Wide Sargasso Sea

Yes, I know that this post is a tad on the late side, but I've been very busy, amongst other things, and have either not had the time to post, or have been distracted to the point of forgetting that I needed to make this post.

Anyhow, this post is to reflect on the novel Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. According to the information presented on the rear cover of the novel, this book is meant to explore both the dark past of a certain Mr. Rochester, and the fabled "Lady in the Attic" who are both characters in the famous Jane Eyre. I cannot, however, delve too deeply into the connections between the two novels, as I have never read Jane Eyre and therefore cannot definitively attest to anything in regard to it. However, I was not drawn to the book as a result of any connection to Jane Eyre, in fact, I was not even aware of the connection until after I purchased the book. What drew me to begin with was the title. I have always had a love for and a longing to see the tropics, the Caribbean in particular, so the book's title drew me in with a promise of a tale told in a far off paradisaical isle. Alongside my love for the tropics, I also hold a love of deeply emotional, even heart wrenching stories of passionate and tumultuous love. Drawn in by its title, after reading the synopsis, I knew that Wide Sargasso Sea was, without a doubt, the novel I would select for this, my final AP English paper.

Though I believe this post was intended for reflection on one's initial feelings upon beginning to read one's novel, at this late a date I have already finished reading, and so I am reflecting on the novel in its entirety. The positives of the novel, in my opinion, include the use of the dreamlike settings of 19th-century Jamaica and Martinique, the depth of character that even the most seemingly insignificant characters are given, the alternation of narrators (by which such a depth of character can be portrayed), and the beautiful, yet still very dreamlike, tragic ending of a novel that could not have concluded in any other way. As for negatives, I can really only say that the dreamlike quality of the novel as a whole became so pronounced at some points in the work that, at times, it became somewhat difficult for me as the reader to comprehend what was occurring, or what a certain character was thinking.

As a whole, I greatly enjoyed the novel and am excited to explore some of these topics further in my essay.

Tragedy All Around

Which character, Antigonê or Creon, best fits the idea of a tragic character?

As we saw in reading "Oedipus the King," "Antigonê" does not have a character that is unique in his or her tragic-ness. Indeed, all of the characters whom we see in Antigonê are somehow affected by the indisputably tragic events that transpire over the course of the play, Antigonê takes her own life by hanging, Haimon by stabbing himself after losing her, Ismenê loses her sister, and Creon both his son, his son's intended, and his sense of his own decency. So, as I see it, the question is not so much whether Antigonê or Creon fits the ideal of the tragic character better (since both of them do so quite well), as it is which of the two is the more tragic character.

While it is my firm belief that only the author of the work has the authority to state with any certainty the proper interpretation of his or her work, I see Creon as the more tragic character for two outstanding reasons. First, of all of the characters who sustain significant loss over the course of the play, Creon has lost the most. His son is dead by suicide due to the death of his beloved Antigonê, he has lost faith in his own ability to perceive right and wrong, and most importantly, he must now go on living with the knowledge that everything that has transpired is the direct result of his own actions and that he has nobody to blame but himself. Having to live with such paralyzing guilt is equally as, if not even more tragic than winding up dead at the play’s conclusion. Antigonê has done what she knew in her heart was the right thing to do, and dies as somewhat of a martyr for righteousness and honor. Haimon took his life in a moment of passion and grief, and suffered only for a very short time. Ismenê comes closer to Creon in her tragic-ness level by sustaining the loss of her sister, though we are not made aware of how this affects her so much as we are of how it does Creon. Therefore, with the combined bearing of three traumatizing events, along with having to continue living with his guilt, and the author’s choice to showcase Creon’s sorrow so conspicuously, I feel there is ample reason to conclude that Creon is the most tragic of the characters in “Antigonê.”

Prayer #3

Prayer #3

The eyes of many a stranger do
Not reflect the Divine . . .

We--
Appreciate for a moment
The pieces painted by the
Current of emotion that
Turns with the Earth
On the heels of Night and Day
And how we wonder!
Why is beauty ever beyond our
Grasp?

