like demeanor and personality traits. (I mean really, anyone with a monocle… hits pretty high on my creeper radar.)

Response to Sheena Gardner:

    I liked that Sheena compares the Marquis to sphinx. He’s definitely a creeper. (Her pictures are lovely and insightful as well). Another animal-like characteristic of the Marquis is his scent of spiced leather. The narrator can sense his presence even before he makes himself known just by his scent…. And yet she deceives him (and perhaps herself) by acting surprised at his presence.

    John Donne, was an English poet and preacher during the 17^th century. Donne used vibrant, metaphorical language to write multitudes of various genres. His metaphysical poetry was very sensual. In Ruins of a Great House, Walcott refers to Donne to highlight his fleeting emotions and rising anger as he observes the ruins and relates there is no protection from the finality of death. Walcott quotes Donne: “part of the contintent, piece of the main,” (line 45), reflecting Donne’s idea of all mankind being connected through the certainty of death.

    William Faulkner was an influential writer during the 20^th century. Faulkner used the “stream of consciousness” technique. His literature is set in the Southern American states. Many of Faulkner’s work are thematically based on the fear of time’s omnipresence. In The Sound and the Fury, the main character is obsessed with destructive nihilistic views of the present and idyllic views of the past. He feels he can go neither forward nor backwards and ultimately decides to end time by committing suicide.

     “Fallen from evil days, from evil times,” from Paradise Lost, is in reference to Satan, as a fallen angel who then tempts the woman, Eve, and is the cause of human’s expulsion from paradise. Perhaps Walcott refers to the “bone of some dead animal or human thing/Fallen from evil days, from evil times,” alluding to the past as being irreversible, and suggesting that the follies of man have existed since the beginning.

     Joyce and Walcott’s points of view regarding history share pertinent similarities. Joyce states: “history is a nightmare I am trying to awaken from,” suggesting that the past has an inescapable impact on our present and future lives. Joyce feels that the past can imprison, or repress a person’s present life. Walcott agrees with Joyce in the sense that the events of the past can negatively impact our current lives in a guilty, suffering and remorseful manner. Walcott then goes on to assert this affliction is wrong. He attests that people should not feel guilty of the past, but instead should strive to understand the importance of not what, but why something occurred. I think the main difference between these author’s viewpoints is that: Walcott reflects on history in terms of all of humanity, versus Joyce, who addresses the past of just the individual. Both authors state that time is a recursive pattern of past/present and future flowing in and out of each other. It is the history of our past, and our subsequent emotions and perceptions based on our history, which makes up our present reality.

    In response to Janet Danks: on feminist identity in Anna Liffey. I like that Janet pointed out the metaphor of the river as the succession of this woman’s life. I admire how the author reveals the certainty of death as a river, -which is always seeking it’s own dissolution, “from the beginning moment…. always en route to their own nothingness” (lines 175/6, p. 1044). The poem by Eavan Boland really resonates with me in her last stanza in which she relates that in death, her gender has no bearing on the meaning of her life. What truly matters is that her voice was heard.

Seamus Heaney’s comparison of Ted Hughes and Phillip Larkin acknowledges their differences in writing style and contextualization of their perspective of England. Hughes and Phillip utilize different styles of writing developed from their corresponding backgrounds and experiences of living in England.

Hughes uses northern, pagan, Anglo-Saxon and Norse language elements in his writing. He uses sensuous language to describe to readers the essence: ” the substance, nature and consequences of life,” (p.829), that his poems entail. Hughes’ language is simple and ordinary talk; an informal prose but of which express clear, direct and intense feelings. Hughes’ poems achieve an energy with lasting quality because his words create a “being there in the moment” feeling. His image of England is primeval, filled with a religious force, in which he is a wanderer among the ruins. He uses alliterative tradition, and guttural dialects of Nordic stratum he obtained from childhood. Hughes states his real self is expressed through his dialect which connects him to Middle English poetry (p.828).

Philip Larkin utilizes English language from a different era than Hughes. Larkin’s humanist language is derived from the history of the Norman conquest and Renaissance. His words are nimble, melodious and are meant to attract attention. Larkin does not attribute his style to his childhood, but instead credits his insight as a urban, modern man. He exists in an England of customs, institutions and industries, of which success depends on deprecating the hinterland of his nation. Larkin writes in a manner which sheds light on the beauty of England but also in one that exposes it’s ugly truths. Larkin expressions are mannerly, but not exquisite. To contrast Hughes, Larkin’s language is not as deep or ‘classical’. What Larkin may lack in eloquence, he makes up for in vulgarity and rarely fails to create reaction from his readers.

