This story has a similar feel to the story Some People are Meant to Live Alone in a sense that Mr. Farley and Uncle Arthur have spent a majority of their time alone and have come to terms with it. However, this quote shows the difference between the stories:
"'You know,' he said, 'I never knew what light was. All those years behind those trees in that dark house, The light use to trickle, never flow. Mark you, I used to like it, I didn't complain. I thought the gloom was pleasant. But I never knew what the light was.'
'And how did you come to find out, to see the light?' I asked.
'I was lucky. When my sister died, there was no one to look after things; I had never learned to cook. My friend told me about this place. The moment I saw it, I knew that I was not going back to that dark house.'"
Unlike Uncle Arthur who seemed to have shared his loneliness and in a sense cursed his nephew with it, Mr. Farley talks about the opposite although not directly. It seems that the light happened to be his escape from perpetual loneliness of which cursed many people experiencing unhomeliness. By this, it seemed that Mr. Farley was escaped because he truly was unable to fend for himself and by escape, he went to a home where people looked after him. He became surrounded by people whose job is to help him, and thus he was not alone anymore.
Picture being stranded out at sea with no land visible to the eye. Not seeing birds, fish, anything the moved other than the sea (Loneliness). You grow use to it when this is your life, when it is all you know or remember. Out of no where, there is a light. Because loneliness is all you know, this light can be fearful. Some people stay away, some people go towards it, and some are pulled to it. Mr. Farley in this case, was pulled towards the light. He escaped loneliness by chance but many people are not that lucky.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The Doors Open at Three
The most important quote from this story, The Doors Open at Three by G. Cabrera Infante, is on the very last page.
"Down the street a man with a long pole in his hands was lighting the lamps one by one. As I watched him I understood. It was then that I realized that I was quite alone, all alone rather, and that I would never see Virginia again. Never again would I feel what I felt when she said to me: 'Wait for me. The doors open at three. I'll be there.' The idea of loneliness horrified me more than loneliness itself. But it was inevitable and I accepted it: I knew because two big tears were clouding my eyes. I could make nothing out but the yellow glare of the yellow lamps lighting the street ahead."
The idea of loneliness is repeated throughout almost every novel we have read dealing with post-colonization. The fear of being left alone in a world surrounded by people because you could not relate, you were shunned, or for any other number of reasons, was overpowering and common thought among people experiencing unhomeliness and its presence in many different forms in the majority of the stories we have read now confirms this.
"Down the street a man with a long pole in his hands was lighting the lamps one by one. As I watched him I understood. It was then that I realized that I was quite alone, all alone rather, and that I would never see Virginia again. Never again would I feel what I felt when she said to me: 'Wait for me. The doors open at three. I'll be there.' The idea of loneliness horrified me more than loneliness itself. But it was inevitable and I accepted it: I knew because two big tears were clouding my eyes. I could make nothing out but the yellow glare of the yellow lamps lighting the street ahead."
The idea of loneliness is repeated throughout almost every novel we have read dealing with post-colonization. The fear of being left alone in a world surrounded by people because you could not relate, you were shunned, or for any other number of reasons, was overpowering and common thought among people experiencing unhomeliness and its presence in many different forms in the majority of the stories we have read now confirms this.
Friday, February 15, 2013
F Feb 15 Read C. L. R. James's "Triumph," pp. 35-49
This short story is mostly concerned about the interactions between the 3 characters of Mamitz, Celestine, and Irene. All 3 seem to be on the low end of social hierarchy as they live in "barrack-yards" in which "...the porters, the prostitutes, the cartermen, washerwomen, and domestic servants of the city" lived.
C. L. R. James presents their place, the women in the barrack-yards, by explaining something about Mamitz.
"Niether the accusation nor the beating had worried Mamitz. To her and her type those were minor incidents of existence, from their knowledge of life and men, the kept women's inevitable fate..."
Women lived in this society that C. L. R. James has depicted yet he says that this fate is inevitable. Meaning that in the same society, women are oppressed. Women are others and this quote does a great job at depicting this. The women in the story, Mamitz, Celestine, and Irene, are using men to live, to survive, because this inequality already made it sufficiently difficult to achieve otherwise.
"It's the wo'se when you meddle with them common low-island people, said Celestine..."
The character of Nicholas had been lied to by Mamitz, Celestine, and other characters in the yard of whom thought lowly of him because he was from St. Vincent. In the end, because of his love for a women that was using him to get his money, Mamitz achieves her goal of getting that money. Nicholas didn't know who to trust. Should he believe Irene, the outcast in the barrack-yard, or the rest of the yard. All in all, C. L. R. James was trying to show that even though the women were considered others in their own society, there were still others in that same society. Nicholas being from St. Vincent, made his place in that society even lower. Even though Nicholas had a job and had money, he was still considered lower than the people of the barrack-yards.
