So here it is...my final project with my paper included. As previously noted, you have to go to my google doc page in order to download my slideshow as it is too large to appropriately upload or email. So here is the link. It's been really great working with everyone, I've really enjoyed this class.
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B3bQbfhPFELPMDVkZDU0MTgtY2RmNS00Zjc4LWI1OWItYmU0Mjg4NWViM2E3&hl=en
Marie Brick
Colleen Booker
Eng 263
18 May 2010
Fighting For Ownership, Belonging, and Identity: A Tale of Ireland
Throughout this semester we have read many novels and literary critiques regarding works from Irish or Anglo-Irish authors. It has been very interesting since these novels are unlike any I had previously read. One of the things that really struck me is that all the novels and critiques can be seen as interrelated as they frequently have many similar themes. For me, the biggest themes have been those related to ownership, belonging, and identity.
The first reading we discussed was David Lloyd’s “Violence and the Constitution of the Novel”. From the very beginning of this semester it became clear that violence and the idea of a subaltern group would be a major part of the Irish novel. In order to really understand the Irish novel it became apparent that one would definitely need to understand the history of this country. In doing so, the themes of ownership, belonging and identity become clearer and easier to understand as to why they are such a focus in these novels.
The next book that we read this semester and the author made a big impression on me throughout the semester. Maria Edgeworth’s “Castle Rackrent” was such an interesting book because of the style of writing and the complicated underlying meanings of what was written. Additionally, Edgeworth’s own background became a fascinating topic for me in trying to understand why she wrote this book and what she really meant. “Castle Rackrent” really brought about the idea of ownership and the struggles associated with it in Ireland, as well as, understanding your identity and where you belong. I found the last few pages of this book to be very telling and one of my favorite passages discusses the ideas of ownership, belonging and identity as follows:
“If you want to know any more, I’m not very well able to tell you; but my lady Rackrent did not die, as was expected of her, but was only disfigured in the face ever after by the fall and bruises she got; and she and Jason, immediately after my poor master’s death, set about going to law about that jointure; the memorandum not being on stamped paper, some say it is worth nothing, others again it may do; others say, Jason won’t have the lands at any rate. Many wishes it so; for my part, I’m tired wishing for anything in this world, after all I’ve seen in it – but I’ll say nothing; it would be a folly to be getting myself ill-will in my old age” (Edgeworth 121).
This passage really says it all. It discusses the struggles surrounding ownership of the land between Jason and lady Rackrent. The comment about “many wishes it so” could be seen as the issues related to identity and belonging. It is possible that the Irish and Anglo-Irish gentry wish for the lands to remain in the hands of lady Rackrent while the “subaltern” groups of native Irish tenant farmers wish to see one of their own able to “make it” and keep the lands. Additionally, while reading this novel, I personally was of the opinion that Edgeworth was on the side of the native Irish and identifying herself more with that part of her heritage. However, after reading the article by Susan Egenolf, “Maria Edgeworth in Blackface”; I was no longer sure about which side Edgeworth was on. The only thing that did remain clear was that Edgeworth’s novel was indeed discussing the ideas of ownership, belonging, and identity.
In this article my favorite question is asked, “Whose land is it and what right do they have to it?” (Egenolf 854). These questions point out the main issue surrounding a lot of initial violence in Ireland. Constant fighting over who “owns” or “rules” the land can be seen dating back as early at 8000 BC. Another of my favorite passages regarding ownership and belonging came from the article by Sara Maurer, “Disowning to own: Maria Edgeworth and the illegitimacy of national ownership - Irish nationalism in the works of Maria Edgeworth - Critical Essay”. This article was the one I used as my online artifact project. The following passages clearly discuss the themes I’ve been discussing:
“Yet unlike the paintings, romantic ruins, and "recovered" manuscripts that can belong both to past and present in Scott's novels, the objects of the Irish national tale are the subject of current property disputes that an appeal to the past only complicates. If the nation is an inheritance, perpetually owed to its descendants, Ireland's problem lies in being owed to more than one line” (Maurer).
“The paradox of inheritance in Ireland, then, is that it can not be owned by its Anglo-Irish holders, since they illegitimately seized it from the Irish children to whom it was owed. On the other hand, Ireland cannot be given up by its Anglo-Irish holders, who already owe the land to their children” (Maurer).
These two are essentially what inspired me to do this creative project regarding ownership, belonging and identity. Both passages above discuss the issues surrounding rightful ownership of land and in Ireland the idea of “the land as the inheritance”. In my creative project, I wanted to use music and images to portray the constant struggles in claiming ownership of property and the right to rule the land as well as looking at the struggles to belong to a group and understand one’s identity. Many of the images in my project are of objects, places, or people who represent Irish culture as it evolved through its many owners. Starting with the Celts, the Vikings, the Normans, the English, and finally back to those considered “Irish”.
In portraying the ideas of belonging and identity, I tried to use images that showed native Irish and some of their struggles such as famine leading to loss of identity and belonging, especially in death or emigration. Also the image of the half-way house in my mind signified the struggles with alcohol abuse which was common in Ireland and often leads to or stems from a sense of lost identity and belonging. Finally, the images related to the intra-national battle between the unionists and the loyalists and that of the rural farmers trying to “catch up” portrays additional and ongoing struggles for the Irish in determining their current identity and where they belong.
The music selections are two of my favorite songs from the group Celtic Woman. The first song, “Dulamon”, is sung in Gaelic and I just love the sound of the language. I chose that for the first part of the presentation as it reminded me of the more native and early Irish people and times. In looking up the actual meaning of the song, it is related to collection of Irish seaweed for the purposes of eating or dying clothes. The story in the song is about the daughter of one seaweed collector eloping with another seaweed collector. The song’s actual meaning isn’t as closely related to the presentation as I had envisioned, but I still think it serves its purpose in conjuring up images of native Irish culture and the land that was once theirs.
The second song is called “The Voice” from the same group. I chose this song for the second part of the presentation because the lyrics are all about listening to “the voice” which I interpret to mean the voice of Ireland, the voice of the land. The song clearly discusses the troubled past, famine, bloodshed, and the need for peace as well as looking to the future. To me, this song is the epitome of understanding your belonging and identity.
So many of the books read this semester dealt with these themes. The idea of understanding your identity was seen in Dorian Gray’s character as well as Basil’s character. Patrick Braden struggled throughout the novel, “Breakfast on Pluto” to fully come to terms with his identity as either a man or a woman as well as his struggle to find a place that he belonged…a home and a family. In “The Gathering”, Veronica has a hard time understanding who she really is, where she belongs, and why she feels and acts the way she does. In “Carmilla”, Carmilla herself finds her own identity as a source of negativity that must be kept a secret because of whom and what she is. And finally, in “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” Stephen struggles to find his identity but struggles even more to find where he belongs and what “group” he belongs to.
As previously stated, the themes of ownership, belonging and identity can be seen in all of the books read this semester. The Irish novel is a very unique style of literature that has been heavily influenced by Ireland’s history and culture. The very things that have been fought over for centuries remain as the very things that make Ireland such a fascinating place and unique culture. I have thoroughly enjoyed this class, this project, and learning so much about Ireland.
Works Cited
Edgeworth, Maria. Castle Rackrent. London: Penguin Group, 1992. Print.
Egenolf, Susan B. Maria Edgeworth in Blackface: Castle Rackrent and the Irish Rebellion of
1798. Project Muse. Web. 18 May 2010.
Enright, Anne. The Gathering. New York: Black Cat, 2007. Print.
Evans, E. Estyn, et al. The Irish World. London: Thames & Hudson, 1977. Print.
Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. New York: Penguin Group, 2003. Print.
Lloyd, David. Anomalous States. Durham: Duke University Press, 1993. Web. 18 May 2010.
McCabe, Patrick. Breakfast on Pluto. New York: HarperPerennial, 1998. Print.
Maurer, Sara L. Disowning to Own: Maria Edgeworth and the Illegitimacy of National
Ownership - Irish Nationalism in the Works of Maria Edgeworth - Critical Essay. Criticism. 22 Nov. 2002. FindArticles.com. Web. 9 Feb. 2010.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2220/is_4_44/ai_102981644/?tag=content;col1
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Rough draft hopefully not too rough
So…I’m only about 58 hours late in my post of my rough draft!!! I’m realizing now that I should have just posted a few slides of what I had; however, I’ve learned that I really can’t post a PowerPoint presentation with sound to Blogger. Trust me…I’ve tried and tried and tried!! In addition, I’ve cried, lost my temper, gone giddy, panicked, and last night pulled an all nighter (which I haven’t done since I was an undergrad and I’m way too old to not get any sleep). So, I apologize if my post is rambling as I have been working on this project for a while now and actually for about 23 hours straight now. I’ve downloaded all sorts of great gadgets and tools for PowerPoint and Blogger…none of which have helped me at all. So in the end all I’m able to do is post this link to my Google documents page where my slide show is being held. You will need to click the download button (it is a rather large file so it will take a while and it will say that it can’t scan for viruses…download it anyway, I promise I’m not sending anyone a virus). If you click open, it should automatically open up PowerPoint for you. Just click the full screen viewer or view slide show (whichever you prefer) and make sure you have sound on as well. Please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for changes or if it even makes sense. I’m drinking coffee now so I should be awake for a while as I have more homework to do and plenty of house cleaning to get done. Thanks for listening to my ranting…and please, please post your comments on my blog (the good, the bad, and the ugly…I can take it)!!
PS. I’m also going to try to send this to everyone in an email since I’ve no idea if this link is really going to work…
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B3bQbfhPFELPMDVkZDU0MTgtY2RmNS00Zjc4LWI1OWItYmU0Mjg4NWViM2E3&hl=en
Addendum: Reflections
I was too busy feeling sorry for myself from my frustrations that I totally forgot about the reflections part. I have to say this has been one of my favorite classes ever. I've always been a major fan of Ireland and the Irish people, but now even more so. I also feel a stronger connection to understanding some of my own family history and that was a great experience. Additionally, even though from my ranting above it may not seem like it, I love technology and learning how to use new programs and stuff so the idea of blogging was great. Honestly at first I wasn't sold on the idea before we started blogging, but I quickly changed my mind. So thanks for opening me up to yet another new experience and all the new perspectives. Great class, great instructor, and great classmates...now on to graduation on Sunday...WhoooHoooo!!!!
PS. I’m also going to try to send this to everyone in an email since I’ve no idea if this link is really going to work…
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B3bQbfhPFELPMDVkZDU0MTgtY2RmNS00Zjc4LWI1OWItYmU0Mjg4NWViM2E3&hl=en
Addendum: Reflections
I was too busy feeling sorry for myself from my frustrations that I totally forgot about the reflections part. I have to say this has been one of my favorite classes ever. I've always been a major fan of Ireland and the Irish people, but now even more so. I also feel a stronger connection to understanding some of my own family history and that was a great experience. Additionally, even though from my ranting above it may not seem like it, I love technology and learning how to use new programs and stuff so the idea of blogging was great. Honestly at first I wasn't sold on the idea before we started blogging, but I quickly changed my mind. So thanks for opening me up to yet another new experience and all the new perspectives. Great class, great instructor, and great classmates...now on to graduation on Sunday...WhoooHoooo!!!!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
A family's crisis...a nation's crisis
Well, I find parts of this book interesting, with funny comments and then there are parts that make me so horribly uncomfortable I find it difficult to finish. But here we are to talk about it anyway.
This book, like so many others we’ve read this semester, is often so vague that it almost makes the point but not quite. What I mean is that these novels all seem to skirt around the issues they are trying to address. It’s like they can never really just come out and say what they want to say. Instead they insinuate and talk in circles leaving the reader to have to “connect the dots” so to speak. The trouble with this is that sometimes as a reader, you’re not completely sure you’re getting the right message. At least that’s my problem.
Looking at the question Colleen posted regarding the quote,
"This is what shame does. This is the anatomy and mechanism of a family--a whole fucking country--drowning in shame” (Enright p. 168).
I read and re-read this page, this chapter and the one prior trying to fully understand what the major issues were. What I got out of it was really the issues of drinking, molestation, and then the complete lack of acknowledgement that there was an issue. To me it sounds like Veronica is talking about the problems with sex and molestation. Especially in the quote at the end of chapter 25,
“-if I hadn’t been listening to the radio, and reading the paper, and hearing about what went on in schools and churches and in people’s homes. It went on slap-bang in front of me and still I did not realize it. And for this, I am very sorry too” (Enright p. 172-173).
