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)