Fear of Defiance: Connections between Waiting for the Barbarians and Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad explores the inherent racism and corruption of colonialism through the character Marlow’s portrayal of the Belgian Congo and especially the main focus of the story, Mr. Kurtz. Waiting for the Barbarians follows a similar trend of criticism by commenting on not only the corruption of the Empire, but also the Empire’s the necessary formation of a common enemy as a source of unification. Through the use of Kurtz and Marlow in Heart of Darkness and Colonel Joll and the Magistrate in Waiting for the Barbarian, the two authors are able to make their respective criticisms and also provide a commentary on the implications of “being different” on society’s so based on conformity.

In both novels, the superior forces, the Empire in Waiting for the Barbarians and the Belgian Congo in Heart of Darkness, use racism or simple superiority to assert power and also create a unifying force. In Waiting for the Barbarians, the accepted superiority over the barbarians creates a mutual understanding among the people; even when this superiority if challenged, the thought of the inferior creatures as an enemy creates enough fear to continue the unity among the population. In Heart of Darkness, racism against the Africans gives the Europeans, the Belgian employees, the ability of exploit the land’s resources and focus on wealth without regard to the inferior natives. In both cases, the superiority complex created gives way to corruption of power. By placing themselves above a population, the guilty parties, especially the leaders Joll and Kurtz, begin to see themselves as “Gods,” capable of doing whatever they please without regard to inferior beings or the evil of their deeds. Though Kurtz’s corruption is more innocently based on insanity caused by solitude and the affects of the “darkness” or the wilderness, Joll, in my opinion, has no justification for his assertion of over-reaching power. “Three Ways of Going Wrong,” an article by Douglas Kerr, examines the options of colonists towards the native, or “other”, population. Kerr sees only two options: complete isolation from the primitive strangers or assimilation based on “degeneracy and demoralization.” Both novels explore both these options, but also the option of assimilation without the implied degradation. Such a flight from the accepted norm however results in consequences unworthy of the “crime,” if it can even be called so.

Kurtz, in Heart of Darkness, and the Magistrate, in Waiting for the Barbarians, both defy their society’s norms by assimilating with the “enemy”. Though Kurtz still maintains his sense of superiority by abusing the natives in the some sense, the Magistrate completely abandons social lines in favor of exploring the native culture and standing up for his defiant beliefs, in essence he “goes native.” As consequence of losing their social identities to their acceptance of native culture, both become social outcasts, enigmas because of their decisions to “be different.” Kerr in “Three Ways of Going Wrong” indentifies both Kurtz and the Magistrate as “torchbearer[s] of modernity and process.” Such a role implies their respective civilizations’ fears of progress and tendency to savor the past, punishing those who introduce new conventions or ideas. Both novels use their respective main characters as a form of social commentary on the failure of colonialism to accept modernity or progress because of fear of their people’s flight from the conformity that unites them and therefore serves as the base of strength and power for the ruling force. (571)

Consolation of Imagination

I attended the Arizona Kidney Foundation’s Authors Luncheon a few weeks ago. Though all the authors spoke about their books and told stories to captivate the audience, only the words of Gregory Macguire, the author of Wicked, stuck in my mind after the event. “Consolation of the imaginary is not imaginary consolation.” Throughout his speech or story rather, he reiterated the words probably about six times but from the moment he first said them I had already realized their importance.

While most adults grow up and consequently lose their imagination, the audience could tell through the author’s words, books and play he had done nothing of the sort. Instead, he had turned his imagination into millions of dollars. Though his style of writing is quite simple in comparison to all the other books out there, his dedication to imagination is what sets him apart from the rest of the world. Instead of giving a boring speech about his life and his inspiration, his story triggered the imaginations of his audience thus reiterating its importance. Instead of trying to impress the audience with his achievements, Macguire allowed his imagination to speak for itself. The story followed a group of kindergarten-age kids playing The Wizard of Oz (the inspiration behind his books) with a baby, who was cast as the Wicked Witch of the East. The game starts out fine with a few changes to the original script thanks to the children’s own ideas, but ends horribly when the baby gets stuck under the house and the mother is forced to pry her child out with a shovel. It’s a funnier story that I make it out to be. His speech made me laugh but also reaffirmed my belief in the importance of imagination. Even three weeks later, his quote won’t leave my mind. “Consolation of the imaginary is not imaginary consolation.” I thought this quote fit perfectly with the title of my blog, so tah-dah I thought I’d share. I’m obsessed with this quote and I think you should be too. (336)