It’s this horrific problem that is going on right in front of everyone that seems to go unnoticed, but really just goes on ignored. People don’t talk about it, don’t try to fix it; they simply feel ashamed, disgusted, and often drink their way around the real issues.
Again I think this whole situation of not acknowledging the problems can be seen in many of the books we’ve read so far. In “Carmilla” Laura and her father couldn’t seem to acknowledge that the problem was Mircalla until it was almost too late. In “Dorian Gray”, just about everyone was in denial of the circumstances. In “Castle Rackrent”, the Rackrent’s just ignored their problems hoping they would disappear and even in discussing Edgeworth herself, she seemed to struggle with acknowledging her own status acting like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It’s really an issue of turning a blind eye to a situation that isn’t going to go away without being addressed. Perhaps there is even some correlation between that concept and the overall and ongoing issues between England and Ireland; the loyalists and the unionists. Pretending there isn’t an issue or that there never was a problem does NOT make the situation better.
Not sure if this all makes sense, but just some of my ideas on this topic.
This book, like so many others we’ve read this semester, is often so vague that it almost makes the point but not quite. What I mean is that these novels all seem to skirt around the issues they are trying to address. It’s like they can never really just come out and say what they want to say. Instead they insinuate and talk in circles leaving the reader to have to “connect the dots” so to speak. The trouble with this is that sometimes as a reader, you’re not completely sure you’re getting the right message. At least that’s my problem.
Looking at the question Colleen posted regarding the quote,
"This is what shame does. This is the anatomy and mechanism of a family--a whole fucking country--drowning in shame” (Enright p. 168).
I read and re-read this page, this chapter and the one prior trying to fully understand what the major issues were. What I got out of it was really the issues of drinking, molestation, and then the complete lack of acknowledgement that there was an issue. To me it sounds like Veronica is talking about the problems with sex and molestation. Especially in the quote at the end of chapter 25,
“-if I hadn’t been listening to the radio, and reading the paper, and hearing about what went on in schools and churches and in people’s homes. It went on slap-bang in front of me and still I did not realize it. And for this, I am very sorry too” (Enright p. 172-173).
It’s this horrific problem that is going on right in front of everyone that seems to go unnoticed, but really just goes on ignored. People don’t talk about it, don’t try to fix it; they simply feel ashamed, disgusted, and often drink their way around the real issues.
Again I think this whole situation of not acknowledging the problems can be seen in many of the books we’ve read so far. In “Carmilla” Laura and her father couldn’t seem to acknowledge that the problem was Mircalla until it was almost too late. In “Dorian Gray”, just about everyone was in denial of the circumstances. In “Castle Rackrent”, the Rackrent’s just ignored their problems hoping they would disappear and even in discussing Edgeworth herself, she seemed to struggle with acknowledging her own status acting like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It’s really an issue of turning a blind eye to a situation that isn’t going to go away without being addressed. Perhaps there is even some correlation between that concept and the overall and ongoing issues between England and Ireland; the loyalists and the unionists. Pretending there isn’t an issue or that there never was a problem does NOT make the situation better.
Not sure if this all makes sense, but just some of my ideas on this topic.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Everyone hates their family sometimes...
Well, here we are again. It seems like the week just flies by so darn fast and once again, I’ve yet to get through this week’s book. Of course my procrastination coupled with dealing with a very sick cat recovering from a major surgery, continued training of a rambunctious 18 week old puppy, and my insane idea to adopt another 6 month old puppy all in this past week has not helped me one bit with getting homework done. But I digress…
As usual I am both intrigued and frustrated with this novel already. I’m intrigued because I think the plot seems very interesting and I’m trying to understand the characters. I’m frustrated because once again, this novel is so darn chaotic and feels so unstructured. I have a hard time telling what time frame we’re in and what’s real, what’s imagined, and what’s a memory from the narrator’s point of view. I started thinking about this style of writing and realized, at least in my opinion, all of the books we’ve read thus far seem to have this in common. They just don’t read like a typical novel. I think we really discussed this in the first week of class, but apparently I’m just now really realizing that this seems to hold true for every book we’ve read so far. Additionally there always seems to be so much anger and confusion in these books. Obviously this relates nicely to the fact that Ireland’s history has followed this theme as well; chaotic, unstructured, angry confusion. Always giving a sense of not really knowing where you belong or fit in and never really having that “good” vibe from a strong sense of “home”.
The narrator states,
“This is all my romance, of course. Everyone had a beautiful grandmother- something to do with sepia and the orange blossom in their hair” (Enright p 21).
What does this mean? I can’t quite tell if what she has said previously about Ada and Nugent really happened or if Veronica is just imagining that this is how it would have been. At some points when discussing her grandmother she seems to adore her while at others she seems to think she was too forward, proud, or flirty.
As I stated before, it also seems that the narrator is very angry and jaded. She almost seemed to get some sort of joy out of being the one to tell her mother about her brother’s death. She remembered her school days and seemed ashamed and angry at her parent’s for their apparently “robust” sex life as indicated by the number of siblings she has. Veronica states,
“There were girls at school whose families grew to a robust five or six. There were even girls with seven or eight – which was thought a little enthusiastic – and then there were the pathetic ones like me, who had parents that were just helpless to it, and bred as naturally as they might shit” (Enright p 25).
The statement made me chuckle, but also made me wonder why Veronica is so annoyed that she has a big family. Hopefully I’ll find this out as I read the rest of the book, but I’m already wondering if it was due to growing up poor because of the number of siblings.
Veronica also seems to be annoyed with everyone in her life, present and past. She is very cynical, especially when discussing her husband and children. The comment,
“There is something wonderful about death, how everything shuts down, and all the ways you thought you were vital are not even vaguely important…- most of the stuff that you do is just stupid, really stupid, most of the stuff you do is just nagging and whining and picking up for people who are too lazy to even love you, even that, let alone find their own shoes under their own bed” (Enright p 27).
This again seems to reflect Veronica’s anger and jaded view of family, even her own. Is this because she just doesn’t feel a sense of actual belonging since she doesn’t seem to think she is really needed? Again, hopefully I’ll get these answers as I read on.
As usual I am both intrigued and frustrated with this novel already. I’m intrigued because I think the plot seems very interesting and I’m trying to understand the characters. I’m frustrated because once again, this novel is so darn chaotic and feels so unstructured. I have a hard time telling what time frame we’re in and what’s real, what’s imagined, and what’s a memory from the narrator’s point of view. I started thinking about this style of writing and realized, at least in my opinion, all of the books we’ve read thus far seem to have this in common. They just don’t read like a typical novel. I think we really discussed this in the first week of class, but apparently I’m just now really realizing that this seems to hold true for every book we’ve read so far. Additionally there always seems to be so much anger and confusion in these books. Obviously this relates nicely to the fact that Ireland’s history has followed this theme as well; chaotic, unstructured, angry confusion. Always giving a sense of not really knowing where you belong or fit in and never really having that “good” vibe from a strong sense of “home”.
The narrator states,
“This is all my romance, of course. Everyone had a beautiful grandmother- something to do with sepia and the orange blossom in their hair” (Enright p 21).
What does this mean? I can’t quite tell if what she has said previously about Ada and Nugent really happened or if Veronica is just imagining that this is how it would have been. At some points when discussing her grandmother she seems to adore her while at others she seems to think she was too forward, proud, or flirty.
As I stated before, it also seems that the narrator is very angry and jaded. She almost seemed to get some sort of joy out of being the one to tell her mother about her brother’s death. She remembered her school days and seemed ashamed and angry at her parent’s for their apparently “robust” sex life as indicated by the number of siblings she has. Veronica states,
“There were girls at school whose families grew to a robust five or six. There were even girls with seven or eight – which was thought a little enthusiastic – and then there were the pathetic ones like me, who had parents that were just helpless to it, and bred as naturally as they might shit” (Enright p 25).
The statement made me chuckle, but also made me wonder why Veronica is so annoyed that she has a big family. Hopefully I’ll find this out as I read the rest of the book, but I’m already wondering if it was due to growing up poor because of the number of siblings.
Veronica also seems to be annoyed with everyone in her life, present and past. She is very cynical, especially when discussing her husband and children. The comment,
“There is something wonderful about death, how everything shuts down, and all the ways you thought you were vital are not even vaguely important…- most of the stuff that you do is just stupid, really stupid, most of the stuff you do is just nagging and whining and picking up for people who are too lazy to even love you, even that, let alone find their own shoes under their own bed” (Enright p 27).
This again seems to reflect Veronica’s anger and jaded view of family, even her own. Is this because she just doesn’t feel a sense of actual belonging since she doesn’t seem to think she is really needed? Again, hopefully I’ll get these answers as I read on.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
More Lacanian psychobabble...I think I'm a bit jaded!
Well…ok then…
I really enjoyed reading the book, “Breakfast on Pluto” and loved “Pussy’s” character. That being said, after reading Mahon’s article, I guess I’m not sure I understood the book at all; perhaps though that is my frustration with the whole “Lacanian” theory. I didn’t enjoy the use of this theory in Carmilla and I’m not in love with it here either.
I think I was able to understand some of Mahon’s initial discussion about politics but I definitely got lost at times. I think I understand that his discussion about “sameness” boils down to the idea that the people of Northern Ireland and anywhere in general frequently want to be able to state and believe in “sameness” with those they may have issues with but essentially if you fight fire with fire…no one comes out a live. Or perhaps instead of the two groups being equally “innocent” they are really equally “guilty”. Not completely sure about this so I could be way off base on this one.
One of the parts in the book I loved was when Pussy became a super hero in her fantasy. The descriptive language is hilarious and paints a great scene in your head while you are reading. However, after reading Mahon’s article, I had an a-ha moment. Initially while reading the book, I thought that Pussy the superhero was coming back to clear the air of the stench that was her supposed father. Mahon’s article discusses this in a completely different way than I had previously thought about but now that I read it, it all makes more sense. Mahon writes,
“In response to Irwin’s terrified defecation, Pussy transforms into a super-hero who is tasked with protecting people from the stink of politics” (Mahon p. 447).
I totally missed the idea of the stench being political or the image of Irwin’s defecation being symbolized as his “caving into the pressure” or his “releasing information that shouldn’t be”. I think I had been really focused on Pussy’s discussions about her supposed father that I just assumed she had meant that she wanted to rid the valley of the “stench” that is her supposed father.
I found it interesting that Pussy really talked about movies and actors a lot. She was constantly comparing herself to them. I think that this partly reflected Pussy’s wish to “play a role where she could be anyone and anybody she wanted. Another idea I got from the text is just the continuation of the concept of “ownership” or a sense of “home”. In this book, there was the constant struggle within Northern Ireland, so these constant issues made it difficult for many to feel at ease or at “home”.
Also I think this issue with ownership and home comes out clearly in Pussy’s issues related to her mother and father and that no one was really her family. Not that you own your family but you do have a family of your own which is something Pussy was lacking. This essentially helps to complete the sense of “home” that she seemed to be looking for during the entire novel.
I really enjoyed reading the book, “Breakfast on Pluto” and loved “Pussy’s” character. That being said, after reading Mahon’s article, I guess I’m not sure I understood the book at all; perhaps though that is my frustration with the whole “Lacanian” theory. I didn’t enjoy the use of this theory in Carmilla and I’m not in love with it here either.
I think I was able to understand some of Mahon’s initial discussion about politics but I definitely got lost at times. I think I understand that his discussion about “sameness” boils down to the idea that the people of Northern Ireland and anywhere in general frequently want to be able to state and believe in “sameness” with those they may have issues with but essentially if you fight fire with fire…no one comes out a live. Or perhaps instead of the two groups being equally “innocent” they are really equally “guilty”. Not completely sure about this so I could be way off base on this one.
One of the parts in the book I loved was when Pussy became a super hero in her fantasy. The descriptive language is hilarious and paints a great scene in your head while you are reading. However, after reading Mahon’s article, I had an a-ha moment. Initially while reading the book, I thought that Pussy the superhero was coming back to clear the air of the stench that was her supposed father. Mahon’s article discusses this in a completely different way than I had previously thought about but now that I read it, it all makes more sense. Mahon writes,
“In response to Irwin’s terrified defecation, Pussy transforms into a super-hero who is tasked with protecting people from the stink of politics” (Mahon p. 447).
