Sethe and Septimus: Making the Only Choice Possible

    I don’t know how many of you guys were in African American Literature but I know that ever since Nabeel compared Sethe to Septimus in out breakout room, I could not stop thinking about their similarities. Specifically, I’m thinking about the Four Horsemen chapter in comparison to Septimus’s suicide. In both cases, Septimus and Sethe are not wondering what they should do. Instead, they do what they see as the only option in that case. For Sethe, this means killing Beloved and attempting to kill her other children so that they do not have to return to Sweet Home and for Septimus, this means committing suicide as the only way to escape doctors. But at the same time, there is something bigger than the four horsemen and bigger than Holmes that has arrived at their doorsteps. For Sethe, it is really the whole system of oppression that has been present really for her lifetime. Her children were either going to be free or they were going to die because death has more freedom than going back to that slave plantation. For Septimus, it is the societal expectations of masculinity and soldiers that have also been present for most of his life. After experiencing these expectations in his past and being called a coward by these doctors in the present, there is also a sense of oppression in Septimus’s case.

    Something I find interesting that both Morrison and Woolf do it that they allow plenty of time before having these scenes in the novel. In Beloved, we get the sense about something really strange happening in Sethe’s past that made people act weird around her, but I think I can easily say that none of us were expecting her to have killed her child. Instead, Morrison allows us time to appreciate Sethe as a person and see her traumatic past at Sweet Home and to really understand these key things about her before finally showing us this scene. If Morrison had started with the Four Horsemen scene, I think that, at least for me, it would be a lot harder to understand her actions and to connect with her. I know that in class we still struggled with what Sethe did, but at the same time, I feel like we were able to see how she saw that as the only option instead of just writing her off as insane or anything like that.

    Likewise, Woolf allows us to see Septimus for quite a lot during the novel even though he is more of a side character. While we do see that he is suffering from PTSD, we get the sense that in the day that Woolf shows Septimus he is a little bit jumpier and more disconnected than usual from the car backfiring. And even though it is one of his worse days, we do get to see some of his “true self” with the hat scene between him and Lucrezia. We also get insights into his past, narrated by Woolf, which she really didn’t do for any other character. Woolf knew how crucial it was to understand his past to understand his present. We get the sense of how in the past he was seen as not masculine enough and even though he went through the war (which is generally seen as a way to make a man) Holmes and Bradshaw still look at him in the same way, seeing him act in a sort of “hysterical” manner that only women are supposed to act. With his traumatic experiences in the war as well as the experiences as being viewed as a coward and not masculine enough as well as the terror of Holmes shoving his way after Septimus, we can much better understand why he sees suicide as his only choice (even as he sees that "life was good" (146)).

    I’m now realizing how long this is so I think I will stop my blog here. Do you guys see these connections? Do you see more connections between Sethe and Septimus and how Woolf and Morrison set these scenes up? These were just some of the first things that came to my mind and I think there is still plenty more parallels there.

Time Keeps Ticking

    One thing that I have noticed when reading Mrs. Dalloway is all of the smooth transitions. If I get distracted for one moment, I look at where I’m reading and wonder who this new character is and how we got there. I find this somewhat surprising considering that each person we go to in this narrative, we see inside their head, and I would think that going from one mind to another would be somewhat jarring. However, Woolf makes it so that the jump from person to person isn’t harsh or sudden. Instead, she always makes a connection between characters, whether it’s the motorcar, the airplane, or just some brief interaction or thought connecting characters together. I think for me, I found the motorcar and airplane scenes to be an interesting connection point. It kind of felt natural how Woolf transitioned through all those characters quickly as people do tend to voice their opinions to each other when something strange or interesting happens and the airplane makes it so that all of those expressions and thoughts could be linked together. Even when it comes back to Mrs. Dalloway after her walk home, it flows well due to her asking “What are they looking at?”, bridging the people, who looking at the plane that connected them to the others watching the plane, to Mrs. Dalloway.

    But something else that Woolf does that really allows the novel to flow is the passage of time. Instead of going back and recapping her walk home, which could have contained interesting thoughts and interactions from Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf keeps the novel moving with time. So, while Mrs. Dalloway is reflecting in her room, I’m sure the people who were watching the plane are still out there discussing it, but Woolf leaves them behind and doesn’t return later. It’s really interesting to think how carefully Woolf would have to plan these events, making certain things, like the plane and motorcar, are there to connect people for these transitions to occur, as well as choosing who she will follow at what time, and how she will eventually connect to them. I think part of this effect of weaving in and out of people’s minds is that it leaves you wondering what these people are doing after you have left them or have temporarily gone out of their thoughts. For example, I wonder what Mrs. Dalloway was doing that whole section where we were primarily following Peter, or even what Scrope Purvis is up to. And I feel like that’s a sense that we sort of get in life after we have seen somebody during the day and later kind of wonder what they are doing at this moment, but Woolf makes this effect even greater by giving us a glimpse into the minds of these people, which we don’t get in real life. As more and more characters get introduced and get more time in the novel, I wonder how Woolf will balance it all. With Mrs. Dalloway, Peter, Septimus, and Lucrezia, it will definitely be interesting how the narrative is balanced because, in this novel, time keeps ticking.

The Art Gallery of Trivial Items

     “Right when I suddenly had more blue sky in front of me than green truck, I remembered that when I was little I used to be very interested in the fact that anything, no matter how rough, rusted, dirty, or otherwise discredited it was, looked good if you set it down on a stretch of white cloth or any kind of clean background.” (38)

    In class, we have talked about “clean background” trick that Howie mentions in this scene. As we discussed before, this concept could be seen as the whole basis of the book because of how Howie looks at each item so closely, almost as if removing it from the world and putting it against a clean background. Having a clean background makes items look better, and in The Mezzanine, even makes it seem like a work of art. Howie is amazed by the items he investigates in his mind, almost like someone at an art gallery.