Initial Thoughts on Waiting for the Barbarians

From reading the first few chapters, I took the book Waiting for the Barbarians to be a story of self-growth and of attempts to understand a foreign culture. The Magistrate, the main character, learns from both his “civilized” associates and more importantly from the barbarian whom he grows to love more deeply than anything in his life. Throughout the novel, images of dark eyes or glasses represent the Magistrate’s struggle to grow and deal with the insecurities he has developed in the last few years. The Magistrate’s relationship with Colonel Joll is one of little understanding because of their difference of opinions regarding the barbarians. While Colonel Joll and the rest of the Empire seek to destroy the barbarian race, the Magistrate seeks to understand them. Colonel Joll’s opaque glasses and the girl’s dark eyes allow the Magistrate to look into himself and form his own opinions on the situation with the natives.

The native girl, blinded by the torture of Colonel Joll’s men, also serves as a tool of self-growth. Through his cathartic relationship with her, he not only decisively sides with the natives but only restores the manliness he felt had been missing in his life, though the restoration is not an easy process. The whore and the native girl play off each other due to the similarities, yet obvious differences of their relationship with the Magistrate. While the whore provides a momentary reassurance of his manhood, only the enduring relationship with the barbarian girl has the ability to completely restore it. In my opinion, the two contrasting relationships also set up a representation of his connections with the Empire verses the currently misunderstood native world. While the whore has obviously been in his life for a while, just as the Empire has been for his entire life, only the girl and the native world provide him with excitement and stir his emotions. When the native girl exists in his life, life is restored to his otherwise dying soul. In the end, I believe his connection with the girl will overshadow his ties with the Empire, the whore, thus creating problems between him and the state.

His journey to return the girl to her people also serves as a tool in the Magistrate’s understanding of the native world. While the native’s connection with the land is obvious through the girl’s face, the men’s struggle shows their lack of connection, thus contrasting the two civilizations. The Magistrate also gains more understanding of the girl, and thus her world, though his goal of understanding her is not completely achieved.

While the sentences are short and the diction simple, the arrangement of the words and the overall style of the writing make each sentence full of meaning. Few sentences are straight-forward in their connotation and many connections between different scenes are necessary for understanding the novel fully. Overall, I really enjoy the book and can’t wait to see how the love between the Magistrate and the girl plays out, and thus the relationship between the two enemy worlds resolves itself. (509)

1910 Encyclopedia Britanica

• As of 1885, Belgium owns all lands that don’t belong to the natives or that are not “effectively” cultivated by the definition of the Belgian agents and therefore also has a monopoly of ivory and rubber. Because of this monopoly and ownership of almost the entirety of the Belgian Congo, all natives of Congo were obliged to sell all produce to the state and the rights of natives as well as of white traders not directly connected to the state were restricted.  

• Protests were raised by raised by private trading companies in response to the violation of freedom of trade and exploitation of resources by the state. Such protests led to legislation leasing areas of state domain to private companies in exchange for a share of the company or its profits. However, these attempts made no headway in reestablishing free trade. Rather the legislation led to greater exploitation and ill-treatment of the natives, which would become the main problem of the Congo in later years. Ill-treatment of the natives was worsened by the private ownership of a large portion of land by the king of Belgium, Leopold II, which controlled by most valuable rubber region in the Congo.  

• Britain raised charges against the Congo state for their ill-treatment of the natives and the exploitation of the land that went against free trade but only one European nation responded to the request to help end such injustices. Protests continued however. Britain began correspondence with Congo, but Congo government denied all charges regarding either assertion.  

• A commission was sent to confirm the abuses made against the natives and the infringement of free trade. After the reports were confirmed and published, the commission suggested more trade among natives, limits of forced labor, liberalization of land laws, regulation of expeditions, and freedom of the courts from the Belgian government. Though King Leopold signed an agreement with the commission, he refused to disregard the original arrangements connected with his state and therefore little to no headway was made in response to the suggestions. Britian, joined by the United States, continued its protests against the state of things in the Congo.