Reading Question:

Aubade: is an early morning song or poem, the motif of waking lovers and their reluctant parting. In Larkin’s poem, the lover is life. Larkin clearly states that he is frightened to part with life. He says we try to pretend we never die, and religion tries to fool us into not being afraid. My favourite line of his is: “No rational being can fear a thing it will not feel, not seeing/ That this is what we fear – no sight, no sound,/ No touch or taste or smell, nothing to think with,/ Nothing to love or link with,” (lines 26-28, p.704). His vision of the afterlife is one of emptiness. All feeling, all sense of being ceases completely and we become nothing. The end of Larkin’s poem brings in the morning as sunlight fills the room. However, with the imagery Larkin creates, of telephones ringing and mailmen going door to door, we are not intended to view it as a pleasant thought, but instead one in which the sun brings us one monotonous day closer to death.

Response to Rebecca Mason’s: High Windows discussion:

I didn’t really understand this poem until I looked at with the life/death binary in mind. I agree with Rebecca’s insight of the beginning of the poem. Larkin’s vulgarity in the first lines is quickly deferred by his relation of the kids act as ‘paradise’. Larkin is trying to express the inaccessibility of pleasure in his life through social and sensual experiences. I view the end of the poem and the significance of the high window slightly differently than Rebecca. I think the high window at the end of the poem signifies Larkin’s regret of a life not lived, the unattainability of experiences we have seen others live and wanted for ourselves. That the window “shows nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless,” (lines 19/20), contrasts the opening of the poem (of sensual satisfaction, with no fear of God or death) with loneliness and desolation. Larkin does not seem relieved by the thought of death, of the endless nothingness it would bring. He asserts that death would equate to (or perhaps be a continuum of) nothing more than the failures, and lack of meaningful experiences in his life.

Yeats and Eliot’s perspective of time sharply contrasts fellow modernist writers: Woolf and Joyce.  

Both Yeats and Eliot describe time as cyclical.  The past, present and future are intertwined, flowing in and out of each other, creating our perception of ‘reality’.  The idea of cyclical time is illuminated in Sailing to Byzantium, through Yeats’ portrayal of dying and being reborn as an inanimate object.  Being recreated as a piece of admirable art, the voice of the poem proclaims to have the ability to: “sing to the lords and ladies of Byzantium/ Of what is past, or passing or to come” (lines 31/32).  This sense of omnipotence, of all knowing, coincides with the idea of reality consisting of past, present and future contingence.  In Burnt Norton, lines 150-153 identify the essence of cyclical time: “And the end precedes the beginning/ before the beginning and after the end/ and all is always now.”   The quote depicts a cycle, of one element falling in place with the previous or next, but always in a continuous/infinite flow. 

            In comparison to Yeats and Eliot, Woolf and Joyce have very different opinions of the flow of time.  Woolf and Joyce view time as linear, and finite.  Time is equated with life, and ends with death.  Woolf portrays this idea through her character’s constant acknowledgment of time.  The tolls of Big Ben, counting down the hours of the day, represent the hours left until death strikes.  In The Dead, by James Joyce, the foreboding of death is portrayed through Gabriel’s view of his Aunts, and their aging qualities.  Death further impinges on Gabriel’s reality through his wife’s longing for a lost love seemingly buried in her past.  It is interesting to note that Gretta’s past comes back to haunt her when she is reminded of her old love through a song about suicide.  However, Gabriel’s resolution to leave the past in the past and to move forward on his journey westward (into the future), signifies Joyce’s perception of death as imminent and as the finality of life.                 

            In response to Tabitha Jones’ Blog, I couldn’t agree more that “time is relative”.  Yet it seems to me Tabitha shrugs off what has happened in the past, because it is behind us and “there is no point living in the past”.  Following the idea that time is continuous; the past will come up time and again right into the present reality, and influence the decisions we make to shape our ever-changing future.  Perhaps there is no point living in the past, but it is important to acknowledge what we have learned from past experiences and be able to identify issues that are recurring in our lives. 

