Both Jason's and Benji's dads don't exactly have perfect relationships with their sons. Both dads are also somewhat controlling. In Jason's case, his father is always ordering his mother around. He wants people to acknowledge him, such as when he acts up at the dinner with their relatives. He always wants to be correct. When Jason's mother messes up in redesigning the yard, Jason's dad immediately puts her down. At the same time, Jason's dad does care about Jason and Julia, such as when he defends Julia's choice of college and when he goes to fly a kite with Jason and spends time with him. In the end, I think Jason doesn't hate his father, but he definitely doesn't love him either.
As Benji said, his family was a Cosby family, perfect on the outside, problems on the inside. It is clear many of the problems have to do with Benji's dad. The rest of Benji's family have to "prevent flare-ups" by tiptoeing around Benji's dad. Benji's dad and Reggie also don't have a healthy relationship. Instead Reggie avoids his dad as much as possible and his dad calls him "Shithead." There is also the drama with the TV. It seems the main problem in Benji's family is communication. They are not able to talk to each other to solve their problems. Instead, they have problems like the TV, Reggie and his dad, and the fact that their dad is just not a good griller, but everyone is afraid to tell him so.
Although communication is mainly an issue in the Cooper family, the Taylor family also has that issue. With the dad hiding the financial records and the parents hiding the affair and the inevitable divorce from the kids (or at least Jason), tensions are only worsened. I think the main difference between the Taylors and Coopers is that the Coopers are already subdued and under the father. With the Taylors, Julia and their mother try to stand up against the father. Generally, it also seems that Jason's dad is more pleasant with his kids, although whether this is because he is guilty about the affair I don't know.
Both novels end with an anticipation of the future, but I think only one family solved its problems by the end of the novel. The Taylors are able to separate amicably and Jason doesn't seem too much worse for it. Benji on the other hand just doesn't mention his family dynamics in the end, perhaps because that's just the way things are and he sees no changing it.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
Sag Harbor as a Coming-of-Age Novel
The ending of Sag Harbor makes me think this novel isn't really a coming-of-age novel. He has learned something about his community and his place in it; that much is true. In that sense he has gained a clearer sense of his identity. He has realized that the passing of Sag Harbor from generation to generation is in fact a cycle. He has taken the place of someone of the previous generation. Some kid will eventually take Benji's place. But I don't think he has come of age. And I don't think this novel was meant to be a coming-of-age-novel. Not too much happens plot-wise. Most of the novel is giving the reader descriptions of Sag Harbor, the people in it, and the culture. It's like Whitehead wants to show us the essence of Sag Harbor. But through showing how Benji describes the essence of Sag Harbor, Whitehead is able to capture the teenage spirit in one summer. This book is really more like a memoir. Whitehead uses just one summer to convey his point. Just like Benji describes the essence of Sag Harbor, I think Whitehead is trying to show the essence of being a teenager. And he does that very well.
All the growing and adapting that Benji does over that summer doesn't culminate to a coming-of-age. Rather, it is an example of teenage life, as teenagers are always growing (mentally and physically) and as they become more aware of their surroundings they must change.
Because this novel's purpose is broader than a demonstration of coming-of-age, I think more people can relate to it. Teens can look at it and see similarities in their current life. Adults can read it and remember what it was like being a teenager. In some ways, this dynamic is similar to that between the adults and kids in Sag Harbor. Both groups are part of the same cycle. One group takes over one stage while the other group moves on to the next stage.
All the growing and adapting that Benji does over that summer doesn't culminate to a coming-of-age. Rather, it is an example of teenage life, as teenagers are always growing (mentally and physically) and as they become more aware of their surroundings they must change.
Because this novel's purpose is broader than a demonstration of coming-of-age, I think more people can relate to it. Teens can look at it and see similarities in their current life. Adults can read it and remember what it was like being a teenager. In some ways, this dynamic is similar to that between the adults and kids in Sag Harbor. Both groups are part of the same cycle. One group takes over one stage while the other group moves on to the next stage.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Two Pair
Reading Sag Harbor, I realized that, in the beginning, Reggie and Benji are much like Lucille and Ruth. However, as the novels progress, the pairs diverge. In the beginning of Housekeeping, Ruth and Lucille are one. The term "we" is always used. Slowly we see Lucille and Ruth separate, such as when Lucille decides to skip school, but even then the separation is slow, as shown when Ruth joins Lucille in skipping school. Eventually, due to the influence of her friends, Lucille becomes thoroughly disgusted by Sylvie and her lifestyle and leaves. Lucille also tries getting Ruth to come with her, but Ruth refuses; she sticks with Sylvie. Ruth and Lucille go onto live vastly different lives, with Ruth joining Sylvie as a transient, and Lucille getting married.