Even in a society of others, there are still others.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
W Feb 13 Read Frank Collymore's "Some People are Meant to Live Alone," pp. 1-8 and Alfred Mendes's "Pablo's Fandago," pp. 18-25
"...Then he was arrested for murder. They hadn't enough evidence to convict him, but he was fini. Disowned by all his former friends, he could go nowhere, do nothing. The shock and the scandal had killed his poor old mother. He was desperate..."
This is one part of the quote I would like to talk about. The character being talked about here is named Smith. Uncle Arthur is telling the story to Bill about how "Some People are meant to live alone". This quote mentioned here depicts someone who has been shunned away from the society he used to partake in yet he still wanted to participate in it. He was cast out, an other. When the character of Jones takes him in, it was a small step back into general society now that Smith had found someone that would put up with him. However, Smith was on the verge of being cast out again.
"...After a while he'd go upstairs and then he'd begin to pray. Pray aloud. Jones told me that of all the things of earth that are likely to rouse thoughts of murder in a man's heart, there is nothing to equal the sound of a voice you do not particularly care for, praying on your behalf...He told him he'd either have to quit him or quit the house.... And then (Smith). . . then he confessed to having committed that murder. He couldn't live alone with the knowledge of that if he woke in the night and felt there was nobody near him, nobody he really knew, he was certain he'd either go mad or kill himself."
This second part of the quote, and the story, reveal what I believed to be one of key elements of people experiencing unhomeliness. The fear of being alone. The fear of being cast out of society and not having anyway back in. The character of Smith felt that without Jones, he would truly be left alone in the world which for him was a likely possibility for he was already cast out of general society for he taboo past. This fear of loneliness, having no one to turn to was present as well in Jean Rhys' Pioneers, Oh Pioneers, and Wide Sargasso Sea. This fear became a reality in a sense in both as that the characters of Ramage and Antoinette, became ensnared in a vicious cycle that left madness as their only solace. What makes Frank Collymore's Some People are Meant to Live Alone different was that Smith brought his madness to Jones. Jones responded by killing Smith. Now the fact that Uncle Arthur is in fact changes the idea of the story. By that I mean, he just confessed murder to his nephew Bill. This in a sense extends Uncle Arthur's self imposed exile from society seeing that probably one of the last people who would associate with him had been pushed away by the form of story. Now, I would say that Uncle Arthur was not experiencing unhomeliness as he did say he wanted to see Bill again, but Uncle Arthur seemed to be alright with being alone.
I would say that the 3 forms of madness presented here were all a result of being thrown out of society. Antoinette's madness, which at first wasn't madness but became true madness for she was told to be mad and thus she became mad, was a result of being true loneliness. Ramage's madness, which turned to possible suicide (still a bit unclear), was a result of society turning against him for his taboo marriage and the fact the he represented change. Uncle Arthur's madness is a result of himself. Although he had come to terms with being left alone in society, although he seemed to have longed for social interaction to an extent, his madness was a result of himself. He then confessed to murder to his nephew and imposed his madness onto Bill. Uncle Arthur didn't fit in, like Ramage and Antoinette.
This is one part of the quote I would like to talk about. The character being talked about here is named Smith. Uncle Arthur is telling the story to Bill about how "Some People are meant to live alone". This quote mentioned here depicts someone who has been shunned away from the society he used to partake in yet he still wanted to participate in it. He was cast out, an other. When the character of Jones takes him in, it was a small step back into general society now that Smith had found someone that would put up with him. However, Smith was on the verge of being cast out again.
"...After a while he'd go upstairs and then he'd begin to pray. Pray aloud. Jones told me that of all the things of earth that are likely to rouse thoughts of murder in a man's heart, there is nothing to equal the sound of a voice you do not particularly care for, praying on your behalf...He told him he'd either have to quit him or quit the house.... And then (Smith). . . then he confessed to having committed that murder. He couldn't live alone with the knowledge of that if he woke in the night and felt there was nobody near him, nobody he really knew, he was certain he'd either go mad or kill himself."