• The Belgian Premier began negotiations to cede Congo fully to Belgium, which would alter the king’s hold on Belgium. Many protests arose in Belgium, but such negotiations also were seen by the rest of the world as a final forfeit of recognition. The treaty regarding cession was annulled and King Leopold was compensated for his personal lost of land; most lands were absorbed by the state, though a few parcels were kept by the king. Public opinion was against the colony in Congo due its financial drain and horrible administration, which later caused further annexation to cease.

• King Leopold saw his influence in Congo as a spread of civilization and the values lacking in such “barbarous communities”, so focused on violence and victory. The main goal of his colony in his eyes was to serve the philanthropic cause and spread peace to the violent nations of Africa so fixed on annihilation. The agents of the government were supposed to serve as paragons of “higher principles” and act as protectors of the lives of the natives and their property. Most of all these figures of authority were restricted from use of cruelty to impose their ideals. Rather, they were meant to be “benevolent teachers” in charge in inform the natives to the ideals of civilization.

An End and A Beginning

The novel The Sound and the Fury examines the slow demise of an once prominent Southern family destroyed by the unfortunate actions of the family members.  The final chapter represents the conclusion of the demise and therefore the family's once great legacy.  All the remaining family members of the household have either run away or become become emotionally destroyed by their departures leaving the family in shambles.  

The use of Dilsey as the main source of narration connects the beginning to the end of the novel.  She is the only uninvolved character who has watched the family fall from greatness and therefore she alone has the ability to impartially speak about the family.  Dilsey says at many points in the final chapter, "I seed de beginnin, en now I sees the end."  With only Benji and Mother physically left in the house, Dilsey realizes the family no longer has any form of connection to bond them as a real family.  The Compson family has disappeared with time leaving no remnants to ever recreate itself or to achieve the glory Jason fought for.  Benji, the least respected of the family, alone is able to journey on and create  more supportive family from the ashes with Dilsey and Luster.  The final chapter leaves us looking back on the Compson family and looking forward to the Benji's new start with his fused family.  The final chapter is not only the end of the Compson family, but also the beginning of Benji's and Quentin's new life separated from the poisonous Compson "curse." (235)

Folklore in Relation to The Sound and the Fury

The article “Faulkner’s Use of Folklore in The Sound and the Fury” by Charles D. Peavy elucidates Faulkner’s extensive use of folklore to the common reader so that a greater understanding of the general text can be gained. Much of the novel is lost upon the reader due to the complex references to folklore. Though the article focuses on five very different myths, his discussion of the significance of jimson weed held the most interest to me. Peavy first references its poisonous qualities and briefly recognizes that the fact Benjy is allowed to play with the jimson weed is surprising due to the danger it poses. However, Peavy does not connect such a topic with the disconnection of the family. After learning of its poisonous aspect I immediately saw such carelessness as a suggestion to the unloving quality of the family. After Caddy leaves, there is really no one to care for Benjy on an emotional level or even in this case truly put time into his well-being. Though a physical family structure still exists in some sense, however fragmented it is, every member of the family is for the most part independent of one another. Though Benjy has Luster to look after him, his caretaker does not truly care what he does as long as he is not visibly harmed. Therefore, there is no one to protect Benjy from the possible fatal consequences of his handling the jimson weed.

The author also identifies the jimson weed as “odoriferous” and compares its significance to Benjy to Quentin’s association with honeysuckle in the second chapter. The heavy, oppressive smell of jimson weed serves as a symbol of the importance of the loss of Caddy in Benjy’s life. The odor of the jimson weed contrasts directly to Caddy’s smell of trees. Also, just as he can never let go of the memory of Caddy, he cannot let go of the jimson weed. Unlike Quentin, however, who wants to free himself of the smell of honeysuckle, Benjy shows no desire to rid of the memory of Caddy. While the loss of Caddy gives him pain, the memories of her in childhood comfort him in his loneliness. Peavy also explores jimson weed’s representation of the male sex organ, a connotation produced by an intense study of the plant’s blooming habits. Faulkner employs Benjy’s holding of the jimson weed references his lack of male sexual organs, his castration.