I totally missed the idea of the stench being political or the image of Irwin’s defecation being symbolized as his “caving into the pressure” or his “releasing information that shouldn’t be”. I think I had been really focused on Pussy’s discussions about her supposed father that I just assumed she had meant that she wanted to rid the valley of the “stench” that is her supposed father.
I found it interesting that Pussy really talked about movies and actors a lot. She was constantly comparing herself to them. I think that this partly reflected Pussy’s wish to “play a role where she could be anyone and anybody she wanted. Another idea I got from the text is just the continuation of the concept of “ownership” or a sense of “home”. In this book, there was the constant struggle within Northern Ireland, so these constant issues made it difficult for many to feel at ease or at “home”.
Also I think this issue with ownership and home comes out clearly in Pussy’s issues related to her mother and father and that no one was really her family. Not that you own your family but you do have a family of your own which is something Pussy was lacking. This essentially helps to complete the sense of “home” that she seemed to be looking for during the entire novel.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Breakfast is served...
Well, once again, I have yet to complete this week’s book; but I’m already very intrigued. I have to say that I truly had no idea what this book was about but in the first few pages I realized that this book was quite “edgy” shall we say.
Personally I’m finding that I love the writing style and the use of language. I think it makes the book “read like a movie” since I feel more like I’ve watched these scenes instead of read them; however disturbing some of them might be.
One of the major themes being seen so far is related to borders, as Colleen discussed. At first I really was only thinking of the physical border of Northern Ireland and the Republic since this book is set during a very violent and difficult time in Northern Ireland. McCabe writes,
“How all that started was the 1966 was the jubilee commemoration of the 1916 rising and no matter where you went in Tyreelin, everyone was waving a tricoloured flag or singing an Irish ballad. Every day there was a different politician in the town and in the pubs at night they were all talking about getting into a lorry and driving across the border to take over the north” (p. 18).
This clearly gives an idea of the issues present regarding the physical borders and differences of opinions between the “north and south”. Included in this division would be the religious battles between the Catholics and Protestants. This “division” brought about a different meaning to the word border. I started thinking of it no so much as a physical boundary but also as simply a division or as something that has two sides to it. In looking at it in this way I really started to see more and more things related to having two sides.
Father Bernard is supposed to be a good, pious, abstinent priest but he obviously has a “dark” side as pointed out in chapter 8. Charlie is a girl, but clearly sets herself up as the dominant one in the gang; another example of having two sides as she is a female with masculine traits of dominance (which Braden seemed to really enjoy) (p. 18). Then of course you have Braden himself; physically a male but seemingly mentally a female. A woman trapped in a male body. Braden crosses boundaries in his desire to be a woman, he dresses like a woman, and even “loves” like a woman. It’s the idea of kind of being cris-crossed within one body and possibly this is where the significance of “Pluto” comes into this novel. Pluto was considered a planet whose orbit takes an irregular shape therefore sometimes it was the ninth planet and sometimes it was the eighth planet, i.e. it crosses borders just like Braden/Pussy.
Who knows I could be completely off base at this point, but so far it makes sense to me.
FINAL PROJECT
As for an idea for my final project, I am planning to do a creative project utilizing illustration and possibly some poetry. The illustration will likely be pictures and graphics. I plan to do this based on one of my favorite books from our readings so far; Castle Rackrent. I’m still mystified by Maria Edgeworth and understanding her thought processes. In addition I’m still very interested in the whole idea of ownership in Irish tradition as this has been, in my opinion, a strong underlying theme in some format in all the novels we’ve read thus far.
Personally I’m finding that I love the writing style and the use of language. I think it makes the book “read like a movie” since I feel more like I’ve watched these scenes instead of read them; however disturbing some of them might be.
One of the major themes being seen so far is related to borders, as Colleen discussed. At first I really was only thinking of the physical border of Northern Ireland and the Republic since this book is set during a very violent and difficult time in Northern Ireland. McCabe writes,
“How all that started was the 1966 was the jubilee commemoration of the 1916 rising and no matter where you went in Tyreelin, everyone was waving a tricoloured flag or singing an Irish ballad. Every day there was a different politician in the town and in the pubs at night they were all talking about getting into a lorry and driving across the border to take over the north” (p. 18).
This clearly gives an idea of the issues present regarding the physical borders and differences of opinions between the “north and south”. Included in this division would be the religious battles between the Catholics and Protestants. This “division” brought about a different meaning to the word border. I started thinking of it no so much as a physical boundary but also as simply a division or as something that has two sides to it. In looking at it in this way I really started to see more and more things related to having two sides.
Father Bernard is supposed to be a good, pious, abstinent priest but he obviously has a “dark” side as pointed out in chapter 8. Charlie is a girl, but clearly sets herself up as the dominant one in the gang; another example of having two sides as she is a female with masculine traits of dominance (which Braden seemed to really enjoy) (p. 18). Then of course you have Braden himself; physically a male but seemingly mentally a female. A woman trapped in a male body. Braden crosses boundaries in his desire to be a woman, he dresses like a woman, and even “loves” like a woman. It’s the idea of kind of being cris-crossed within one body and possibly this is where the significance of “Pluto” comes into this novel. Pluto was considered a planet whose orbit takes an irregular shape therefore sometimes it was the ninth planet and sometimes it was the eighth planet, i.e. it crosses borders just like Braden/Pussy.
Who knows I could be completely off base at this point, but so far it makes sense to me.
FINAL PROJECT
As for an idea for my final project, I am planning to do a creative project utilizing illustration and possibly some poetry. The illustration will likely be pictures and graphics. I plan to do this based on one of my favorite books from our readings so far; Castle Rackrent. I’m still mystified by Maria Edgeworth and understanding her thought processes. In addition I’m still very interested in the whole idea of ownership in Irish tradition as this has been, in my opinion, a strong underlying theme in some format in all the novels we’ve read thus far.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Confusion and Fear...Brimstone and Fire...
So I must admit that I have not yet completed this book, although, I am finding it interesting. That said; I’m also quite confused. When I first started reading this book, I was completely lost. I couldn’t keep track of who was who and what time frame we were in and what the heck was going on. Eventually, I started realizing that we were sort of jumping back and forth between different times within the life of Stephen. It is almost like following the train of thought of someone who has no ability to stay focused on one thing. One thought reminds them of something else so then they start talking about that, and then that thought reminds them of something else and so on. Sort of like “Wiki-walking”, going to Wikipedia for one thing, finding a highlighted section related to something else and before you know it, you’ve spent 2 hours looking at Wikipedia, you’re on a completely different subject than intended and you’ve not even completed what you initially intended to do. But, I digress.
Now I’m not sure if that was James Joyce’s intention or not in his writing style for this novel, but the whole jumping here and there, distracted sort of writing seemed to follow exactly the confusion and feelings of being lost that Stephen seemed to be going through in the novel.
Now being a “recovering Catholic” myself, I found the religious commentary in this novel quite interesting. Hopefully my comments don’t offend anyone, just my opinions. I immediately related to the situation that Stephen discussed in the novel at his Christmas dinner with Dante, Mr. Casey and Simon. As with any great argument/discussion the topics usually revolve around religion and politics. Joyce wrote,
“God and religion before everything! Dante cried. God and religion before the world!” (Joyce 38).
Now in my personal opinion, religion and politics have no right to be tied to each other and when they do things always get heated. In this example, it is my opinion, that it’s these extreme views and complete lack of ability to allow others the right to their opinions that caused and continues to cause unnecessary violence in this world. This is almost completely the history of Ireland, dating back to the very beginnings with the druids and Milesians. Not to mention really it's the history of probably just about every country in the world. There's always a fight triggered due to religious beliefs that get involved in politics. Actually, now that I think about it, perhaps politics is a direct descendant of religion. Without religion, maybe there would have never been any politics since people would have possibly not had anything to fight about or cared.
And finally, continuing with the issues of religion, I was awe struck when reading the section on the “fire and brimstone” in the novel. Joyce’s descriptions actually made my stomach turn a little and completely brought back some of my own personal fears from childhood. The descriptions were so very vivid and quite honestly, so very “Catholic”. Again, having been raised Catholic by very devout Catholic grandparents (have been married 53 years and said/say the full rosary EVERY night) and having gone through 8 plus years of Catholic education; I’m only speaking of my own experiences. But the “fear factor” that the Catholic religion uses literally scares people into trying to be good. I was scared again (just a little) just reading this section. It is this fear that is driven into you from an early age that leads to extreme guilt over any misstep you take in life. I think this was very clearly demonstrated by Stephan throughout the book, but especially during the retreat. Joyce writes,
“God had called him. Yes? What? Yes? His flesh shrank together as it felt the approach of the ravenous tongues of flames, dried up as it felt about it the swirl of stifling air. He had died. Yes. He was judged.” (Joyce 134).
I definitely think this may be the purest form of guilt and utter terror when a sermon can bring about an almost complete psychological break down. Again, just my opinion, but not something I see as healthy at all and not something a religion should be known for.
Now I’m not sure if that was James Joyce’s intention or not in his writing style for this novel, but the whole jumping here and there, distracted sort of writing seemed to follow exactly the confusion and feelings of being lost that Stephen seemed to be going through in the novel.
Now being a “recovering Catholic” myself, I found the religious commentary in this novel quite interesting. Hopefully my comments don’t offend anyone, just my opinions. I immediately related to the situation that Stephen discussed in the novel at his Christmas dinner with Dante, Mr. Casey and Simon. As with any great argument/discussion the topics usually revolve around religion and politics. Joyce wrote,
“God and religion before everything! Dante cried. God and religion before the world!” (Joyce 38).
Now in my personal opinion, religion and politics have no right to be tied to each other and when they do things always get heated. In this example, it is my opinion, that it’s these extreme views and complete lack of ability to allow others the right to their opinions that caused and continues to cause unnecessary violence in this world. This is almost completely the history of Ireland, dating back to the very beginnings with the druids and Milesians. Not to mention really it's the history of probably just about every country in the world. There's always a fight triggered due to religious beliefs that get involved in politics. Actually, now that I think about it, perhaps politics is a direct descendant of religion. Without religion, maybe there would have never been any politics since people would have possibly not had anything to fight about or cared.
And finally, continuing with the issues of religion, I was awe struck when reading the section on the “fire and brimstone” in the novel. Joyce’s descriptions actually made my stomach turn a little and completely brought back some of my own personal fears from childhood. The descriptions were so very vivid and quite honestly, so very “Catholic”. Again, having been raised Catholic by very devout Catholic grandparents (have been married 53 years and said/say the full rosary EVERY night) and having gone through 8 plus years of Catholic education; I’m only speaking of my own experiences. But the “fear factor” that the Catholic religion uses literally scares people into trying to be good. I was scared again (just a little) just reading this section. It is this fear that is driven into you from an early age that leads to extreme guilt over any misstep you take in life. I think this was very clearly demonstrated by Stephan throughout the book, but especially during the retreat. Joyce writes,
“God had called him. Yes? What? Yes? His flesh shrank together as it felt the approach of the ravenous tongues of flames, dried up as it felt about it the swirl of stifling air. He had died. Yes. He was judged.” (Joyce 134).
I definitely think this may be the purest form of guilt and utter terror when a sermon can bring about an almost complete psychological break down. Again, just my opinion, but not something I see as healthy at all and not something a religion should be known for.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Tragic Hero
Let's try this again, hopefully without anymore technical difficulties.
So I didn't post on last week’s blog because quite frankly, I was completely confused and actually annoyed with this book. I found it very frustrating yet quite intriguing. Almost like watching a car crash that you can't look away from, I was annoyed by Dorian and Harry but still had to keep reading to see what happened. I think that most of my frustrations stemmed from the complete lack of responsibility that both of these characters showed for their own actions and the ridiculous rationalizations that they went through in order to explain away the guilt they felt. At least I think that was quite true for Dorian, but I'm still unsure of Lord Henry. I often found myself wondering if perhaps Lord Henry knew all along what was happening with Dorian and that he was simply pushing, molding and influencing him to see what would happen; sort of a sick psychological experiment to see how far you could push someone before they snapped or gave up. Who knows, that’s just a few of my thoughts on that topic.