In Sag Harbor, we are told from the start that Reggie and Benji are already separating. At first, they were almost identical; they were twins. Benji acknowledges the two of them separating, even calling it a good thing as he tries to form his own identity, but is still surprised by Reggie as he goes down his own path. Benji and Ruth are similar in this way. Both see their siblings changing, but don't really like it. However, I think ultimately Benji is fine with the change. He sees that his brother still cares for him, such as after Benji gets hit by a BB gun, and the separation is mutually agreed. With Ruth and Lucille, the separation is more strained, drawn out, and neither sibling is pleased with the other. Another difference is that with Benji as narrator, we get a clear idea of how he feels towards Reggie and a more defined picture of his and Reggie's relationship. In Ruth and Lucille's case, where Ruth is narrator, while it is clear Ruth does not like the separation, we don't get much detail into their relationship; it does not seem as complex as Benji's and Reggie's does.
Although Ruth's and Lucille's separation was painful, I hope to see Benji's and Reggie's separation develop into a positive and perhaps even greater relationship than the one they had when they were twins.
In Sag Harbor, we are told from the start that Reggie and Benji are already separating. At first, they were almost identical; they were twins. Benji acknowledges the two of them separating, even calling it a good thing as he tries to form his own identity, but is still surprised by Reggie as he goes down his own path. Benji and Ruth are similar in this way. Both see their siblings changing, but don't really like it. However, I think ultimately Benji is fine with the change. He sees that his brother still cares for him, such as after Benji gets hit by a BB gun, and the separation is mutually agreed. With Ruth and Lucille, the separation is more strained, drawn out, and neither sibling is pleased with the other. Another difference is that with Benji as narrator, we get a clear idea of how he feels towards Reggie and a more defined picture of his and Reggie's relationship. In Ruth and Lucille's case, where Ruth is narrator, while it is clear Ruth does not like the separation, we don't get much detail into their relationship; it does not seem as complex as Benji's and Reggie's does.
Although Ruth's and Lucille's separation was painful, I hope to see Benji's and Reggie's separation develop into a positive and perhaps even greater relationship than the one they had when they were twins.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Race in Black Swan Green
The chapter "knife grinder" is the first time (I think) that race is brought up as an issue in the novel. The first Gypsy we meet is the knife grinder, and it is obvious Jason doesn't know who Gypsies are, describing the knife grinder just as "an old man in a tweed cap...His suit had no obvious color. He had no obvious color..." When Jason brings this up with his parents, his father is shown to be quite racist, calling Gypsies "layabouts who pay nothing to the state and flout every planning regulation in the book." It is clear that Jason's mother does not share the same sentiments as his father, and the two again get into an argument about Jason's mother doing business with the knife grinder. The scene in the village hall once again demonstrates the racism of many of the villagers, who think eating hedgehog is uncivilized and believe that the Romani coming into the village would only lead to chaos. We see Jason again isolated from the rest of the village in his views. He does not share the racist ideas of many of the villagers.
Later, Jason gets lost in the woods hiding from Ross Wilcox and stumbles into a Gypsy camp. Here, Jason gets a better understanding of the Gypsies. They are not as bad as many of the villagers led him to believe. He does make an interesting point about how the Gypsies and villagers are similar. He says he had been "thinking how the villagers wanted the gypsies to be gross, so the grossness of what they’re not acts as a stencil for what the villagers are." About the Gypsies, he says "I'd been thinking how Gypsies wanted the rest of us to be gross, so the grossness of what they're not acts as a stencil for what they are." He realizes that the villagers and Gypsies share a dislike for each other and becomes a sort of ambassador for both sides. I found it fitting that he ended up gaining friends from the Gypsies, people who, like him, have often been marginalized.