Upon first reading these sections, I did not pick up these references in the least bit. Both probably would have helped my understanding of the book and eliminated at least some of my extreme confusion, but after reading this article I have come to a hypothesis. Faulkner did not want the reader to pick up on the individual clues throughout the novel, but rather connect all the obvious hints throughout the story to create a view of the overall plot. Last weekend I had two different random people and my dad tell me that to truly enjoy the overall effect of the novel it must be read as a whole instead of in parts. I agree, and I think Faulkner would too. As a whole the interconnectedness of Faulkner’s self-described greatest work flows and creates a sense of magic, while in parts, such an effect is lost. While such a conclusion was clearly not the intention of the article, the article nevertheless led me to it. If I immediately were able to identify all the references of folklore of The Sound and the Fury, I would not be as blown away as I put together the pieces of the novel and the mysterious quality of the novel would be ineffective in the face of my ridiculous intelligence. (620)

The Search for a Story and the Failure of Carmen Elcira

I took a different approach in finding a short story. Instead of completing a variety of stories, I decided to read the first and last three paragraphs of each story in this year’s special fiction edition of The Atlantic in order to complete my search. While in the end only one story had the correct overall qualities to win my complete attention, there was one story in particular among the running whose opening lines particularly caught my attention enough for me to finish the story, only later to be failed by its ending.

The story is called “Carmen Elcira: A (Love) Life.” What first caught my attention, as I scanned its pages to examine the length of the story, was its organization. The story is written in blurbs, each an individual tale divided by years. The story begins in 1969 and ends in 2001, with about six blurbs in between mostly centered in the 1970s. It examines the relationships of the main female character from her adolescent days until her marriage, focusing mainly on her “one true love” and making all the other men in her life side-shows to the main event of her past.

The focus of the story revolves around the main character’s young desire for sensuality and the power of love at first sight. From the moment she meets Diego, she is enthralled by his mystery and maturity, the “way he had approached her, leaning so close to her face before he left” upon their first introduction. Boys become her fleeting pleasure, but the presence of Diego in her mind is ever-present because no one can replicate his sensual beauty and his mystery. Even though she doesn’t learn his name until years later, his affect on her is no less strong. Upon their second meeting, the longing feeling strengthens in her heart and mind, further empowering the concept of love at first sight. He becomes her image of perfection, the one who serves as the comparison to all her other relationships, though their own never existed. Only for one summer of her life does anything between them occur: a summer of one-sided love and her final achievement of desired sensuality. But with the summer, any chance at a continuation of their love ends. He leaves never to return, by choice without regard for her emotions. And yet she blinded by love so much that not even his hurtful actions damage his innate perfection in her eyes. Years later when she married and settled with another man, Diego still holds a “tender spot” in her heart that will “never disappear, no matter if the tenderness is caused by bruising or by love or if, as is often the case, the two are indistinguishable.” Until the end of her life, she does not give up home of their reunion: the chance that their time will come to love once more.

Though the language was beautiful and the message strong, I found the one-sided love story pathetic. Even when her true love disappears, he’s still ever-present in her mind. She spends years moping about it to the point of sickness; even when she meets her husband, a new love, she cannot let go of the love lost. She loses track of the world around her, and loses touch with her family. The people surrounding her are lost to a man who abandoned her forever. Her marriage is almost jeopardized by the main character’s inability to forget the love of her life. Though the intention of the story was clearly not to judge the character because of her pathetic persona, I found myself almost forced to do so. Even in the ultimate lines, I felt no sympathy for the pathetic character of Carmen Elcira.

Most of the stories I skimmed, or in this case read in full, lacked substance or the power of persuasion. I didn’t find myself pondering the message of any story; instead, I was turned off by their trivial content. It may have been my inability to understand their deeply hidden meanings in the sections I scanned, or maybe it was just the magazine. (680)

The Destruction of Innocence

In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” the reader witnesses the effects of a determined man preying upon a vulnerable teenager. As he persists to play off her simple teenage mind, she slowly loses herself completely to the fear created by his ruthless persona and the melodic voice that hypnotizes her into a dangerous trance. Her naiveté and innocence, which Joyce Carol Oates directly symbolizes as the presence of music, are quickly removed through her rapist’s penetration of her mind.