Obviously while reading the book, I was picking up on the homosexual undertones but was often confused and not quite sure if I was reading more into the text than was really there. I was fairly certain that Basil’s adoration for Dorian was a representation of his homosexual attraction to Dorian. And I was fairly certain that Basil was trying to come to terms with his feelings about another man for the first time and continued to struggle with it throughout the book but ultimately seemed to be more accepting of who he was. As for Dorian, I thought perhaps he too had strong homosexual feelings but was ashamed of them. This is partly why he became so corruptive in other people’s lives. It seemed that his adoration for Sybil was his first attempt at trying to “love” a woman, however, when his friends saw her with him, he realized it was truly not her he loved but that he wanted desperately to be in love with a woman. I think this realization was one of the first steps he took towards understanding his life and trying to come to terms with who he was, unfortunately, he never seemed to actually accept himself for who he was. Instead he led a double life. Doing the “pretty” in high society as was expected of him, but also living out his frustrations and true identity in secret. To me, this was one of the most obvious points of hypocrisy in the book.
In reading the article by Alley, I found a whole new meaning or perspective on the book. As I stated previously, I had seen Basil as sort of the “good guy” in the book and Lord Henry as the “bad guy”. Almost like the little angel and devil sitting on opposite shoulders of Dorian. I think this is why Dorian was so torn in most of his life. He would give into his “temptations”, see the results, and then feel guilt for which he tried to rationalize away his part in the situations. What I didn’t see until reading Alley’s article is that Basil could be seen as the hero in the book who essentially triumphed despite his murder and lifestyle choice, that because he was more true to himself he was vindicated in the end. I saw this in Alley’s comment,
“Hallward was wayward in his confessions of love, bold in his portraitizing, and yet lacking in the ultimate execution of his love. In this sense, he represents the phrase, "to have a capacity for passion and not to realize it." His valorization and spiritualization are found, however, in his discovery of areas of himself he had not known before, and that very act makes him at one with Montaigne, Michelangelo, Winckelmann, and Shakespeare. The restored portrait serves as a commemorative of that initiation as well as a tragic reminder of his ultimate deficiency as a full agent of his own adventurous potential” (6-7).
To me this quote captures what I think Wilde was trying to express, that in the end despite the hypocrisy, corruption, and guilt that occur during one’s life, you can never escape your true identity.
So I didn't post on last week’s blog because quite frankly, I was completely confused and actually annoyed with this book. I found it very frustrating yet quite intriguing. Almost like watching a car crash that you can't look away from, I was annoyed by Dorian and Harry but still had to keep reading to see what happened. I think that most of my frustrations stemmed from the complete lack of responsibility that both of these characters showed for their own actions and the ridiculous rationalizations that they went through in order to explain away the guilt they felt. At least I think that was quite true for Dorian, but I'm still unsure of Lord Henry. I often found myself wondering if perhaps Lord Henry knew all along what was happening with Dorian and that he was simply pushing, molding and influencing him to see what would happen; sort of a sick psychological experiment to see how far you could push someone before they snapped or gave up. Who knows, that’s just a few of my thoughts on that topic.
Obviously while reading the book, I was picking up on the homosexual undertones but was often confused and not quite sure if I was reading more into the text than was really there. I was fairly certain that Basil’s adoration for Dorian was a representation of his homosexual attraction to Dorian. And I was fairly certain that Basil was trying to come to terms with his feelings about another man for the first time and continued to struggle with it throughout the book but ultimately seemed to be more accepting of who he was. As for Dorian, I thought perhaps he too had strong homosexual feelings but was ashamed of them. This is partly why he became so corruptive in other people’s lives. It seemed that his adoration for Sybil was his first attempt at trying to “love” a woman, however, when his friends saw her with him, he realized it was truly not her he loved but that he wanted desperately to be in love with a woman. I think this realization was one of the first steps he took towards understanding his life and trying to come to terms with who he was, unfortunately, he never seemed to actually accept himself for who he was. Instead he led a double life. Doing the “pretty” in high society as was expected of him, but also living out his frustrations and true identity in secret. To me, this was one of the most obvious points of hypocrisy in the book.
In reading the article by Alley, I found a whole new meaning or perspective on the book. As I stated previously, I had seen Basil as sort of the “good guy” in the book and Lord Henry as the “bad guy”. Almost like the little angel and devil sitting on opposite shoulders of Dorian. I think this is why Dorian was so torn in most of his life. He would give into his “temptations”, see the results, and then feel guilt for which he tried to rationalize away his part in the situations. What I didn’t see until reading Alley’s article is that Basil could be seen as the hero in the book who essentially triumphed despite his murder and lifestyle choice, that because he was more true to himself he was vindicated in the end. I saw this in Alley’s comment,
“Hallward was wayward in his confessions of love, bold in his portraitizing, and yet lacking in the ultimate execution of his love. In this sense, he represents the phrase, "to have a capacity for passion and not to realize it." His valorization and spiritualization are found, however, in his discovery of areas of himself he had not known before, and that very act makes him at one with Montaigne, Michelangelo, Winckelmann, and Shakespeare. The restored portrait serves as a commemorative of that initiation as well as a tragic reminder of his ultimate deficiency as a full agent of his own adventurous potential” (6-7).
To me this quote captures what I think Wilde was trying to express, that in the end despite the hypocrisy, corruption, and guilt that occur during one’s life, you can never escape your true identity.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
"Seduction Theory" 101...
Sorry for the crazy layout with the pics. Haven't quite figured this part out yet.
As for the reasoning for the pics, it's just my way of displaying some
of the "Gothic" genre in film. Specifically vampires...and I have
to say I am a huge fan of vampire stories. Apparently
they hold a certain "Enigma" for me, but more likely it's just how much I'm in love with David
Boreanaz !!! ;D
“And when she had spoken such a rhapsody, she would press me more closely in her trembling embrace, and her lips in soft kisses gently glow upon my cheek.
Her agitations and her language were unintelligible to me.
As for the reasoning for the pics, it's just my way of displaying some
of the "Gothic" genre in film. Specifically vampires...and I haveto say I am a huge fan of vampire stories. Apparently
they hold a certain "Enigma" for me, but more likely it's just how much I'm in love with DavidBoreanaz !!! ;D
Another week and another critique…sort of? Michael Davis’ critique of Carmilla in “Gothic’s Enigmatic Signifier” was not what I thought it would be. Although interesting and at some points seemingly plausible or sensible, for me, the critique places far too much emphasis on psychoanalysis, particularly psychosexual analysis. I clearly understand that there are definitely some overt sexuality issues being played out in Carmilla as evidenced by comments such as the following paragraphs,
“And when she had spoken such a rhapsody, she would press me more closely in her trembling embrace, and her lips in soft kisses gently glow upon my cheek.
Her agitations and her language were unintelligible to me.
From these foolish embraces, which were not of very frequent occurrence, I must allow, I used to wish to extricate myself; but my energies seemed to fail me. Her murmured words sounded like a lullaby in my ear, and soothed my resistance into a trance, from which I only seemed to recover myself when she withdrew her arms.
In these mysterious moods I did not like her. I experienced a strange tumultuous excitement that was pleasurable, ever and anon, mingled with a vague sense of fear and disgust. I had no distinct thoughts about her while such scenes lasted, but I was conscious of a love growing into adoration, and also of abhorrence. This I know is paradox, but I can make no other attempt to explain the feeling” (Le Fanu chpt IV).
In this passage, you can clearly see or feel the underlying sexuality being portrayed by Carmilla. You can also see that Laura does not understand the meanings of Carmilla’s advances; however, she seems unable to pull away and is left with mixed feelings and sensations of pleasure, excitement, disgust and fear.
In Davis’ critique, he pushes further into the meaning and potential theory behind these encounters. Davis discusses several famous psychoanalysts such as Freud, Lacan, and Laplanche. Interestingly, each of these men were almost like successors of each other; first came Freud in the development of psychoanalysis, then Lacan further expanded into works related to the unconscious, and finally Laplanche studied under Lacan and further developed and revised Freud’s “Seduction Theory”. It is this revision of the “Seduction Theory” that Davis uses to describe the sexual encounters and overall “enigma” of Gothic writing.
According to Davis it seems that the Gothic genre is characterized by the combination of fear and pleasure with an inexplicable desire to “figure it out”. In the case of Carmilla, the character Laura is seen as the “infant/child” from the “Seduction Theory” and Carmilla fills the role of the “adult/mother/other” who “inadvertently” exposes Laura to a sexual encounter at an age when she is unable to understand the experience and situation. This inability to understand is what leaves her with what Davis describes as,
“This alien thing (this horror without meaning) inside Laura, ‘put inside [her] by an alien’ (Otherness, 65) is precisely the untranslated residue of the earlier childhood experience, when the ‘seductive intrusion of the other’ (Intro., 9), freighted with unconscious sexual meaning, effected its violent (and incomprehensible) intromission” (Davis 230-231).
Essentially, this is stating that this initial trauma caused a lingering, although, unconscious effect within Laura which once “triggered” by secondary sexual traumas inflicted by Carmilla led Laura subconsciously to “repress” her understandings of the situation while still drawn to the “enigma” of Carmilla.
This is where I can clearly see how or why Davis feels that the "Seduction Theory" idea fits in this scenario, but I personally just don’t buy it. I think it is possible that this theory fits, but I don’t personally think that Le Fanu was specifically looking to address an issue of psychosexual analysis in his writing. Perhaps he was looking at subtly, or not so subtly, addressing sexuality but I don’t think he went so far as to discuss potential childhood sexual trauma leading to subsequent repression of unwanted feelings of “disgust” or “shame”. However, once again, the only one to know the true intentions behind the writing would be the author.
I did, however, really enjoy Davis’ last paragraph in discussing the Gothic text or genre. I find this to be an interesting twist on how we as observers or readers become engrossed and inexplicable drawn to the enigma found in the characters within the Gothic genre itself.
“Finally, if we, as readers of the Gothic, are in fact caught in the same ‘vortex of summons and repulsion’ (Powers, 1) as Laura, then our constant attempts to decipher the Gothic text, ‘to master, to translate, those enigmatic, traumatising messages’ (Otherness, 165), leave us all trapped in our own repetition compulsion, inexorably (but perhaps pleasurably) drawn to ‘the place where meaning collapses’ (Powers, 2); a place ‘very nearly dark’ (278).” (Davis 234).
Essentially, this is stating that this initial trauma caused a lingering, although, unconscious effect within Laura which once “triggered” by secondary sexual traumas inflicted by Carmilla led Laura subconsciously to “repress” her understandings of the situation while still drawn to the “enigma” of Carmilla.
This is where I can clearly see how or why Davis feels that the "Seduction Theory" idea fits in this scenario, but I personally just don’t buy it. I think it is possible that this theory fits, but I don’t personally think that Le Fanu was specifically looking to address an issue of psychosexual analysis in his writing. Perhaps he was looking at subtly, or not so subtly, addressing sexuality but I don’t think he went so far as to discuss potential childhood sexual trauma leading to subsequent repression of unwanted feelings of “disgust” or “shame”. However, once again, the only one to know the true intentions behind the writing would be the author.
I did, however, really enjoy Davis’ last paragraph in discussing the Gothic text or genre. I find this to be an interesting twist on how we as observers or readers become engrossed and inexplicable drawn to the enigma found in the characters within the Gothic genre itself.
“Finally, if we, as readers of the Gothic, are in fact caught in the same ‘vortex of summons and repulsion’ (Powers, 1) as Laura, then our constant attempts to decipher the Gothic text, ‘to master, to translate, those enigmatic, traumatising messages’ (Otherness, 165), leave us all trapped in our own repetition compulsion, inexorably (but perhaps pleasurably) drawn to ‘the place where meaning collapses’ (Powers, 2); a place ‘very nearly dark’ (278).” (Davis 234).
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
"Carmilla"...so many possibilities
Carmilla written by Le Fanu was a very interesting story that had some components of a typical vampire story of present day. Apparently this “coincidence” is in part due to Le Fanu’s writings influence on this genre, most notably Bram Stoker's Dracula according to a biography website for Le Fanu written by Petri Liukkonen (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/lefanu.htm). In addition to this site, I reviewed the Wikipedia website for additional information on Le Fanu’s background. I personally think that so much of what an author writes is related to their own personal experiences whether they consciously know it or not.
One of the first things I found of interest regarding Le Fanu was that he was Irish born into a family of Huguenot origins. I was not familiar with this term but a web search found that it is a term that is used to describe someone who is a “Calvinist” or Protestant. The origins of the word Huguenot were varied with some sites linking it to the German word for the French Calvinists.