In Mrs. Dalloway: The modernist theme of life and death is symbolized in the quotation Mrs. Dalloway reads in a book from Shakespeare. The quotation is a funeral song sung by two boys and is obviously symbolic of death. Other art that could be symbolic of death are flowers that recur throughout the novel; first Mrs. Dalloway goes to town to purchase flowers for her party, then Lady Bruton is the recipient of a flower at a dinner meeting, Rezia and Septimus astutely place a flower on a hat as a gift, and finally, Mr. Dalloway purchases a bouquet of flowers for his wife. Because flowers are representative of the natural beauty in life, but only last awhile before wilting and dying, their symbolism of life and death is acute.

In The Dead: Art and it’s relation to life and death is portrayed through the music at the dinner party; specifically when Mr. D’Arcy sings The lass of Aughrim (which itself is a song about a girl who commits suicide). The song reminds Gretta of an old love who died for her.

In Eveline: As Eveline reflects on her childhood past, her dead childhood playmates and her dead mother, we are introduced to her surroundings. The yellowing portrait of the priest which hangs in the drawing room is symbolic of the passing of time and of encroaching death as it sits and collects dust.

In The Shield of Achilles: Great detail of the artistic work on the shield relates to life and death. The artistic nature of the shield in which the women intends to see beauty (vines and olive trees, men and women dancing, white flowers etc.) instead portrays the imagery of horrific war images: barbed wire and men being executed. The images of beauty and celebration the woman looks for, is the author’s way of contrasting the heroic world of Achilles with the depraved world the author alludes to. Death is symbolically portrayed in the shield, and is the author’s idea of the drudgery, pain and suffering prevalent in the mid-twentieth century.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the poem, Burnt Norton, by T.S Eliot.  Its complexities and imagery as well as thought provoking lyrical verse tweaked my interest. At times I found it difficult to comprehend what Eliot is relaying to his readers- what point of information we are intended to discover. Line 145, “the stillness, as a Chinese jar still/moves perpetually in its stillness is a beautiful portrayal of the cyclical flow between life and death (or past/present) through art. Eliot continues to use art –the note of a violin, as a form of symbolism of beginnings and endings (which precede and succeed each other, all the time, ongoing and always ever-present). The ways in which Eliot illustrates the idea of cyclical time, simply by his word choice and programmatic practises, makes a reader inclined to believe that it is the only way time should be thought of.

In Sailing to Bryzantium, art symbolizes immortality. Imagery of a person being reborn as glittery and shiny art in order to “sing to lords and ladies of Byzantium/Of what is past, or passing, or to come” is also symbolical of time, of life and death.

In response to Michelle Dailly’s Discussion thread, I fully agree with her sentiments on distraction. It may be slightly ridiculous, but I actually wrote down line 104, “Distracted from distraction by distraction” and sticky tacked it onto my computer. So often is the case as I stare blankly, at a blank computer screen, mind completely distracted, from every distraction by some other distraction ( like the non-stop gurgling/regurgitating noise my computer makes in protest every time I try to use it) . Now the line is a reminder.

Upon googling “Daedalus nightmare history,” I found:

“History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake,” -Ulysses, episode 2.

“Daedalus” was said to be Joyce’s autobiographical alter ego. This quote by the character Daedalus in Ulysses signifies Joyce’s struggle with the past.

Throughout his life, Joyce struggled with the political, religious and societal ideologies of 20th century England.

In Eveline, the quote can be applied to Eveline’s regrettable promise she made to her dying mother to: “keep the home together as long as she could,” (p.318). The history of her life (and present) consumes her so that she is unable to move forward, -to awaken into a new, happier life.

In Araby: The point of view is of a man reflecting on his youth. The nightmare of history from which he is trying to awaken may be the underlying resentment of religious ideals present throughout the story. The young boy’s sexual desire for the girl could be symbolic of religion -it is sacred. However, his desires are undermined by his guilty feelings caused by religious forces which imply what he feels is wrong. Perhaps the narrator of the story wishes to awaken or free himself from the religious history that has made him feel trapped.

In The Dead, Gabriel wants to awaken from the self-deception of his marriage. When Gretta’s past love is brought to light, Gabriel realises he has never known love like that. His self-deception is the result of historical societal and political values, which at present, Gabriel struggles to identify with. His desire to be clear of past pretenses resembles awakening from the nightmare of history.

In Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa, Peter and Septimus all struggle to deal with the nightmares of the past. Clarissa and Peter’s love for one another when they were young affects them in present day life and they both struggle to be freed from their desire and repressed feelings. Septimus’ sense of reality has been skewed by the past, and if he were able to ‘awaken’ from his nightmare, he may have regained sanity.

20th Century: In literature, the 20th century saw a huge change in writing style as modernism became increasingly popular. Modernism is hostile to city life, to the historical political and religious processes that have degraded and demeaned it’s citizens. Historically, societal norms have alienated people from themselves and others. Modernist writing is an attempt to make people aware of this nightmare history has imposed upon us.

Now: Who am I kidding??? Society still alienates us from ourselves and each other. These political, religious and societal norms -the way we are ‘taught to live’, are foolish nightmares that have haunted us in the past and continue to still. How to awaken from this nightmare??? Anarchy. Just kidding. I don’t really know how we will awaken.

Part 2:

Snow symbolizes: frozen, motionless, paralysis, cold and frigility.  It is fitting for Gabriel to see snow at the end of The Dead because of the paralysis of his marriage. Coldness and frigility reflect Gabriel’s inability to understand his wife’s former love.  Gabriel begins to see how his marriage to Gretta has decayed over the years.  Gabriel is a well educated man who has deceived himself about his own nature, and what it is to love.  It is interesting that the snow covers all of Ireland.  This perhaps could be symbolic of Gabriel’s ethic identity as Irish being masked by English influence.  The direction ’west’ is symbolic of DEATH!  This is symbolic of Michael Furey’s legacy -that he died for love.   

Part 3: Response to Steph Broocke

Steph discusses oppression of the female gender in Dublin.  I agree with her in that Eveline struggles with conforming to the gender norms of during the 20th century.  Joyce describes Eveline’s responsibilites to the family: making sure the childern are fed and clothed, cleaning and contributing to family finances.  Eveline lives a difficult and harsh life, -it is strongly dominated by her father’s will and her family responsibilities are immense.  Gender oppression is also evident when Eveline has to secretly meet with her lover, as her father won’t allow it.  So horrendous are the living conditions for Eveline, she has to sneek away, leaving only letters for her family members.  Leaving letters for her brothers could symbolize a woman’s powerlessness to actually voice her own opinions/thoughts/values/beliefs.  The finality of Eveline’s actual physical inability to move onward towards a new life could be symbolic of women in Dublin, and they’re inability to change their oppressive circumstances in a assertive and direct manner.   

Big Ben: A constant reminder that time is always passing, we are always moving closer to death. This is a huge awareness for Clarissa, and Septimus. Their awareness of the passing hours makes everyday mundane events more meaningful, and at times threatening. Clarissa’s consciousness of time passing causes her to evaluate her life constantly. Septimus’ consciousness of death turns into his only escape, as he feels the pressure to conform to societal norms are beyond his capability.

The party: brings all these people who have lived distinctly different lives together. It allows us to evaluate the importance of their interactions and communication. These people have drawn upon each others strengths and weaknesses to define themselves, and to reflect upon what is important to them in the history of their lives. This is apparent in Sally Seton and Peter Walsh’s reminiscent interaction, and also Clarissa’s neglect to engage fully with her childhood friends. Clarissa’s full character is only made observable through her hospitable actions and her guest’s reception at the party. Communication is vital to Clarissa’s soulful desires, -yet it seems her interactions with others are superficial. Clarissa is also consumed by thoughts of Septimus’ death and reflects on it as a desperate, yet meaningful form of communication. Perhaps Septimus’ death helps Clarissa to be more at peace with her mortality. I think the party signifies the importance of meaningful interactions with other people. These interactions make us who we are by leaving impressions on our souls.

The Old Woman in the Window: could be representative of serenity and purity of soul. Clarissa admires this lady’s independence but also sees her vulnerability of loneliness. The fact that Clarissa hosts the party explains her desire to be among people, yet as she grows older, she becomes more reflective and less communicative with her peers. Clarissa feels preserving independence is essential for the soul, but I feel she is too willing to let go of her life-long connections with the people she loves in order to do so.