Later, Jason gets lost in the woods hiding from Ross Wilcox and stumbles into a Gypsy camp. Here, Jason gets a better understanding of the Gypsies. They are not as bad as many of the villagers led him to believe. He does make an interesting point about how the Gypsies and villagers are similar. He says he had been "thinking how the villagers wanted the gypsies to be gross, so the grossness of what they’re not acts as a stencil for what the villagers are." About the Gypsies, he says "I'd been thinking how Gypsies wanted the rest of us to be gross, so the grossness of what they're not acts as a stencil for what they are." He realizes that the villagers and Gypsies share a dislike for each other and becomes a sort of ambassador for both sides. I found it fitting that he ended up gaining friends from the Gypsies, people who, like him, have often been marginalized.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Two Tests
Jason has undergone two tests so far. Although they test two different aspects of Jason, they are actually quite similar. In one, he attempts to join the Spooks. In the other, he seeks to improve his poetry. Both start with an invitation. The Spooks send him a magazine-cutout message to begin his initiation and "vicar" calls Jason to the vicarage. Both tests require him to go through a sort of obstacle course: with the Spooks it is a physical one, but with Madame Crommelynk it is a more mental one. Interestingly, Jason has to hide while he performs both these tests. If he gets caught running the race for the Spooks, he fails. If he is caught visiting Madame Crommelynk, it will be the end of whatever social reputation he once had. He does end up passing both tests: he completes the race for the Spooks and has to some extent earned Madame Crommelynk's respect.
But in the end, both tests force him to make a choice. If he rings Mr. Blake's doorbell, he will lose his status as a Spook and the Spooks will hunt him down. If he doesn't ring the doorbell, then he is abandoning his friend. In the case of Madame Crommelynk, Jason realizes he's no great poet, and wonders whether he should just give up poetry. In some ways, he went through these tests for nothing. He lost his Spook status for not abandoning Moran and does not understand the lessons Madame Crommelynk has taught him. Although both tests end on a uncertain note, I hope Jason will be able to conquer any fears he has as a result of the tests. Hopefully he will be able to stop worrying about his social standing, either by not caring or doing something about it. And hopefully he does not give up poetry and better understands the lessons Madame Crommelynk was trying to teach him.
But in the end, both tests force him to make a choice. If he rings Mr. Blake's doorbell, he will lose his status as a Spook and the Spooks will hunt him down. If he doesn't ring the doorbell, then he is abandoning his friend. In the case of Madame Crommelynk, Jason realizes he's no great poet, and wonders whether he should just give up poetry. In some ways, he went through these tests for nothing. He lost his Spook status for not abandoning Moran and does not understand the lessons Madame Crommelynk has taught him. Although both tests end on a uncertain note, I hope Jason will be able to conquer any fears he has as a result of the tests. Hopefully he will be able to stop worrying about his social standing, either by not caring or doing something about it. And hopefully he does not give up poetry and better understands the lessons Madame Crommelynk was trying to teach him.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
"Like" or "as" and more
More so than in previous novels, Housekeeping is full of comparisons, metaphors, and similes. This is how Ruth guides the reader through her world and life.
"I saw the three of us posed in all the open doors of an endless train of freight cars--innumerable, rapid, identical images that produced a flickering illusion of both movement and stasis, as the pictures in a kinetoscope do."
"It seemed then and always to be the elaboration and ornamentation of the consensus between them, which was as intricate and well-tended as a termite castle."
She also uses them to describe her philosophies.
"...memories are by their nature fragmented, isolated, and arbitrary as glimpses one has at night through lighted windows."
"For even things lost in a house abide, like forgotten sorrows and incipient dreams, and many household things are of purely sentimental value, like the dim coil of thick hair, saved from my grandmother's girlhood...In the equal light of disinterested scrutiny such things are not themselves. They are transformed into pure object, and are horrible, and must be burned."
Not only do these comparisons give us insight into whatever Ruth is describing, but also into Ruth herself. They tell us a bit about Ruth's character. I feel that Ruth is able to make all of these connections because she sees everything in her world as interconnected. Like Sylvie, (and unlike Lucille) Ruth is more willing to blur the boundary between humans and nature. The use of comparisons also suggest a strong familiarity--almost mastery--of her world. She has observed enough of the world to make all these connections.
She is also so unlike the other protagonists in the novels we've read. She is almost the opposite of Stephen the artist, who maintains a distance from the world, his subject. Unlike Holden, she never feels lonely and is not too interested in other people. And unlike Esther (aside from not being depressed) she never has to face a conflict between what she wants and what society expects of women. I suppose she has to face society's ill-will towards transients, but it does not bother her like Esther. Whether or not we can attribute these differences between Ruth and the other protagonists to location, circumstance, or personality, it still makes Ruth a very unique and interesting person.