I found all of this interesting because Le Fanu’s father was a clergyman for the Church of Ireland and according to Wikipedia “His father was a stern Protestant churchman and imbued his family with a religious sense that bordered on Calvinism”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheridan_Le_Fanu). Two major components of Calvinism are “the doctrines of predestination and total depravity, stressing the absolute sovereignty of God” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism). This is essentially stating that a human has no control over their destiny and God has already made His plan. Therefore, if you are a “fallen” human; only God can chose to save you and His plan can not and should not be altered unless by His will.
Le Fanu grew up in a locality that was affected by the Tithe Wars and ultimately, I think this and perhaps his father’s role in the Church of Ireland may have shaped some of his political views later in life; leading to the topics and undertones in many of his writings.
I found it interesting that Le Fanu chose “Styria”, an Austrian state, as a setting for Carmilla because Germany (Prussia) and Switzerland were two of the places the “Huguenots” fled to in order to escape persecution after their religion was deemed illegal in France
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguenot). In addition, Le Fanu makes the main character a girl of English descent who lives quite nicely in her castle. Le Fanu writes, “…I really don't see how ever so much more money would at all materially add to our comforts, or even luxuries.” He also describes Laura in the quote, “My gouvernantes had just so much control over me as you might conjecture such sage persons would have in the case of a rather spoiled girl, whose only parent allowed her pretty nearly her own way in everything” (Le Fanu). And finally in the quote, “I was not frightened, for I was one of those happy children who are studiously kept in ignorance of ghost stories, of fairy tales, and of all such lore as makes us cover up our heads when the door cracks suddenly,…” (Le Fanu). I think that all three of these quotes provide insight into what Le Fanu is trying to portray in his view of the “English”, implying wealth, no lack of comforts, and spoiled behaviors. In addition, is it possible that in his quote about remaining ignorant of “fairy tales” and such “lore” he is implying a derogatory view of these things, which ironically are a significant part of Irish culture?
Looking back to Le Fanu’s biography, I found, “In 1847 he supported John Mitchel and Thomas Meagher in their campaign against the indifference of the Government to the Irish Famine” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheridan_Le_Fanu). Interestingly both Thomas Meagher and John Mitchel were members of “Young Ireland” which was essentially a group campaigning/fighting to decrease or cease control of Ireland from the British government as well as Catholic Emancipation. In understanding Le Fanu’s views on the Irish Famine, I’m inclined to think that perhaps he used a role reversal in Carmilla. Meaning that Carmilla could represent the Irish Famine or the British indifference to it while it literally “sucked the life blood” out of the Irish people and the nation portrayed as Laura and Bertha before her. In addition, there are times when Carmilla doesn’t seem to be all bad or evil, could this be seen as Le Fanu’s frustration or struggles with his past experiences with his religion and the British government.
I’ve no idea if this is correct, but I thought it was an interesting premise. Another concept I found interesting was that according to Jim Donnelly in his article “The Irish Famine” on the BBC website, during the Irish Famine, “There was a very widespread belief among members of the British upper and middle classes that the famine was a divine judgment-an act of Providence-against the kind of Irish agrarian regime that was believed to have given rise to the famine” (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/famine_01.shtml). This idea of divine judgement is very similar to the Calvinist belief in predestination and absolute sovereignty of God.
Finally, regarding Le Fanu’s writings in Carmilla as well as many of his others, there seems to be an underlying theme of “potential supernatural” events that could also be due to an overactive imagination, anxiety, or hysterics. Not surprisingly, Le Fanu’s wife suffered from “increasing neurotic symptoms”, “anxiety”, and died after a “hysterical attack” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheridan_Le_Fanu). Again, perhaps these experiences play a role in Le Fanu’s horror or gothic writings.
Honestly, I’ve no idea if I’m even close with many of these ideas, but I found them all interesting. Sorry to be so long winded, I didn’t even get to discuss the definite homosexual undertones seen in this writing as well. Maybe next time.
One of the first things I found of interest regarding Le Fanu was that he was Irish born into a family of Huguenot origins. I was not familiar with this term but a web search found that it is a term that is used to describe someone who is a “Calvinist” or Protestant. The origins of the word Huguenot were varied with some sites linking it to the German word for the French Calvinists.
I found all of this interesting because Le Fanu’s father was a clergyman for the Church of Ireland and according to Wikipedia “His father was a stern Protestant churchman and imbued his family with a religious sense that bordered on Calvinism”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheridan_Le_Fanu). Two major components of Calvinism are “the doctrines of predestination and total depravity, stressing the absolute sovereignty of God” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism). This is essentially stating that a human has no control over their destiny and God has already made His plan. Therefore, if you are a “fallen” human; only God can chose to save you and His plan can not and should not be altered unless by His will.
Le Fanu grew up in a locality that was affected by the Tithe Wars and ultimately, I think this and perhaps his father’s role in the Church of Ireland may have shaped some of his political views later in life; leading to the topics and undertones in many of his writings.
I found it interesting that Le Fanu chose “Styria”, an Austrian state, as a setting for Carmilla because Germany (Prussia) and Switzerland were two of the places the “Huguenots” fled to in order to escape persecution after their religion was deemed illegal in France
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguenot). In addition, Le Fanu makes the main character a girl of English descent who lives quite nicely in her castle. Le Fanu writes, “…I really don't see how ever so much more money would at all materially add to our comforts, or even luxuries.” He also describes Laura in the quote, “My gouvernantes had just so much control over me as you might conjecture such sage persons would have in the case of a rather spoiled girl, whose only parent allowed her pretty nearly her own way in everything” (Le Fanu). And finally in the quote, “I was not frightened, for I was one of those happy children who are studiously kept in ignorance of ghost stories, of fairy tales, and of all such lore as makes us cover up our heads when the door cracks suddenly,…” (Le Fanu). I think that all three of these quotes provide insight into what Le Fanu is trying to portray in his view of the “English”, implying wealth, no lack of comforts, and spoiled behaviors. In addition, is it possible that in his quote about remaining ignorant of “fairy tales” and such “lore” he is implying a derogatory view of these things, which ironically are a significant part of Irish culture?
Looking back to Le Fanu’s biography, I found, “In 1847 he supported John Mitchel and Thomas Meagher in their campaign against the indifference of the Government to the Irish Famine” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheridan_Le_Fanu). Interestingly both Thomas Meagher and John Mitchel were members of “Young Ireland” which was essentially a group campaigning/fighting to decrease or cease control of Ireland from the British government as well as Catholic Emancipation. In understanding Le Fanu’s views on the Irish Famine, I’m inclined to think that perhaps he used a role reversal in Carmilla. Meaning that Carmilla could represent the Irish Famine or the British indifference to it while it literally “sucked the life blood” out of the Irish people and the nation portrayed as Laura and Bertha before her. In addition, there are times when Carmilla doesn’t seem to be all bad or evil, could this be seen as Le Fanu’s frustration or struggles with his past experiences with his religion and the British government.
I’ve no idea if this is correct, but I thought it was an interesting premise. Another concept I found interesting was that according to Jim Donnelly in his article “The Irish Famine” on the BBC website, during the Irish Famine, “There was a very widespread belief among members of the British upper and middle classes that the famine was a divine judgment-an act of Providence-against the kind of Irish agrarian regime that was believed to have given rise to the famine” (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/famine_01.shtml). This idea of divine judgement is very similar to the Calvinist belief in predestination and absolute sovereignty of God.
Finally, regarding Le Fanu’s writings in Carmilla as well as many of his others, there seems to be an underlying theme of “potential supernatural” events that could also be due to an overactive imagination, anxiety, or hysterics. Not surprisingly, Le Fanu’s wife suffered from “increasing neurotic symptoms”, “anxiety”, and died after a “hysterical attack” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheridan_Le_Fanu). Again, perhaps these experiences play a role in Le Fanu’s horror or gothic writings.
Honestly, I’ve no idea if I’m even close with many of these ideas, but I found them all interesting. Sorry to be so long winded, I didn’t even get to discuss the definite homosexual undertones seen in this writing as well. Maybe next time.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Analysis of Egenolf’s “Maria Edgeworth in Blackface”- MORE CONFUSION??
So here's my analysis of this literary critique. Once again there is soooo much information in this piece, yet I'm almost just as confused as I was when I started. Interesting...
Marie Brick
English 263
17 February 2010
Analysis of Egenolf’s “Maria Edgeworth in Blackface”
The book, Castle Rackrent, written by Maria Edgeworth has clearly demonstrated that it is steeped in political undertones; however, fully understanding those undertones has proven to be an incredibly arduous task for many. The ambiguous nature of the writing and the frequent contradictory statements leads the reader through a tangled and torturous story when read with the full context of the footnotes, notes, and glossary.
The first time reading through this book, I thought it seemed that Edgeworth was speaking highly of the native Irish and looking down upon those of the ascendancy. After reading the critique, “Disowning to own: Maria Edgeworth and the illegitimacy of national ownership - Irish nationalism in the works of Maria Edgeworth - Critical Essay” written by Sara L. Maurer, I realized that some of my initial ideas were likely incorrect or at least not as in depth as the book really warranted. In Maurer’s critique I discovered a greater underlying political voice regarding property ownership rights between, native Irish, Anglo-Irish, and English.
From Maurer’s perspective, I had assumed that Edgeworth’s view was that the property’s true ownership would always be up for debate and that in writing about this, Edgeworth was subtly trying to convey the instability in Ireland at the time. This was further supported by Maurer’s comment, “The paradox of inheritance in Ireland, then, is that it can not be owned by its Anglo-Irish holders, since they illegitimately seized it from the Irish children to whom it was owed. On the other hand, Ireland cannot be given up by its Anglo-Irish holders, who already owe the land to their children”.
At the end of my readings of Castle Rackrent and “Disowning to own: Maria Edgeworth and the illegitimacy of national ownership - Irish nationalism in the works of Maria Edgeworth - Critical Essay”, I was still left confused about Edgeworth’s ambiguous tone and purpose in her writing, but thought perhaps she was attempting to distance herself from her Anglo-Irish heritage in favor of the Irish. This idea has been thrown into utter disarray after reading the critique, “Maria Edgeworth in Blackface: Castle Rackrent and the Irish Rebellion of 1798” written by Susan B. Egenolf.
Perhaps I should have guessed at what Egenolf thought of Edgeworth based on the title; however, as I was not completely familiar with the idea of “blackface”; I needed to take a closer look at this term and its implications. After researching the term, I found an interview statement on PBS.org from Mel Watkins regarding blackface minstrelsy and racism, “To that extent, it affected all of society because those people who didn't know blacks, and there were many places where there were very few blacks, assumed that those characterizations, those depictions, those foolish characters on stage, were real black people. And so it had an immense effect on the way mainstream society thought about blacks”. This gave me a much better understanding that in doing blackface, one was essentially making light, belittling, and negatively stereotyping a group of people. A comment I found very interesting was, “Despite the fictional Editor’s claims of authenticity, Maria Edgeworth in fact appropriates the voice of the native Irish Thady, and thus performs linguistic blackface for her English and Anglo-Irish readers” (Egenolf 846).
I think that the reasoning for Edgeworth’s use of a “linguistic blackface” was likely due to the inability to fully distinguish herself or others of the ascendancy in any other way. This was further evidenced by Egenolf in her quotation from Claire Willis, “…because the usual “visual marker of skin colour difference” used to “legitimate domination in other colonized societies” is absent, in Ireland difference is marked primarily through “language.” Wills notes, “Whether it is a patronizing approval of lyrical celticism, or horrified revulsion from the degenerate Irish accent, Irish men and women are marked by their voices, their (mis)use of the English language” (Egenolf 849). This idea further expands on the use of linguistic blackface not only as a means to stereotype a group of people, but it also shows that this “marker” was used as a justification for considering native Irish as inferior and therefore legitimizing their need to be colonized.
In the final paragraphs of Castle Rackrent, the Editor states, “It is a problem of difficult solution to determine, whether an Union will hasten or retard the melioration of this country. The few gentlemen of education, who now reside in this country, will resort to England: they are few, but they are in nothing inferior to men of the same rank in Great Britain. The best that can happen will be the introduction of British manufacturers in their places” (Edgeworth 122). Initially, I overlooked this paragraph and didn’t ascribe much meaning to it; however, after reading Egenolf’s critique and re-reading the aforementioned paragraph, perhaps this was a glimpse at Edgeworth’s true political feelings in writing this novel. Edgeworth uses the word “melioration” when discussing “this” country; possibly implying that she felt the country needed improvement as though the native state of the country was not “proper” enough. In addition she states that the educated gentlemen will resort to England and that they are not inferior to the men in England. It is assumed that she must be discussing Anglo-Irish as compared to the men of England. Her comment as to the “best” solution for Ireland was that British manufacturers should be established in Ireland. Again this may reflect a bias towards her political feelings that the Anglo-Irish and the British were truly in the right regarding the current situation in Ireland.