At the beginning of the story, Connie is a stereotypical teenage girl: bad relationship with her parents, naïve and innocent, boy-obsessed, superficial in most senses, and possessing a strong passion for music, characteristic of the children of the 1960s. Her life for the most part is simple and carefree. Though she has problems with her parents, they are insignificant in the greater scheme of things. Her life is consumed with trivial activities, pride provided by her beauty and the constant parade of various boys through her life. Music , however, provides her with happiness like nothing else can and an escape from the petty troubles of her days to her “trashy daydreams”. Music is “always in the background” of her life, acting as “something to depend on” and something to free her from her superficial worries and make “everything so good” (6). While boys provide her with entertainment and a sense of self-worth, music gives her “the pure pleasure of being alive” (7). The lyrics and rhythm of the songs that surround her represent the lighthearted joy of the teenage experience. Joyce Carol Oates seamlessly blends musical imagery into the story as a means to portray Connie’s innocence and young desire for sensuality and movement. Connie’s teenage innocence and inexperience, however, leave her unaware of the danger a boy can present and vulnerable to Arnold Friend’s actions. Once her new fake “Friend” robs her of her innocence, the music stops as she witnesses the horrors the world presents and her mind is stolen forever.

Arnold Friend strategically exploits Connie’s gullibility and trust of all things musical to steal all traces of innocence through the rape of her mind. Upon his initial entrance into her life via her driveway, music still pervades her life and therefore her portrayal of him. All her descriptions of this predator deal with his relation to both the music he physically brings and the music he purposefully creates in his voice. His “simple lilting voice” which made it seem “as if he were reciting the words to a song” and his “singsong voice” make her helpless to the power of his personal music (77). He uses actual popular lyrics to relate to her uncultivated mind and trick into the dangerous feeling of momentary comfort. Because she cannot distinguish the beauty of his deliberately-created music from the danger he presents, she doesn’t immediately sense his intentions or his essence of pure evil and therefore seals her fate in the moments she loses to her misconception. Only when she realizes the obviously rehearsed nature of his speech as well as his age does she unveil his true intentions to her mind. By the time she determines his too-perfect representation of music is feigned and that the mixture of his “dreamy smile” and his “perpetual music” does not fit, it is too late (77). By then, he has already commenced his psychological rape and instilled fear too deep within her for her to make the necessary decisions to escape the grasp he has placed on her mind. His sing-song voice has transitioned to a “rapid meaningless voice” lacking its initial reassurance (133). The music has stopped and her innocence has been stolen.

Her uncertainty as to what anchors her to life and lack of a definite identity make it simple for him to pry her from her safe house and to lead her into the unknown, threatening world. At the end of the story, Connie is empty and without meaning in her life; she feels there is “nothing that [is] hers, that belonged to her, but just a pounding, living thing inside [the] body that wasn’t really hers either” (154). Arnold Friend has taken everything of value from her mind leaving her with only her physical body, which soon will also be lost to his evil force. Connie loses control of herself due to her lack of a strongly developed mind which leads to her final demise. The fear he implants in her mind as well as his fatal words completely destroy her ability to make decisions and more importantly any remnants of innocence. Connie is introduced to the real horrors of the world represented by the vast stretches of land “she had never seen before and did not recognize” and is taken away never to return to the carefree days of her adolescence (161). (810)

Discussion questions:

http://video.tvguide.com/search/Laura+Dern

Compare the song to the story. http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bobdylan/itsallovernowbabyblue.html

At what exact moment does she finally realize her fate?

As soon as he arrives, is there a possible good outcome? Is there anything she could have done differently to change her fate?

How much of a role do you think the family plays? Does the absence of the dad in her life important to her demise?

What is the effect of Connie as the narrator instead of Arnold Friend?