Part 2: The old woman singing in the park

The old woman singing in the park juxtaposes the significance of Big Ben and keeping track of time. The old woman demonstrates that time is circular as opposed to linear, as she continues to sing the same song over and over non-stop. The old woman and her song know no boundaries of time, despite the other character’s obsession with it. Furthermore, the old lady is oblivious to everyone around her and does not care what they think. Her song signifies the importance of celebrating life, endurance and continuity. It is interesting that Rezia finds relief in the old lady’s ways, and feels that everything will work out in the end; whereas Peter is annoyed and takes pity on her, gives her change and leaves quickly. These two characters’ actions resemble their personal thoughts on impending death. It seems promising that Rezia will overcome the challenges of Septimus’ death, whereas Peter has lived a life full of regret and self-deception.

Part 3 Response to Janet Danks:

I like the way Janet reflected on main character’s and the depths of their cave. I agree that Woolf has hollowed her character’s caves with humanity and depth by delving into their past, their emotions and how it affects them presently. Woolf connects her caves and I enjoy the image of how their connectedness brings them into the daylight so that we may clearly see the depths and crevices of their personalities. The image of a cave remaining dark until it is brought to daylight by the connection with another cave indicates the importance of people’s relations/interactions with each other. These interactions serve to highlight specific character qualities.

Mrs. Dalloway Blog pt.1

Fear no more the heat o’ the sun

Nor the furious winter’s rages.

(p.10, Mrs. Dalloway)

The above quote from the novel Mrs. Dalloway is taken from Cymbeline, a Shakespearean play. In context, the quote is from a funeral song sung by two boys (Arviragus and Guiderius), who are lamenting the death of another boy. The dead boy is actually the King of Britain’s daughter, named Imogen. Imogen has dressed incognito and after taking a potion from her evil stepmother, she has fallen into a deep sleep but is not actually dead. Imogen wakes up next to her step-brother who she mistakes as her husband.

This intertextuality in Mrs. Dalloway illuminates the theme of life and death. Clarissa is relinquishing the thought that life goes on without her. She wonders, “Did it matter that she must inevitably cease completely, all this must go on without her; did she resent it; or did it become consoling to believe that death ended absolutely?” (p. 9). Through her admiration for her friends, for the market, and the park, even for the fat lady exiting a cab, it is clear that Mrs. Dalloway is quite in love with her life. Clarissa’s love for life is juxtaposed with the quote, as it signifies that with death, we lose everything, the bad, and also the good. Although Clarissa ponders about the relief death seems to bring, as an absolute, she does not want to just pass life up. Perhaps this is a theme of ‘living in the moment, and having no regrets’ (such as Clarissa not marrying Peter), and could also reflect how time is spent/valued while we are alive.

Blog pt. 2

Upon reading Rebecca Mason’s blog, I have gained valuable insight into Clarissa’s query of life and death. I especially enjoyed her analogy of becoming mist once one dies….of never really fading away. However, I disagree with Rebecca in regards to Clarissa’s contentedness with death. I feel that although Clarissa understands death comes to everyone, she no more welcomes it than before. Perhaps death is not to be feared, -but that doesn’t make the thought of it anymore delightful or fun.

Blog pt. 3

4. In the novel, Mrs. Dalloway, psychoanalysis is most obviously displayed by the characters: Septimus and Rezia. The internalized comments made by Rezia with regard to Septimus’ peculiar behaviour are littered with societal attitudes and cricitisms pertaining to what is considered ‘normal’. Beginning with the way Septimus looks about with an “apprehensive look that makes others apprehensive too” (p. 20) signifies him as socially awkward. It becomes apparent that Rezia is embarrassed by Septimus’ behaviour as she thinks “People must notice, people see. Suppose they heard him? But failure one conceals,” (p.22). Rezia notably feels the need to conceal Septimus’ mental state. “She could tell no one” (p. 34).

Rezia’s attitudes could be seen to reflect societal views on mental stability during the Victorian age. Her interaction with the homeless lady in the park reflects a strong societal attitude of ignorance. “Poor old women –poor old wretch!” (p. 125). “Suppose one’s father, or somebody who had known one in better days had happened to pass and saw one standing there in the gutter.” (p. 125). The importance of class and reputuation during this era is striking as the poor lady is very much a black sheep on the pavement crowded with bustling middle class people. Finally, it is interesting that Rezia actually takes relief in the poor lady’s situation, as she sings in the street “if someone should see, what matter they?” After Rezia hears the lady sing this she is “suddenly quite sure that everything was going to be alright,” (p.125). Perhaps this is a comment on humanity, pushing past societal ignorance and finding connection with people through understanding.