This second part of the quote, and the story, reveal what I believed to be one of key elements of people experiencing unhomeliness. The fear of being alone. The fear of being cast out of society and not having anyway back in. The character of Smith felt that without Jones, he would truly be left alone in the world which for him was a likely possibility for he was already cast out of general society for he taboo past. This fear of loneliness, having no one to turn to was present as well in Jean Rhys' Pioneers, Oh Pioneers, and Wide Sargasso Sea. This fear became a reality in a sense in both as that the characters of Ramage and Antoinette, became ensnared in a vicious cycle that left madness as their only solace. What makes Frank Collymore's Some People are Meant to Live Alone different was that Smith brought his madness to Jones. Jones responded by killing Smith. Now the fact that Uncle Arthur is in fact changes the idea of the story. By that I mean, he just confessed murder to his nephew Bill. This in a sense extends Uncle Arthur's self imposed exile from society seeing that probably one of the last people who would associate with him had been pushed away by the form of story. Now, I would say that Uncle Arthur was not experiencing unhomeliness as he did say he wanted to see Bill again, but Uncle Arthur seemed to be alright with being alone.
I would say that the 3 forms of madness presented here were all a result of being thrown out of society. Antoinette's madness, which at first wasn't madness but became true madness for she was told to be mad and thus she became mad, was a result of being true loneliness. Ramage's madness, which turned to possible suicide (still a bit unclear), was a result of society turning against him for his taboo marriage and the fact the he represented change. Uncle Arthur's madness is a result of himself. Although he had come to terms with being left alone in society, although he seemed to have longed for social interaction to an extent, his madness was a result of himself. He then confessed to murder to his nephew and imposed his madness onto Bill. Uncle Arthur didn't fit in, like Ramage and Antoinette.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Wide Sargasso Sea Part 2
I have 2 quotes of which I would like to discuss on :
Page 61
"'It was a a song about a white cockroach. That's me. That's what they call all of us who were here before their own people in Africa sold them to slave traders. And I've heard English women call us white niggers. So between you I often wonder who I am and where is my country and where do I belong and why was I ever born at all.'"
This quote is otherness in its true form expressed in the feelings of Antoinette. It is here that she truly expressed how she feels she does not belong. It is made even more stronger by the fact that throughout the novel, Jean Rhys makes the reader aware of Antoinette's otherness and then by revealing this almost inline with the definition of otherness, shows the importance of it not only to Antoinette but to Jean Rhys as well. Jean Rhys uses this otherness as well to explain Antoinette. Antoinette is only at eases with Christophine, but it seems that everyone else treats her with contempt. Antoinette is tormented by the fact that she can not seem to belong, which along with her marriage to Mr. Rochester adds to her unhappiness, and thus is what I feel is a major part to her insanity. This inherited madness that runs through the family is in fact passed down by their, the family's, need for money. Money seems to lead to their unhappiness even though it was intended to make them happy. There tool for happiness always broke their minds, made them make terrible mistakes, and created a vicious cycle that has become gossip. That gossip comes back in the next generation and poisons the family leading to strife, unhappiness, and insanity.
This cycle would be easily broken if money did not cloud their judgement but without it, would they have still become insane with unhappiness?
A tough question of which I can't seem to answer.
They need money to achieve some happiness but that money intrudes on their happiness. That money is a catalyst for uncertainty.
Page 94
"They drive her to it. When she lose her son she lose herself for a while and they shut her away. They tell her she is mad. Question, question. But no kind word, no friend, and her husban' he go off, he leave her. They won't let me see her. I try, but no. They won't let Antoinette see her. In the end - mad I don't know - she give up, she care for nothing. That man who is in charge of her he take her whenever he want and his woman talk. That man, and others. Then they have her. Ah there is no God."
Annette lost it for a while, according to Christophine, after her son had died. But instead of giving her time to recover from the tragedy, she was locked away, shut up. On top of that, it seems she had no choice to her own fate. She had no control over her life. A maddening concept to think that your life is not in your own hands. She was treated like she was insane, again another thing that could actually crack someone. She was shut up away from all her friends, if she had any, and her husband left her. The pain of that is enough to drive anyone insane. If Annete, or any other person for that matter, were not insane before hand, they would be after facing an ordeal like this. Losing control of what you can and want to do. Being told you are not well mentally and being treated likewise. Not being able to see friends and family. It is a living hell. Not to be driven insane is a testament to you strength and you should be consider the pillar of perseverance!
Page 61
"'It was a a song about a white cockroach. That's me. That's what they call all of us who were here before their own people in Africa sold them to slave traders. And I've heard English women call us white niggers. So between you I often wonder who I am and where is my country and where do I belong and why was I ever born at all.'"