The Insecure, Power-Hungry Man of Five-Forty Eight

When first introduced to Blake, the main character of The Five-Forty Eight, the reader is left completely unaware of the insecure man whose main purpose and desire in life is to feed on those persons he deems lacking in “self-esteem” or simply weaker than himself. As the story progresses however, we begin to see the true motives behind his hideous behavior. Inside the character that outwardly lacks morals and guilt is an insecure guy man in search of power to prove his self-worth.

From the beginning of the story, it is obvious to the reader that though he appears self-important at the same time some of his inner-monologue demonstrates his obvious insecurity. He characterizes himself as an “insignificant man” and states that there was “no point in anyone’s following him from his office” (4). He recognizes that though he feigns importance in many situations, in truth he is “undistinguished in every way” in the greater scheme of society (11). His insecurity is furthered by his lack of real acquaintances. His lack of solid relationships with his wife as well as his neighbors leaves him with no real friends whom he can confide in. Even his wife is an “unpleasant stranger”, and yet she is the closest person to him. This deficiency of relations creates loneliness within him and adds to his insecurity. He has no one to reinforce his undeserved self-worth, no one to comfort him, and no one to soothe his insecurities. This form is insecurity is demonstrated clearly when he seeks to “affirm his sense of actuality,” the simple fact that he exists in the minds of others. Though his insecurities seem to excuse him from his actions, his power-hungry attitude towards others cancel all sympathy the reader may feel.

Blake’s almost innate tendency to feed on weaker beings is sensed at the beginning of story, and plays a huge part in the formation of his personality as well as the progression of the story. His constant need for power is the driving force behind this disgusting tendency. It is clearly illustrated through his relationship with his wife and the various women in his life, and also less prominently through his judgmental observations of those around him. His relationship with his wife is one of constant fighting on trivial subjects with the clear domination of Blake due to his authoritative and downright mean attitude towards his wife. His wife’s kind nature and desire to please him leave her the submissive, powerless member of the marriage only affording Blake more power. As to his constant flings with other women, he even states himself, or rather recognizes through thought, that “[m]ost of the women he had known [and preyed upon] had been picked for their lack of self-esteem” (8). His routine of hiring, using and firing along with this mentality demonstrate his need for power over those he knows are easy targets. Each conquest is a way of proving his self-worth as a man and a powerful figure. He recognizes his insignificance in the world and seeks to reverse such a notion in the form of his using women. He also reaffirms his self-worth and importance by criticizing the people around him thus raising himself in comparison. He marks the humans around him as “rich, poor, brilliant or dull” in order to his superiority over the weaker humans (23). It is made obvious through such actions that his need for power and superiority is a direct consequence of his insecurity.

Though one can try to excuse his behavior, at the end of the story I was still left with the notion that he was a jerk (no other way to say it without profanities). It is clear when he walks away feeling “safe” that he has no desire or plan to change (62). There is no way to excuse his behavior. His treatment of others is absolutely despicable and in my case, I wish she had killed him and showed him the same lack of humanity he had showed her. Though she was crazy, I excuse her actions due my pure hatred of Blake. He deserves to die. The end :) (686)

Blinding Jealousy

From the beginning of the short story “The Cathedral”, the jealousy of the narrator towards the blind man is prominent in his narration and especially his interjections. This jealousy makes acceptance of the any unusual, unknown person impossible. Because he cannot directly place himself in such a relationship, a friendship with a blind man, his understanding is not limited but rather nonexistent. Not until the end of the story, when prejudice and jealousy is set aside can a relationship exist.

Even before the blind man enters the house, the husband’s tone towards the visit of his wife’s friend is one of disappointment and worry. He is not at all “enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one [he] knew. And his being blind bother[s] [him] (1).” Though prejudice is the main reason for such thoughts, the husband also demonstrates jealousy in regard to the deep connection the blind man and his wife have. The jealousy is almost comparable to that he has for his wife’s ex-husband, but in this case the jealousy rests in the present. He sees the blind man as a threat, mainly because the blind man’s relationship with his wife is deeper than his own. His resentment is never cleverly hidden and his wife perceives it with annoyance, only further kindling the flame of jealousy. He begins to feel separated from his wife in their already strained marriage. Instead of putting himself in Robert’s position, the narrator blames him for his inability to see and also for his own resentment towards him. When his leaves and he sits waiting at home, he directs his impatience towards the wife’s dear friend out of jealousy. In the opening scenes, jealousy is the primary motive of all his despicable, annoying actions.