"I saw the three of us posed in all the open doors of an endless train of freight cars--innumerable, rapid, identical images that produced a flickering illusion of both movement and stasis, as the pictures in a kinetoscope do."
"It seemed then and always to be the elaboration and ornamentation of the consensus between them, which was as intricate and well-tended as a termite castle."
She also uses them to describe her philosophies.
"...memories are by their nature fragmented, isolated, and arbitrary as glimpses one has at night through lighted windows."
"For even things lost in a house abide, like forgotten sorrows and incipient dreams, and many household things are of purely sentimental value, like the dim coil of thick hair, saved from my grandmother's girlhood...In the equal light of disinterested scrutiny such things are not themselves. They are transformed into pure object, and are horrible, and must be burned."
Not only do these comparisons give us insight into whatever Ruth is describing, but also into Ruth herself. They tell us a bit about Ruth's character. I feel that Ruth is able to make all of these connections because she sees everything in her world as interconnected. Like Sylvie, (and unlike Lucille) Ruth is more willing to blur the boundary between humans and nature. The use of comparisons also suggest a strong familiarity--almost mastery--of her world. She has observed enough of the world to make all these connections.
She is also so unlike the other protagonists in the novels we've read. She is almost the opposite of Stephen the artist, who maintains a distance from the world, his subject. Unlike Holden, she never feels lonely and is not too interested in other people. And unlike Esther (aside from not being depressed) she never has to face a conflict between what she wants and what society expects of women. I suppose she has to face society's ill-will towards transients, but it does not bother her like Esther. Whether or not we can attribute these differences between Ruth and the other protagonists to location, circumstance, or personality, it still makes Ruth a very unique and interesting person.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Mind and Body
Twice in the novel does Esther use the phrase "I am I am I am.": once in Chapter 13 and again in Chapter 20. These two phrases (the first without commas and the second with) mean two very different things in context. In Chapter 13, Esther is fighting against her body as she tries to commit suicide by drowning and then by hanging. Esther sees her body as separate from her self. She notes her heart beating "I am I am I am" as she unsuccessfully attempts to drown herself. While Esther does not have a will to live, her body affirms its existence with "I am I am I am." She again tries to commit suicide by hanging, but again her body thwarts her: "Then I saw that my body had all sorts of little tricks, such as making my hands go limp at the crucial second, which would save it, time and again, whereas if I had the whole say, I would be dead in a flash. I would simply have to ambush it with whatever sense I had left, or it would trap me in its stupid cage for fifty years without any sense at all." She even gets books on "abnormal psychology" to match symptoms and better understand her body: "I could learn all I needed to know about my case to end it in the proper way." However, it seems she starts doubting herself and agreeing with her body as she wonders whether or not to just turn herself into a psychiatric facility. She is told to volunteer at a hospital to distract herself and thinks about going to church to be convinced of not committing suicide. However, she eventually decides to attempt once more to kill herself with sleeping pills after seeing her father's grave. Again she is unsuccessful and is moved to a psychiatric facility.
The other time the phrase "I am, I am, I am." comes up is when Esther is at Joan's funeral. This time, Esther seems much more in tune with her body: "I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart." That she anthropomorphizes her body ("old brag") suggests better knowledge and familiarity with it--not surprising considering she has just experienced sex for the first time. Perhaps her heart is bragging because Esther has just had a friend of hers die. While Esther was seeking death earlier with a curious fascination, she now sees the reality of death and is drawn away from it.
I think Esther's loss of her morbid curiosity shows how she has progressed since the beginning of the novel. This might not be a typical development in coming-of-age novels, but Esther is also not a typical girl.
The other time the phrase "I am, I am, I am." comes up is when Esther is at Joan's funeral. This time, Esther seems much more in tune with her body: "I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart." That she anthropomorphizes her body ("old brag") suggests better knowledge and familiarity with it--not surprising considering she has just experienced sex for the first time. Perhaps her heart is bragging because Esther has just had a friend of hers die. While Esther was seeking death earlier with a curious fascination, she now sees the reality of death and is drawn away from it.
I think Esther's loss of her morbid curiosity shows how she has progressed since the beginning of the novel. This might not be a typical development in coming-of-age novels, but Esther is also not a typical girl.
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