This glimpse into Edgeworth’s political stance, bias, and fears is further evidenced in Egenolf’s commentary on Edgeworth’s writings in her father’s memoir, “a rumor of a French invasion spread through the country, raising the hopes of the disaffected, and creating terror in all, who had any thing to lose” (Egenolf 849). Edgeworth goes on further in a letter to her aunt stating, “that whilst our terrified neighbors see nightly visions of massacres, we sleep with our doors and windows unbarred.’ I must observe, though, that it is only those doors and windows which have neither bolts nor bars that we leave unbarred, and these are more at present than we wish, even for the reputation of our valor” (Egenolf 849). Edgeworth and her family were eventually forced to retreat from there home and Egenolf discusses this event in the following paragraph, “Later in 1798, Maria penned a lovely description of their journey to a nearby British camp where the French army and the Irish rebels had just been put down by the English at the battle of Ballinamuck. In her discussion of the pastoral scene and the soldiers “gathering blackberries,” Edgeworth elides the 2000 Irish prisoners held there who would be executed within a couple of weeks; however, her idealized description’s final line, previously suppressed, is telling: “Don’t imagine that I am camp mad—I was only glad to see anything like order & civility after the horrors of Longford” (Egenolf 850). Again, this paragraph further comments on Edgeworth’s sense of belonging more to the English than the native Irish. Despite her attempt to downplay her bias towards the “camp”, her complete omission of the true situation regarding the Irish prisoners and her obvious comment about “order and civility”; points towards her potential view of the native Irish as inferior and “uncivilized”.
Egenolf’s critique was quite interesting and contained far more topics I would have liked to discuss, but in the interest of time and space; it will have to wait until another day. When I compared Egenolf’s critique with Maurer’s critique, there seemed to be very few similarities. Perhaps one common theme was that Edgeworth’s writing was indeed politically charged even if it was done in disguise. Another common issue surrounded the fact that Castle Rackrent definitely addressed the instability that was all around Edgeworth at the time. And property and class were indeed both talking points between the critiques read; however, this is where the similarities end. The two give completely different views on Edgeworth’s political stance and purpose in writing. In the end, I think I may agree more with Egenolf than Maurer. Egenolf provided a lot of additional letters, stories, and writings, as previously discussed, regarding Edgeworth that seemed to help the reader better understand her from Egenolf’s perspective. However, only Edgeworth would know her true intentions in her writings.
So, as readers we are still left wondering; “Whose side was Edgeworth on?”, “Why did she seem to contradict herself in so many areas of Castle Rackrent?” and “How many different variations and interpretations of her writings can there really be?” As for the last question, I’m not sure how many more I can read since my current level of confusion is already quite overwhelming.
Works Cited
Edgeworth, Maria. Castle Rackrent. London: Penguin, 1992. Print.
Egenolf, Susan B. “Maria Edgeworth in Blackface: Castle Rackrent and the Irish Rebellion of
1798.” English Literary History, Winter 2005. Project MUSE. Web. 15 Feb. 2010.
Maurer, Sara L. “Disowning to Own: Maria Edgeworth and the Illegitimacy of National
Ownership - Irish Nationalism in the Works of Maria Edgeworth - Critical Essay.” Criticism.
22 Nov. 2002. FindArticles.com. Web. 9 Feb. 2010.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2220/is_4_44/ai_102981644/?tag=content;col1
Watkins, Mel. “Blackface Minstrelsy: How were the minstrel shows racist?” PBS.org.
American Experience, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2010.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/foster/sfeature/sf_minstrelsy_5.html
Marie Brick
English 263
17 February 2010
Analysis of Egenolf’s “Maria Edgeworth in Blackface”
The book, Castle Rackrent, written by Maria Edgeworth has clearly demonstrated that it is steeped in political undertones; however, fully understanding those undertones has proven to be an incredibly arduous task for many. The ambiguous nature of the writing and the frequent contradictory statements leads the reader through a tangled and torturous story when read with the full context of the footnotes, notes, and glossary.
The first time reading through this book, I thought it seemed that Edgeworth was speaking highly of the native Irish and looking down upon those of the ascendancy. After reading the critique, “Disowning to own: Maria Edgeworth and the illegitimacy of national ownership - Irish nationalism in the works of Maria Edgeworth - Critical Essay” written by Sara L. Maurer, I realized that some of my initial ideas were likely incorrect or at least not as in depth as the book really warranted. In Maurer’s critique I discovered a greater underlying political voice regarding property ownership rights between, native Irish, Anglo-Irish, and English.
From Maurer’s perspective, I had assumed that Edgeworth’s view was that the property’s true ownership would always be up for debate and that in writing about this, Edgeworth was subtly trying to convey the instability in Ireland at the time. This was further supported by Maurer’s comment, “The paradox of inheritance in Ireland, then, is that it can not be owned by its Anglo-Irish holders, since they illegitimately seized it from the Irish children to whom it was owed. On the other hand, Ireland cannot be given up by its Anglo-Irish holders, who already owe the land to their children”.
At the end of my readings of Castle Rackrent and “Disowning to own: Maria Edgeworth and the illegitimacy of national ownership - Irish nationalism in the works of Maria Edgeworth - Critical Essay”, I was still left confused about Edgeworth’s ambiguous tone and purpose in her writing, but thought perhaps she was attempting to distance herself from her Anglo-Irish heritage in favor of the Irish. This idea has been thrown into utter disarray after reading the critique, “Maria Edgeworth in Blackface: Castle Rackrent and the Irish Rebellion of 1798” written by Susan B. Egenolf.
Perhaps I should have guessed at what Egenolf thought of Edgeworth based on the title; however, as I was not completely familiar with the idea of “blackface”; I needed to take a closer look at this term and its implications. After researching the term, I found an interview statement on PBS.org from Mel Watkins regarding blackface minstrelsy and racism, “To that extent, it affected all of society because those people who didn't know blacks, and there were many places where there were very few blacks, assumed that those characterizations, those depictions, those foolish characters on stage, were real black people. And so it had an immense effect on the way mainstream society thought about blacks”. This gave me a much better understanding that in doing blackface, one was essentially making light, belittling, and negatively stereotyping a group of people. A comment I found very interesting was, “Despite the fictional Editor’s claims of authenticity, Maria Edgeworth in fact appropriates the voice of the native Irish Thady, and thus performs linguistic blackface for her English and Anglo-Irish readers” (Egenolf 846).
I think that the reasoning for Edgeworth’s use of a “linguistic blackface” was likely due to the inability to fully distinguish herself or others of the ascendancy in any other way. This was further evidenced by Egenolf in her quotation from Claire Willis, “…because the usual “visual marker of skin colour difference” used to “legitimate domination in other colonized societies” is absent, in Ireland difference is marked primarily through “language.” Wills notes, “Whether it is a patronizing approval of lyrical celticism, or horrified revulsion from the degenerate Irish accent, Irish men and women are marked by their voices, their (mis)use of the English language” (Egenolf 849). This idea further expands on the use of linguistic blackface not only as a means to stereotype a group of people, but it also shows that this “marker” was used as a justification for considering native Irish as inferior and therefore legitimizing their need to be colonized.
In the final paragraphs of Castle Rackrent, the Editor states, “It is a problem of difficult solution to determine, whether an Union will hasten or retard the melioration of this country. The few gentlemen of education, who now reside in this country, will resort to England: they are few, but they are in nothing inferior to men of the same rank in Great Britain. The best that can happen will be the introduction of British manufacturers in their places” (Edgeworth 122). Initially, I overlooked this paragraph and didn’t ascribe much meaning to it; however, after reading Egenolf’s critique and re-reading the aforementioned paragraph, perhaps this was a glimpse at Edgeworth’s true political feelings in writing this novel. Edgeworth uses the word “melioration” when discussing “this” country; possibly implying that she felt the country needed improvement as though the native state of the country was not “proper” enough. In addition she states that the educated gentlemen will resort to England and that they are not inferior to the men in England. It is assumed that she must be discussing Anglo-Irish as compared to the men of England. Her comment as to the “best” solution for Ireland was that British manufacturers should be established in Ireland. Again this may reflect a bias towards her political feelings that the Anglo-Irish and the British were truly in the right regarding the current situation in Ireland.
This glimpse into Edgeworth’s political stance, bias, and fears is further evidenced in Egenolf’s commentary on Edgeworth’s writings in her father’s memoir, “a rumor of a French invasion spread through the country, raising the hopes of the disaffected, and creating terror in all, who had any thing to lose” (Egenolf 849). Edgeworth goes on further in a letter to her aunt stating, “that whilst our terrified neighbors see nightly visions of massacres, we sleep with our doors and windows unbarred.’ I must observe, though, that it is only those doors and windows which have neither bolts nor bars that we leave unbarred, and these are more at present than we wish, even for the reputation of our valor” (Egenolf 849). Edgeworth and her family were eventually forced to retreat from there home and Egenolf discusses this event in the following paragraph, “Later in 1798, Maria penned a lovely description of their journey to a nearby British camp where the French army and the Irish rebels had just been put down by the English at the battle of Ballinamuck. In her discussion of the pastoral scene and the soldiers “gathering blackberries,” Edgeworth elides the 2000 Irish prisoners held there who would be executed within a couple of weeks; however, her idealized description’s final line, previously suppressed, is telling: “Don’t imagine that I am camp mad—I was only glad to see anything like order & civility after the horrors of Longford” (Egenolf 850). Again, this paragraph further comments on Edgeworth’s sense of belonging more to the English than the native Irish. Despite her attempt to downplay her bias towards the “camp”, her complete omission of the true situation regarding the Irish prisoners and her obvious comment about “order and civility”; points towards her potential view of the native Irish as inferior and “uncivilized”.
Egenolf’s critique was quite interesting and contained far more topics I would have liked to discuss, but in the interest of time and space; it will have to wait until another day. When I compared Egenolf’s critique with Maurer’s critique, there seemed to be very few similarities. Perhaps one common theme was that Edgeworth’s writing was indeed politically charged even if it was done in disguise. Another common issue surrounded the fact that Castle Rackrent definitely addressed the instability that was all around Edgeworth at the time. And property and class were indeed both talking points between the critiques read; however, this is where the similarities end. The two give completely different views on Edgeworth’s political stance and purpose in writing. In the end, I think I may agree more with Egenolf than Maurer. Egenolf provided a lot of additional letters, stories, and writings, as previously discussed, regarding Edgeworth that seemed to help the reader better understand her from Egenolf’s perspective. However, only Edgeworth would know her true intentions in her writings.
So, as readers we are still left wondering; “Whose side was Edgeworth on?”, “Why did she seem to contradict herself in so many areas of Castle Rackrent?” and “How many different variations and interpretations of her writings can there really be?” As for the last question, I’m not sure how many more I can read since my current level of confusion is already quite overwhelming.
Works Cited
Edgeworth, Maria. Castle Rackrent. London: Penguin, 1992. Print.
Egenolf, Susan B. “Maria Edgeworth in Blackface: Castle Rackrent and the Irish Rebellion of
1798.” English Literary History, Winter 2005. Project MUSE. Web. 15 Feb. 2010.
Maurer, Sara L. “Disowning to Own: Maria Edgeworth and the Illegitimacy of National
Ownership - Irish Nationalism in the Works of Maria Edgeworth - Critical Essay.” Criticism.
22 Nov. 2002. FindArticles.com. Web. 9 Feb. 2010.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2220/is_4_44/ai_102981644/?tag=content;col1
Watkins, Mel. “Blackface Minstrelsy: How were the minstrel shows racist?” PBS.org.
American Experience, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2010.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/foster/sfeature/sf_minstrelsy_5.html
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Online Artifact Analysis- "Castle Rackrent"
Hi all-
As you may have seen, according to the schedule it is my week to post my Online Artifact Analysis. I found this more difficult than I initially thought it might be, that seems to be a theme so far with Irish novels...Enjoy!!