The arrival of the friend only worsens the jealousy of the husband. The wife’s radiant smile and the two’s flowing conversation triggers a sense of separation and also outlines a lack of understanding and intimacy within the marriage. When the wife finally addresses her husband, the husband feels that “she didn’t like what she saw (31).” He feels separated from the group and worthless in the eyes of his spouse. The husband is swept to the sidelines almost placing him as a bystander like the reader. The relationship of the wife and Robert is visibly stronger and more like a marriage in actions and caring than their own in the short story. From the entrance of Robert into the house until the wife’s departure from the room, the wife and her friend form a team working together in harmony, the true makings of a marriage. “This blind man filled his ashtray [with cigarette dustings] and [the] wife empties it (43).” The only reasonable response of the husband is jealousy. He feels momentarily robbed of his marriage and bond with his wife, made worse in his eyes by the fact that he deems any blind man unworthy of such an honor. He is further angered as he listens to their conversation and he “wait[s] in vain to hear [his] name on [his] wife’s sweet lips (46).” He feels threatened by his absence from the lips and mind of his wife; it is as if he no longer exists in his wife’s world, replaced by the blind man. He occasionally interjects his own words into the conversation to emphasize his lost presence in the room and in their lives. His sense of displacement is the primary reason for his jealousy, a natural reaction of anyone in love with another. His jealousy blinds him and disallows him from seeing the true goodness of the blind man.

Though his prejudice does not help his unwillingness to accept the blind man in the beginning of their meeting, the husband’s feeling that he has been replaced is the primary cause for this resentment. At first, he cannot get past this to truly learn about the blind man or experience the unique friendship he offers. Only when he can ignore his jealousy and accept the man does a friendship begin to form. (677)

The Real Disturbed Child in the Teenage Wasteland

The short story “Teenage Wasteland” explores the insecurity of an adult whose selfish desire for acceptance causes him to separate families and to ruin the lives of innocent, unsuspecting teenagers. When we first meet Cal, we want to believe that due to his ability to connect with teenagers will be able to help Donny. Even though Donny’s mother while “passing the living room [] winces”, the reader do not initially interpret this as a foreshadowing to the rest of the short story (38). We are even given hope when his attitude in school improves, but soon after we begin to see Cal’s true colors.

From the moment Cal suggests looser rules for a child already in a lax family, the reader realizes Cal wants not to help Donny but rather feed his selfish need for acceptance. Instead of acting like a mentor, he acts like a friend to them due to his childish desires and therefore disregards the children’s real needs. He uses his authority as an adult to override the parent’s own judgment and rightful authority over their own child. At one point in the story, Daisy begins to realize his overly pretentious attitude towards her and her husband when she says “The tutor had set down so many rules!” (39) Unfortunately she does not act off her frustration so the cycle continues. Daisy is incapable of escaping Cal’s spell, because of the false hope that somehow he will help her otherwise seemingly hopeless child. Her fear of him having the same “miserable adolescence…[that she] had always sworn no child of hers would ever” have causes her to disregard her instincts (38). He completely separates the family by taking control of Donny’s life and in turn creates his own family.

Cal’s lack of a support system and family cause him to steal the families of others. He is a child. His history of being controlled, by figures such as his wife, cause him to reach out for understanding by building a network of those who feel equally controlled by their parents. He helps them escape and bonds with them over their mutual pain. His mental level being that of a teenager for the most part the only eligible candidates for such a job were teenagers. Everyone realizes Cal wasn’t “like a grown-up at all” but few realize the consequences of giving such a mentally unstable “teenager” the responsibility of a child, in fact multiple children (41). Cal even possesses the responses of a child, the inability to blame oneself or one’s friends as a means of self-preservation and protection. He almost has a fear of getting in a trouble, a natural reaction among preschoolers but generally not adults. When Cal gets kicked out of school, instead of blaming his buddy Donny, he blames the school, the obvious innocent party in the incident, adding an equally obvious lie to reinforce his blame. He lives through his children, yet each individual means nothing; only the entire “family” he has created has meaning to his cold heart. As long as he is surrounded by acceptance, he could care less about the individual pain or desires of his patients. While they exist in the family, they are his friends. When they are gone, the relationship is likewise terminated. When Donnie leaves the program, Cal “does not object. He admit[s] he’d made no headway with Donny and said it was because Donny was emotionally disturbed” (42). He is unable to accept a failure and therefore blames the failure on the child, a past friend who no longer exists in his shallow world.