This quote is otherness in its true form expressed in the feelings of Antoinette. It is here that she truly expressed how she feels she does not belong. It is made even more stronger by the fact that throughout the novel, Jean Rhys makes the reader aware of Antoinette's otherness and then by revealing this almost inline with the definition of otherness, shows the importance of it not only to Antoinette but to Jean Rhys as well. Jean Rhys uses this otherness as well to explain Antoinette. Antoinette is only at eases with Christophine, but it seems that everyone else treats her with contempt. Antoinette is tormented by the fact that she can not seem to belong, which along with her marriage to Mr. Rochester adds to her unhappiness, and thus is what I feel is a major part to her insanity. This inherited madness that runs through the family is in fact passed down by their, the family's, need for money. Money seems to lead to their unhappiness even though it was intended to make them happy. There tool for happiness always broke their minds, made them make terrible mistakes, and created a vicious cycle that has become gossip. That gossip comes back in the next generation and poisons the family leading to strife, unhappiness, and insanity.
This cycle would be easily broken if money did not cloud their judgement but without it, would they have still become insane with unhappiness?
A tough question of which I can't seem to answer.
They need money to achieve some happiness but that money intrudes on their happiness. That money is a catalyst for uncertainty.
Page 94
"They drive her to it. When she lose her son she lose herself for a while and they shut her away. They tell her she is mad. Question, question. But no kind word, no friend, and her husban' he go off, he leave her. They won't let me see her. I try, but no. They won't let Antoinette see her. In the end - mad I don't know - she give up, she care for nothing. That man who is in charge of her he take her whenever he want and his woman talk. That man, and others. Then they have her. Ah there is no God."
Annette lost it for a while, according to Christophine, after her son had died. But instead of giving her time to recover from the tragedy, she was locked away, shut up. On top of that, it seems she had no choice to her own fate. She had no control over her life. A maddening concept to think that your life is not in your own hands. She was treated like she was insane, again another thing that could actually crack someone. She was shut up away from all her friends, if she had any, and her husband left her. The pain of that is enough to drive anyone insane. If Annete, or any other person for that matter, were not insane before hand, they would be after facing an ordeal like this. Losing control of what you can and want to do. Being told you are not well mentally and being treated likewise. Not being able to see friends and family. It is a living hell. Not to be driven insane is a testament to you strength and you should be consider the pillar of perseverance!
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Wide Sargasso Sea
From page 14 of Wide Sargasso Sea:
"That's not what she hear, she said. She hear all we poor like beggar. We ate salt fish - no money for fresh fish. That old house so leaky, you run with calabash to catch water when it rain. Plenty white people in Jamaica. Real white people, they got gold money. They didn't look at us, nobody see them come near us. Old time white people nothing but white nigger now, and black nigger better than white nigger."
This quote contains a couple of things about Antoinette and the time period that is occurring in Wide Sargasso Sea at this point. First off, this quote speaks volume about Jean Rhys' "affinity" with coloured people because of the fact that here it is represented again. Jean Rhys' spoke about this on page 155-156 in the "Black Exercise Book." However, as what was stated in the aforementioned passage and what applies to Antoinette, she is rejected because she isn't black. Antoinette can not find solace with colored people because of her skin color. Because her mother was from Martinique, Antoinette would feel the rivalries between the English and the French. (Martinique being French and Jamaica being English) This sets up the double consciousnesses as well. Antoinette's family, before they met Mr. Mason, were poor. They didn't have money like white people should have because although they were white, they weren't hence the term "white nigger." They could not be white and they were rejected by the majority of people to which they did belong to. Thus, double consciousness. Antoinette, on page 29, even gets stalked and confronted by a white and black child. Jean Rhys is showing the extent of double consciousness here by including this story in her novel.
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(Just looked at the schedule... posting this anyway.)
"That's not what she hear, she said. She hear all we poor like beggar. We ate salt fish - no money for fresh fish. That old house so leaky, you run with calabash to catch water when it rain. Plenty white people in Jamaica. Real white people, they got gold money. They didn't look at us, nobody see them come near us. Old time white people nothing but white nigger now, and black nigger better than white nigger."
This quote contains a couple of things about Antoinette and the time period that is occurring in Wide Sargasso Sea at this point. First off, this quote speaks volume about Jean Rhys' "affinity" with coloured people because of the fact that here it is represented again. Jean Rhys' spoke about this on page 155-156 in the "Black Exercise Book." However, as what was stated in the aforementioned passage and what applies to Antoinette, she is rejected because she isn't black. Antoinette can not find solace with colored people because of her skin color. Because her mother was from Martinique, Antoinette would feel the rivalries between the English and the French. (Martinique being French and Jamaica being English) This sets up the double consciousnesses as well. Antoinette's family, before they met Mr. Mason, were poor. They didn't have money like white people should have because although they were white, they weren't hence the term "white nigger." They could not be white and they were rejected by the majority of people to which they did belong to. Thus, double consciousness. Antoinette, on page 29, even gets stalked and confronted by a white and black child. Jean Rhys is showing the extent of double consciousness here by including this story in her novel.
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(Just looked at the schedule... posting this anyway.)
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