Understanding Maria Edgeworth and Castle Rackrent
While reading Maria Edgeworth’s Castle Rackrent, it was difficult to completely grasp the position of Edgeworth with regard to Irish and English relations. The writing seemed ambivalent at times; in one section you would feel sympathy for the landlord and at other times sympathy for the tenants. There were no clear hero or villain roles. It seemed as though Edgeworth was writing this novel as a representation of an Anglo-Irish landlord with Irish tenants; however, she clearly states in Thady’s introduction that the Rackrent family is native Irish. “The family of the Rackrents is, I am proud to say, one of the most ancient in the kingdom. Every body knows this is not the old family name, which was O’Shaughlin, related to the kings of Ireland – but that was before my time” (Edgeworth 66).
Despite this family’s position as native Irish landlords, Edgeworth spun a tale of almost constant dissatisfaction and failure since the death of Sir Patrick; while consistently displaying the loyalty of the Irish peasant turned server to the family, Thady. This, almost implied, classification of roles and descriptors seemed to me to possibly be representative of Edgeworth’s personal feelings, opinions, and perhaps even life story. Therefore, in order to get a better understanding of Edgeworth herself, I looked for essays, criticisms and biographies about her.
The main website I used as my online artifact was an extremely interesting essay/criticism of Edgeworth’s work. The article, “Disowning to own: Maria Edgeworth and the illegitimacy of national ownership - Irish nationalism in the works of Maria Edgeworth - Critical Essay” was written by Sara L. Maurer. In addition a biography was reviewed from the online literature network. In reviewing this information provided in the biography, Edgeworth’s personal life became more understood. Knowing that Edgeworth’s father was an Anglo-Irish landowner, her mother died when she was six, her first step-mother, Honora, died when Edgeworth was 14, her father remarried Honora’s sister shortly thereafter and then moved the family to their estate in Ireland; helped to formulate an idea of who Maria Edgeworth was and her background (Merriman). Despite her own somewhat tumultuous personal life, she seemed to have an extremely close relationship with her father seemingly to the point that some of her opinions were likely strongly influenced by him or overruled altogether. For example, “It's often said that he was too heavy-handed and interfering, that the moral tone and preachment she sometimes affected was not genuinely hers and stunted her expression” (Merriman).
When reflecting on Edgeworth’s background as the daughter of an Anglo-Irish landlord, I initially assumed that because of this background, she had developed somewhat of a bias towards Irish landlords and Irish tenants as being less than their English counterparts. I thought this was evidenced by the portrayal of the Rackrent family as inept landowners. The Irish tenants, in my initial opinion, were portrayed as lazy and silly people as evidenced by the glossary definitions for quotes such as “Monday morning” (Edgeworth 123), “fairy mounts” (Edgeworth 129) “And so should cut him off for ever, by levying a fine, and suffering a recovery to dock the entail” (Edgeworth 132), “a raking pot of tea” (Edgeworth 135), and “we gained the day by this piece of honesty” (Edgeworth 136).
However, at the end of Castle Rackrent, it was an Irish tenant, Jason- Thady’s son, who appeared to have bested the Irish landowner seemingly by having obtained an education and worked meticulously. Although, there was still no resolution in the end since even Jason was left fighting for “ownership” of what he “rightfully purchased”. At first glance, I thought that the main point of Jason’s story was to show that through hard work and education, social class was merely a title. I thought that this point was simply a reflection of Edgeworth’s father’s influence on her writings as she had collaborated with her father on Essays of practical education, which in a way, related to that ideal.
Nevertheless, my initial opinion appeared incorrect again due to the lack of resolution at the end of the book. Therefore I turned to the online essay, “Disowning to own: Maria Edgeworth and the illegitimacy of national ownership - Irish nationalism in the works of Maria Edgeworth - Critical Essay”. In reading this fascinating essay regarding Edgeworth’s work in comparison to many other 19th century novelists, I was able to develop some new opinions regarding the possibilities of Edgeworth’s perceptions and meanings behind her works.
A major concept that I took away from this essay was the idea that most novels that had been written at the time of Castle Rackrent had a theme related to physical ownership and property which belonged to a family; past and present. This theme did not work as nicely in an Irish novel because of the discourse in history as evidenced by the following comments, “Yet unlike the paintings, romantic ruins, and "recovered" manuscripts that can belong both to past and present in Scott's novels, the objects of the Irish national tale are the subject of current property disputes that an appeal to the past only complicates. If the nation is an inheritance, perpetually owed to its descendants, Ireland's problem lies in being owed to more than one line” (Maurer). This concept reminded me of the constant feeling of ambivalence I had felt while reading Castle Rackrent, as to who I should side with in the story and in my opinion, was Edgeworth’s way of portraying the actual instability of Ireland at that time. “The paradox of inheritance in Ireland, then, is that it can not be owned by its Anglo-Irish holders, since they illegitimately seized it from the Irish children to whom it was owed. On the other hand, Ireland cannot be given up by its Anglo-Irish holders, who already owe the land to their children” (Maurer).
Another concept that was discussed in Maurer’s essay was the idea of resolution or a “happily ever after” ending to a novel. As stated above, this is a difficult concept to deal with in the Irish novel because of the angst over who rightly owns the inheritance; however according to Maurer, many Irish novelists at the time wrote a simple resolution involving marriage between the Irish and the Anglo-Irish family in dispute. “In these novels, desire and deservingness coincide, suturing over the paradox at the center of inheritance. Edgeworth's Irish fiction, on the other hand, confronts this contradiction and refuses to end with Irish and Anglo-Irish neatly united in possession” (Maurer). This concept is seen throughout Castle Rackrent in the form of the failed marriages of all the Rackrents.
Maurer’s essay goes further in depth into additional issues and relationships regarding Edgeworth’s writings, all of which were quite fascinating, but too much to discuss in this particular assignment. However, Maurer’s essay and a better understanding of Edgeworth’s background provided a little insight into the extremely complicated undertones to Edgeworth’s Castle Rackrent. I am still not completely sure of which side she is “cheering for”, but I also think she herself struggled with understanding her true identity as an Anglo-Irish descendent living in Ireland at a very tumultuous time.
Works Cited
Edgeworth, Maria. Castle Rackrent. London: Penguin, 1992. Print.
Maurer, Sara L. “Disowning to Own: Maria Edgeworth and the Illegitimacy of National
Ownership - Irish Nationalism in the Works of Maria Edgeworth - Critical Essay.” Criticism.
Merriman, C.D. “Maria Edgeworth.” (2005). Online-literature.com. Web. 9 Feb. 2010.
As you may have seen, according to the schedule it is my week to post my Online Artifact Analysis. I found this more difficult than I initially thought it might be, that seems to be a theme so far with Irish novels...Enjoy!!
Marie Brick
English 263
9 February 2010
English 263
9 February 2010
Understanding Maria Edgeworth and Castle Rackrent
While reading Maria Edgeworth’s Castle Rackrent, it was difficult to completely grasp the position of Edgeworth with regard to Irish and English relations. The writing seemed ambivalent at times; in one section you would feel sympathy for the landlord and at other times sympathy for the tenants. There were no clear hero or villain roles. It seemed as though Edgeworth was writing this novel as a representation of an Anglo-Irish landlord with Irish tenants; however, she clearly states in Thady’s introduction that the Rackrent family is native Irish. “The family of the Rackrents is, I am proud to say, one of the most ancient in the kingdom. Every body knows this is not the old family name, which was O’Shaughlin, related to the kings of Ireland – but that was before my time” (Edgeworth 66).
Despite this family’s position as native Irish landlords, Edgeworth spun a tale of almost constant dissatisfaction and failure since the death of Sir Patrick; while consistently displaying the loyalty of the Irish peasant turned server to the family, Thady. This, almost implied, classification of roles and descriptors seemed to me to possibly be representative of Edgeworth’s personal feelings, opinions, and perhaps even life story. Therefore, in order to get a better understanding of Edgeworth herself, I looked for essays, criticisms and biographies about her.
The main website I used as my online artifact was an extremely interesting essay/criticism of Edgeworth’s work. The article, “Disowning to own: Maria Edgeworth and the illegitimacy of national ownership - Irish nationalism in the works of Maria Edgeworth - Critical Essay” was written by Sara L. Maurer. In addition a biography was reviewed from the online literature network. In reviewing this information provided in the biography, Edgeworth’s personal life became more understood. Knowing that Edgeworth’s father was an Anglo-Irish landowner, her mother died when she was six, her first step-mother, Honora, died when Edgeworth was 14, her father remarried Honora’s sister shortly thereafter and then moved the family to their estate in Ireland; helped to formulate an idea of who Maria Edgeworth was and her background (Merriman). Despite her own somewhat tumultuous personal life, she seemed to have an extremely close relationship with her father seemingly to the point that some of her opinions were likely strongly influenced by him or overruled altogether. For example, “It's often said that he was too heavy-handed and interfering, that the moral tone and preachment she sometimes affected was not genuinely hers and stunted her expression” (Merriman).
When reflecting on Edgeworth’s background as the daughter of an Anglo-Irish landlord, I initially assumed that because of this background, she had developed somewhat of a bias towards Irish landlords and Irish tenants as being less than their English counterparts. I thought this was evidenced by the portrayal of the Rackrent family as inept landowners. The Irish tenants, in my initial opinion, were portrayed as lazy and silly people as evidenced by the glossary definitions for quotes such as “Monday morning” (Edgeworth 123), “fairy mounts” (Edgeworth 129) “And so should cut him off for ever, by levying a fine, and suffering a recovery to dock the entail” (Edgeworth 132), “a raking pot of tea” (Edgeworth 135), and “we gained the day by this piece of honesty” (Edgeworth 136).
However, at the end of Castle Rackrent, it was an Irish tenant, Jason- Thady’s son, who appeared to have bested the Irish landowner seemingly by having obtained an education and worked meticulously. Although, there was still no resolution in the end since even Jason was left fighting for “ownership” of what he “rightfully purchased”. At first glance, I thought that the main point of Jason’s story was to show that through hard work and education, social class was merely a title. I thought that this point was simply a reflection of Edgeworth’s father’s influence on her writings as she had collaborated with her father on Essays of practical education, which in a way, related to that ideal.
Nevertheless, my initial opinion appeared incorrect again due to the lack of resolution at the end of the book. Therefore I turned to the online essay, “Disowning to own: Maria Edgeworth and the illegitimacy of national ownership - Irish nationalism in the works of Maria Edgeworth - Critical Essay”. In reading this fascinating essay regarding Edgeworth’s work in comparison to many other 19th century novelists, I was able to develop some new opinions regarding the possibilities of Edgeworth’s perceptions and meanings behind her works.
A major concept that I took away from this essay was the idea that most novels that had been written at the time of Castle Rackrent had a theme related to physical ownership and property which belonged to a family; past and present. This theme did not work as nicely in an Irish novel because of the discourse in history as evidenced by the following comments, “Yet unlike the paintings, romantic ruins, and "recovered" manuscripts that can belong both to past and present in Scott's novels, the objects of the Irish national tale are the subject of current property disputes that an appeal to the past only complicates. If the nation is an inheritance, perpetually owed to its descendants, Ireland's problem lies in being owed to more than one line” (Maurer). This concept reminded me of the constant feeling of ambivalence I had felt while reading Castle Rackrent, as to who I should side with in the story and in my opinion, was Edgeworth’s way of portraying the actual instability of Ireland at that time. “The paradox of inheritance in Ireland, then, is that it can not be owned by its Anglo-Irish holders, since they illegitimately seized it from the Irish children to whom it was owed. On the other hand, Ireland cannot be given up by its Anglo-Irish holders, who already owe the land to their children” (Maurer).
Another concept that was discussed in Maurer’s essay was the idea of resolution or a “happily ever after” ending to a novel. As stated above, this is a difficult concept to deal with in the Irish novel because of the angst over who rightly owns the inheritance; however according to Maurer, many Irish novelists at the time wrote a simple resolution involving marriage between the Irish and the Anglo-Irish family in dispute. “In these novels, desire and deservingness coincide, suturing over the paradox at the center of inheritance. Edgeworth's Irish fiction, on the other hand, confronts this contradiction and refuses to end with Irish and Anglo-Irish neatly united in possession” (Maurer). This concept is seen throughout Castle Rackrent in the form of the failed marriages of all the Rackrents.