Donny is sucked dry of all desire to live and function as a community member when he loses the artificial family he had depended upon for all those months. Cal takes all he needs for Donny and leaves him cold and alone upon his departure. Donny’s parents, or rather Daisy, do not realize the effects of Cal on their child until Cal has sucked all the elements vital to survival from Donny’s system. First he builds a trust with a child that no force can break, leaving them untrusting of the rest of the world, and when he is gone from their lives they are lost and have inwardly disappeared from the world even before their physical disappearance. Cal has “a smile of hunger” both “feverish and avid” devouring the souls of the children he destroys, leaving them alone and trusting of no one (42). Cal’s desire to fit in kills children like Donny, showing that indeed he is the child in need of help. (764)

History of Love

Reading List

P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
For One More Day by Mitch Albom
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
The Meaning of Tingo by Adam Jacot de Boinod
Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: A Novel by Dai Sijie and Ina Rilke
The History of Love: A Novel by Nicole Krauss
Pride and Prejudice (x 2) by Jane Austen

The History of Love

I had borrowed the History of Love by Nicole Krauss at the beginning of summer and put it off until I was in the mood for a cheesy love story. By the end of August, I had exhausted the Twilight series and decided to make the book my sole companion on my college road trip. I figured with the hectic schedule ahead of me the book would at least take me a week to read. These were the first of many false notions.

The author, Nicole Krauss, relates three completely different love stories between people ranging from age thirteen to seventy through the discussion of a book. Surprisingly, although age wise I should technically relate to the thirteen year old girl with the Russian boyfriend, I found myself drawn to the main character Leo Gursky, the seventy man whose love was lost at age nineteen. His story I cannot relate to but his outlook on life and death was one aspect of the novel that had me pondering my own outlook throughout the entire story. Leo was not afraid of death, but rather dying unnoticed. His daily routine had lost all practicality; instead it was filled with ways of being noticed. In the opening scene of the novel, he signs up to be a nude model for an art class for the sole purpose that if he died on that day the students would remember him. He also lacks all fear of judgment and most fear in general, excluding the fear of loneliness.

Both main characters, and the other major side character, all share this fear but handle it in very different forms until the end of the novel. Leo imagines the presence of an old friend; Alma, the thirteen year old, finds solace in comforting her mother and fashioning her life as a remembrance of her dead father; Alma’s mother through translating the book her husband had given her years ago on their first date. The book doesn’t explore different definitions of love but rather the side effects of love lost at any age, whether be to death, mistakes or bad circumstance. I can’t say The History of Love made me view love itself differently, but it changed my view of the world and life. It also made me appreciate the power of a single book on the lives of millions and how books can bring people together, not only mentally but physically. The History of Love, by which I mean the book discussed within the pages of the novel, connects the lives of the three main characters, and especially Alma and Leo through understanding. Both gain identity from its pages, Leo being the author and Alma being named after the main character of his long lost book. In the end, their meeting is almost surreal because it connects the entirety of the story together. Little Alma has ended her search to find the author of the book that has saved her mother and Leo is finally recognized as the true author of the book he believed to be lost decades ago and has also put an end to his loneliness. There is no definite ending and while in most cases this would bother me, in this novel it fits because life and love are not definite.

This book was no cheesy love story; it was filled with questions of death, loneliness and identity in the crazy world. Books that have the ability to make me smile and cry are the ones I remember. It did this many times over. I expected a love story about two middle age characters, happy ending and the works. Instead I ended in a depressed but extremely thoughtful mood pondering my life. Basically, its one of the few books I read this summer that truly left an imprint on my heart and mind. And that's all I can ask for. (647)