When the wise suggest that
Perfection, immaculate, is forever
Past the horizon
Their error shows where
It was prior not seen
Like the bud, blessed
They too fail to see

Absurdity to run after what
Is right before you!
All around you
In every step you walk
And the people mourn,
For what, they've long forgotten
As they wander

Contentment is hidden in
The love of one's feelings
Thus, seeking contentment
(As all men do)
Turn to your treasures
And count them
They are boundless
And kneel down to pray,
To understand
In the temple
Under each footpath
And above every head

-Zach McVay 1/31/2010

Waiting for the Barbarians- First Response

Waiting for the Barbarians, as far as I am able to tell thus far, is both similar to, and also quite different from any of the other works of literature that we have read and analyzed this year. I cannot presently bring to mind any measurable connection between Waiting for the Barbarians and The Sound and the Fury, though a myriad of parallels immediately spring up when comparing Waiting for the Barbarians to Conrad's Heart of Darkness. First, both narratives are accounts of men who are on the edge, the frontier of what they consider to be civilized society. In Heart of Darkness, Marlow is on an expedition into the “wilds of the Congo,” whereas in Waiting for the Barbarians, the unnamed narrator is a military personnel stationed at a fortress at the edge of an also unnamed “Empire.” In Heart of Darkness, Marlow and Britain represent civilization, as opposed to the barbarism of both the African natives and the ruling Belgians, and in Waiting for the Barbarians, the narrator and his budding sense of the humanity of the “barbarians,” represent true civilization in opposition to the barbarism of both the desert nomads and the soldiers of the Empire. Another parallel I see is that of there being romantic involvement between members of the conquering groups and members of the people who have been conquered. In Heart of Darkness, there is the hinted relationship between Kurtz and the anonymous African “princess,” and in Waiting for the Barbarians we see the clear relationship between the narrator and the barbarian woman that he has taken into his care in his home. As far as style, the writing in Waiting for the Barbarians is more reminiscent of Heart of Darkness than it is of The Sound and the Fury, simply by being coherent and comprehensible. However, there is a recognizable difference in writing style between Waiting for the Barbarians and Heart of Darkness as well. As discussed, Conrad’s status as a non-native speaker of English led him to use a great many words of Romance origin, while Waiting for the Barbarians, having been written by an English-speaking author, exhibits language that is much more colloquial than that seen in Heart of Darkness.

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I can't turn off the italics for some reason. I apologize.

Ought We Read Heart of Darkness?

So, ought we read Heart of Darkness or not?

• Each reader needs to form his or her own opinion of the novel to decide
• One can, therefore, only decide whether or not to read it after reading it himself/herself
• The wilderness is personified, though in a gender neutral way (it)
  
• The woman by the river is said to be Kurtz's "African mistress"
• Heart of Darkness can be seen as based on Biblical parables and stories
• Is Heart of Darkness an apocalyptic story?
• 'Apocalypse' means lifting the veil, in this sense, Heart of Darkness is apocalyptic
• Is it also apocalyptic in the sense of the imminent destruction of a society?
• Conrad had previously referred to the "piety of writing," is this evidence for Heart of Darkness as a religiously motivated work?
• Heart of Darkness is marked by "authoritarian, fascist concepts of universal prosperity" being brought by a particular nation or culture
• In the end, it is up to each person to decide whether or not to read Heart of Darkness, though this writer feels one certainly should
  

JSTOR Article Response

The article that I read from JSTOR is entitled “The Language of Chaos: Quentin Compson in the Sound and the Fury.” My reason behind choosing this article is that, of the sections of the novel that we have read thus far, I have found Quentin’s to be the most interesting, with potentially the greatest amount of meaning, both visible and hidden. The article reflects on the idea that all of Quentin’s actions through the course of the section are in some manner tied to his “obsessions with the past and with virginity as the equivalent of family honor” (546). The article discusses the scene with the young Italian immigrant girl whom he refers to as a “sister.” This, according to the article, is an attempt by Quentin to redeem himself as a brother by acting as the guide and protector for the immigrant girl, in all the ways that he failed as a brother to Caddy. However, just as he feels that he has failed Caddy, he fails the Italian girl in actuality when he is accused of molesting her and is resultantly arrested. Another element that is discussed by the article is the omnipresence of water in Quentin’s sections, and its possible ties in Quentin’s mind to sexuality, because many of his sexual memories are tied to water. This can also be tied to Benjy’s association with the purifying powers of water, and the power of water to purify Quentin by killing time.

Coping Mechanisms

After reading the third section, I would again like to pose a question to the group that struck me as I was reading, that is, the actions and ultimate fates of the Compson children all seem to stem from their collective inability to survive normally under the conditions in their degenerate family. Caddy reacts by lashing out through promiscuity, Quentin takes his own life out of terminal depression, and Benjy is barred from a true understanding of what is happening simply by his mental condition. In this way, all three of these children are, in effect, separated from the Compson family. Jason, however, is unique in the fact that he remains physically a part of the household, but does he too have a method of disconnecting himself. I feel that his all-absorbing greed and self-interest function as much the same kind of separator as Caddy's and Quentin's. Though Caroline continually refers to Jason as her favorite child, and presumably the only "good" child in her opinion, does he really have his interests in the maintenance of the Compson family position as she would like to think he does?