    Now, having thought about this, I can see all the more clearly as to why Howie would be triggered by Aurelius. I could already understand somewhat as I read the scene as to why Howie reacted the way he did because we already talked about his interest in these trivial, day-to-day items. However, now it is clear that he isn’t just intrigued by them, he sees them as works of art. He looks at a straw and can easily visualize all the work that went into creating an item that most people don’t even give a second glance at. Even with items he doesn’t like, such as the hot air dryer, Howie understands the process of its creation even if he doesn’t approve of it. He’s almost an art critic at times.

    But like art, the triviality of these objects is subjective. Howie tries to get us to appreciate the art he sees, but it doesn’t always work. After all, we are all different individuals and art always presents an array of responses. Some people love a certain piece while others absolutely despise it. However, I do find that some of his metaphors and descriptions do catch my attention and I begin to rethink how I looked at certain items before. But the same items do not attract the same people, which has been evident in class discussion, with some of us getting intrigued by a particular item while others not really getting into it. I don’t know, I thought that it was kind of interesting on how Howie viewed the world in this way. Is anyone else seeing this?

This blog is now for 20th Century Novel!

[Insert Title Here]

Here is the link to my semester project:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a-iK2Ea274q1sKSLe-OS14oN8LynMkU23j4eW1prie4/edit?usp=sharing

In case the link doesn't make you excited enough to read the story, I will also give you the preface: 

My story is taking place in 1920 at Homer Park, which was on the bank of the Salt Fork River. It offered a variety of activities such as motion pictures, visiting the small zoo, and swimming in the river. Homer Park acted as a small settlement over the summer with cabins and even a post office. Homer Park had its so-called “Golden Age” during the 1920s which is a big part of why I chose the year 1920, as well as the fact that it would be 100 years ago. This time period also had the Interurban Railroad, which connected Homer to Urbana and Danville. My goal while writing this was to have a character that wouldn’t be familiar with the area and not realize she has gone back in time. I also wanted her to narrate her story in a more unconventional way to try to make it a bit more metafictional and interesting.

Bound to be Bad

           When Dana and Kevin travel back in time together, Dana explains to Rufus that they are both from the future and are a married couple. I understand that Dana tells Rufus this to help explain her strange arrivals and to tell him who Kevin is, however, I think that what she told him might have later led to a misunderstanding. While back in time together, Dana and Kevin assume the roles of master and slave to blend in and protect themselves. This move, however uncomfortable it makes us feel, also makes sense. However, the combination of these two actions can be misleading from Rufus’s perspective. He was told that they were a married couple but then sees the master-slave dynamic between the two. Sure, he knew that Dana was educated and that mixed-race marriage was a thing in the future but he mainly just saw the act of master and slave. I know he got to see them sometimes not really acting, but there was still a lot he didn’t understand about their relationship.

           As we have discussed in class, the relationship between Rufus and Alice is a master and slave relationship, but it’s somewhat different. Rufus does seem to care about Alice and wants her to care about him. He doesn’t just want any slave, he wants Alice. However, he still treats her as a slave and as his property. He has her come sleep with him each night. This reminded me about how Dana went in Kevin’s room each night as well because Kevin didn’t want her to sleep in the attic but it looks different from an outside perspective. I feel like Rufus, even if he isn’t consciously trying to all the time, is trying to have a relationship like Dana and Kevin. However, with their acting and his limited knowledge, Rufus and Alice have a terrible relationship. 

           The thing is though, I don’t think that providing Rufus with more or less information about the future and who they are would change the outcome. With more information, he might just get even more confused and with less information, he would still reflect his time period in some way. I don’t see how Dana doing something different would change it for the better. I feel like there’s only so much she could do with her occasional influence on Rufus, who was already trapped in the system and influenced by his time period. I think that the relationship between Rufus and Alice was bound to be bad in some way and there was little that could be done by Dana to change it.

Wait, that was it?

From the start of the book, Vonnegut constantly reminded us that the killing of Edgar Derby was coming, that it was going to the climactic point of the book. However, the scene itself was pretty anti-climactic. It was one page before the book ended and the entire thing took one short paragraph to describe.

“Somewhere in there the poor old high school teacher, Edgar Derby, was caught with a teapot he had taken from the catacombs. He was arrested for plundering. He was tried and shot."

Campbell got to speak for much longer than the entire scene of the supposed climactic point. How does that make sense?

Something that seems much more like the climactic point is the bombing of Dresden. The book had been building up to the point where Vonnegut could finally tell us what happened in Dresden, but not in a way that told us exactly what was going to happen. It had an entire scene with some follow-up, leaving more than a page for the end of the novel. So what is the point of Vonnegut to be contradictory in this way? It’s not that Derby’s death was not important, it just wasn’t presented in a way that made it seem like the big climactic point. I guess if Vonnegut is going to announce the beginning, end, and climactic point of his book he might want to through the reader off guard a little bit, but I don’t know. We did have more details given about Derby's death throughout the book, but the overall way it was presented did not leave much drama as to what was going to happen. So why tell the reader these details ahead of time anyway? It does fit in with tralfamadorian ideas and the novel is supposed to be formatted like the tralfamadorian novels. So does that mean the climax in tralfamadorian novels are pretty anti-climatic? I mean, I would believe it with how their ideology is. What effect does this have on the novel? Do you have any ideas as to why Vonnegut would do this?