Maurer’s essay goes further in depth into additional issues and relationships regarding Edgeworth’s writings, all of which were quite fascinating, but too much to discuss in this particular assignment. However, Maurer’s essay and a better understanding of Edgeworth’s background provided a little insight into the extremely complicated undertones to Edgeworth’s Castle Rackrent. I am still not completely sure of which side she is “cheering for”, but I also think she herself struggled with understanding her true identity as an Anglo-Irish descendent living in Ireland at a very tumultuous time.
Works Cited
Edgeworth, Maria. Castle Rackrent. London: Penguin, 1992. Print.
Maurer, Sara L. “Disowning to Own: Maria Edgeworth and the Illegitimacy of National
Ownership - Irish Nationalism in the Works of Maria Edgeworth - Critical Essay.” Criticism.
22 Nov. 2002. FindArticles.com. Web. 9 Feb. 2010.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2220/is_4_44/ai_102981644/?tag=content;col1
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2220/is_4_44/ai_102981644/?tag=content;col1
Merriman, C.D. “Maria Edgeworth.” (2005). Online-literature.com. Web. 9 Feb. 2010.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Violence and the Constitution of the Novel
Well, here we are with the first official "reading blog" for this class and what a challenge!! I'm not sure how the reading of the Lloyd piece went for anyone else, but it was very difficult for me. I got through it, but it took me quite a while and I had to have dictionary.com open while reading it because I felt like I needed to look up every 10th word. Maybe I need to work on my vocabulary skills some more.
Despite this essay being difficult to read, I did find it quite interesting and it brought up some really unique points that I hadn't ever thought about before. For me, when I think about Ireland, violence isn't one of the first things that come to my mind. However, as Lloyd pointed out in his first sentence, "With the possible exception of greenness, no quality has more frequently or repetitiously been attributed to Ireland than violence" (125); violence is a definite part of Ireland's history. One of the concepts that I found interesting when Lloyd was talking about violence is essentially how it's defined. What the British and others may have considered violence of the Irish people seemed to almost hold a double standard for the violence that was inflicted upon the Irish by the British. My take on what Lloyd was saying is that the term violence and the amount of violence really depend on your perspective. The British didn't seem to see their violence as violence and instead because they claimed that they were upholding the law felt that their use of "force" was sanctioned and therefore not considered violence. However, when they looked at the rural culture and people of Ireland, when the Irish would "cause a disturbance" typically related to land and land rights, the British saw this as archaic and violent.
Ok, well that may have been kind of twisted in what I was trying to say, but I think that is what Lloyd was saying. Anyone else agree?
I think I found this topic interesting because it's like a stereotype, like that of the "Irish temper" (which I was told I had a lot while growing up ;D). I never really thought that much about it or the implications of the violence stereotype that this would have on a culture. As I was reading this essay it seemed to me that some of what Lloyd was saying was when critics are reading Irish novels from the 19th century; they are judging them against a standard novel format used in other cultures at that time such as England and other areas of Europe. However, according to Lloyd this is inadequate because Ireland was in a "different place" culturally, socially, and politically during this time so the usual standards can't apply. Specifically with regards to having a distinct middle class that was somewhat uniform in its wants. Ireland had a so called middle class, but probably not of the same definitions used by English society. Again, did anyone else get this out of the reading or am I completely off base?
(Blogger just deleted the remainder of my blog, so now I’m starting over…not happy!!)
Lloyd also talked about how the different forms of representation may have impacted the Irish novel at this time. I interpreted this as meaning that because Irish culture is rich with oral traditions of storytelling and singing as well as dancing, these forms may have lessened the importance and development of the novel at that time.
One of the areas I found particularly interesting was the discussion regarding the political/religious issues between Ireland and England especially in the area of Ulster. I found it interesting that this area was predominately Protestant and was quite unstable at times. This is so interesting to me because this is the area that my family emigrated from when they came to the US in 1870. What is interesting to me is that my family is Catholic and has primarily been farmers which seem to fit with the description of that area at that time and why they likely wanted/needed to leave.
Another area that I was a little unsure of was the discussion of the Irish novel authors like Edgeworth and Morgan. I thought that what Lloyd was trying to say was that these authors at the time knew that Irish culture/history did not fit the standard mold of a traditional novel that ended with a concise resolution; however, they wrote novels that way because they felt that the truth of the violence and instability of Ireland at that time was too real and no one would want to read about it. Again, does anyone agree or am I completely off base?
Overall, I think this was a very challenging essay to understand, but I enjoyed reading it and it definitely made me think of things I hadn’t thought about before.
Despite this essay being difficult to read, I did find it quite interesting and it brought up some really unique points that I hadn't ever thought about before. For me, when I think about Ireland, violence isn't one of the first things that come to my mind. However, as Lloyd pointed out in his first sentence, "With the possible exception of greenness, no quality has more frequently or repetitiously been attributed to Ireland than violence" (125); violence is a definite part of Ireland's history. One of the concepts that I found interesting when Lloyd was talking about violence is essentially how it's defined. What the British and others may have considered violence of the Irish people seemed to almost hold a double standard for the violence that was inflicted upon the Irish by the British. My take on what Lloyd was saying is that the term violence and the amount of violence really depend on your perspective. The British didn't seem to see their violence as violence and instead because they claimed that they were upholding the law felt that their use of "force" was sanctioned and therefore not considered violence. However, when they looked at the rural culture and people of Ireland, when the Irish would "cause a disturbance" typically related to land and land rights, the British saw this as archaic and violent.
Ok, well that may have been kind of twisted in what I was trying to say, but I think that is what Lloyd was saying. Anyone else agree?
I think I found this topic interesting because it's like a stereotype, like that of the "Irish temper" (which I was told I had a lot while growing up ;D). I never really thought that much about it or the implications of the violence stereotype that this would have on a culture. As I was reading this essay it seemed to me that some of what Lloyd was saying was when critics are reading Irish novels from the 19th century; they are judging them against a standard novel format used in other cultures at that time such as England and other areas of Europe. However, according to Lloyd this is inadequate because Ireland was in a "different place" culturally, socially, and politically during this time so the usual standards can't apply. Specifically with regards to having a distinct middle class that was somewhat uniform in its wants. Ireland had a so called middle class, but probably not of the same definitions used by English society. Again, did anyone else get this out of the reading or am I completely off base?
(Blogger just deleted the remainder of my blog, so now I’m starting over…not happy!!)
Lloyd also talked about how the different forms of representation may have impacted the Irish novel at this time. I interpreted this as meaning that because Irish culture is rich with oral traditions of storytelling and singing as well as dancing, these forms may have lessened the importance and development of the novel at that time.
One of the areas I found particularly interesting was the discussion regarding the political/religious issues between Ireland and England especially in the area of Ulster. I found it interesting that this area was predominately Protestant and was quite unstable at times. This is so interesting to me because this is the area that my family emigrated from when they came to the US in 1870. What is interesting to me is that my family is Catholic and has primarily been farmers which seem to fit with the description of that area at that time and why they likely wanted/needed to leave.
Another area that I was a little unsure of was the discussion of the Irish novel authors like Edgeworth and Morgan. I thought that what Lloyd was trying to say was that these authors at the time knew that Irish culture/history did not fit the standard mold of a traditional novel that ended with a concise resolution; however, they wrote novels that way because they felt that the truth of the violence and instability of Ireland at that time was too real and no one would want to read about it. Again, does anyone agree or am I completely off base?
Overall, I think this was a very challenging essay to understand, but I enjoyed reading it and it definitely made me think of things I hadn’t thought about before.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Blog #1 introductions...
Hi all-
My name is Marie. I'm a registered nurse with my BSN from UW-Madison in 2001. I'm currently a grad student in a dual degree program working on an MS Nursing and an MBA. This is my last semester. Three interesting facts about me would be...since 1996 I've moved about 13 times including to Florida and Arizona. Apparently I'm somewhat nomadic. I'm the first person in my mother's and father's families to go to college . A year ago I went to Ireland and loved it, my grandmother's family came from Ireland.
I signed up for the course because I'm currently fascinated by all things Irish. As I stated before, I had so much fun exploring in Ireland and I can't wait to go back. Really I just hope to get a better idea of the various cultures related to Ireland that has developed over the years.
My favorite novel remains, "Gone With The Wind". I read it when I was in high school and have loved it since. I've also read the supposed sequel, "Scarlett" and enjoyed that as well. I'm really a fan of almost any historical romance novel. Stephanie Laurens is my current favorite. As for my expectations in a book, I generally love a story that actually draws you in. The kind of novel where you actually feel like you are there and it almost plays out like a movie in your head.
The only college English courses courses I've taken were in my undergrad program. I took a basic composition course and a women in literature course. I think the biggest difference with an online literature course is just the interactions with classmates.
I don't have much of a background with Irish literature or literature in general. However, as I stated earlier, I went to Ireland last year and my grandmother is Irish. I've done a lot of geneology searching for that side of my family in trying to learn more and I learned a fair amount about Irish history during some of the tours from my trip last year.
As for other online communities, I'm on Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, and a few various chat rooms and forums. I've had several online courses already and I find that online communication works well. I like being able to read other people's thoughts and opinions and love being able to respond openly. The only issues I've encountered with online communication is that telling the tone of a comment is difficult to interpret. Some discussions can become heated due to a misinterpretation. Also people tend to be less inhibited in their commentary which can sometimes become antagonistic.
At the top of my blog page is a picture from my trip to Ireland. This was from a hiking trip in the Glendalough (pronounced Glendalock) mountains. It was absolutely beautiful. This picture was taken in January and it was pretty cold, but everything was so green. I really want to go back again in spring/summer to see what it looks like then as well.
Not sure if these next answers were supposed to be somehow related to the course, but mine are not.
A website that I frequent would be http://www.woot.com/ . I like it because I love a good deal and they often have funny t-shirts.
Here is a youtube video I like because I think it's hysterical, probably because I have 3 cats myself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiFLTP076Wg I think that humor is one of the most important things to have in life because it can help you get through just about anything. ;D
My name is Marie. I'm a registered nurse with my BSN from UW-Madison in 2001. I'm currently a grad student in a dual degree program working on an MS Nursing and an MBA. This is my last semester. Three interesting facts about me would be...since 1996 I've moved about 13 times including to Florida and Arizona. Apparently I'm somewhat nomadic. I'm the first person in my mother's and father's families to go to college . A year ago I went to Ireland and loved it, my grandmother's family came from Ireland.
I signed up for the course because I'm currently fascinated by all things Irish. As I stated before, I had so much fun exploring in Ireland and I can't wait to go back. Really I just hope to get a better idea of the various cultures related to Ireland that has developed over the years.
My favorite novel remains, "Gone With The Wind". I read it when I was in high school and have loved it since. I've also read the supposed sequel, "Scarlett" and enjoyed that as well. I'm really a fan of almost any historical romance novel. Stephanie Laurens is my current favorite. As for my expectations in a book, I generally love a story that actually draws you in. The kind of novel where you actually feel like you are there and it almost plays out like a movie in your head.
The only college English courses courses I've taken were in my undergrad program. I took a basic composition course and a women in literature course. I think the biggest difference with an online literature course is just the interactions with classmates.
I don't have much of a background with Irish literature or literature in general. However, as I stated earlier, I went to Ireland last year and my grandmother is Irish. I've done a lot of geneology searching for that side of my family in trying to learn more and I learned a fair amount about Irish history during some of the tours from my trip last year.
As for other online communities, I'm on Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, and a few various chat rooms and forums. I've had several online courses already and I find that online communication works well. I like being able to read other people's thoughts and opinions and love being able to respond openly. The only issues I've encountered with online communication is that telling the tone of a comment is difficult to interpret. Some discussions can become heated due to a misinterpretation. Also people tend to be less inhibited in their commentary which can sometimes become antagonistic.
At the top of my blog page is a picture from my trip to Ireland. This was from a hiking trip in the Glendalough (pronounced Glendalock) mountains. It was absolutely beautiful. This picture was taken in January and it was pretty cold, but everything was so green. I really want to go back again in spring/summer to see what it looks like then as well.
Not sure if these next answers were supposed to be somehow related to the course, but mine are not.
A website that I frequent would be http://www.woot.com/ . I like it because I love a good deal and they often have funny t-shirts.
Here is a youtube video I like because I think it's hysterical, probably because I have 3 cats myself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiFLTP076Wg I think that humor is one of the most important things to have in life because it can help you get through just about anything. ;D
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