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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I like that you brought up the "cinematic" style of _Breakfast on Pluto_. Perhaps you could develop this more for next week's blog? You might want to look at the way in which Pussy incorporates film into her narrative, or the way in which she imagines her mother and other characters as movie stars.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in your final project and I like that you are able to articulate that you want to explore concepts of "ownership." What sort of illustrations do you think you might include to examine this concept?
Hey CD,
ReplyDeleteDon’t worry about it your not the only one who had a difficult time figuring out what the book was about at the beginning, although once you really get into it and become more familiar with Patrick’s writing style, it does get very interesting. I have to agree with you that it did not take long to figure out that this book was “edgy,” although I do not think that that word even begins to describe some of the things that are done in Breakfast on Pluto.
I find it really interesting how you said the book “read like a movie.” I also felt as if I was watching Patrick Braden on his self-destructive path through life instead of reading about it. I think that Patrick McCabe did a great job of making the characters come to life, giving the reader a front row seat to Pussy’s crazy adventures, although in many parts I could have done without the visual!
I really like your idea for your final project. I actually wanted to create an illustration based off of one of the novels, but as I have zero artistic skills I though I should steer clear of any sort of thing in that department if I had any hopes of getting an A. I’m a little unclear as to if you are still debating on whether to do an illustration or a piece of poetry or if you are tying those two together. If you are planning on combining the two, are you thinking of putting your illustrations on the same page as the poem, like around the sides, or are you planning to do them completely separate? Either way it sounds like a great idea and I am curious as to how you will find a way to tie in the idea of ownership on Irish tradition into your project. Good Luck!
I really liked how you focused on the theme of borders in the novel. "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."
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that there is more than just a physical border. The unionists and loyalists both seem to struggled with finding an identity. It may seem like a war of religion is at the center of the conflict, but really it is a struggle over identity and civil rights. It may seem like it is Protestants vs Catholics but underneath that is a greater issue of what it means to be a protestant or catholic in relation to what it means to be Irish or British (Anglo-Irish).
Anyways, I really like your idea for the final project. I too still have a desire to investigate Edgeworth further. The idea of focusing on ownership as a main theme is an excellent idea. I will be really interested to see what you come up with. good luck!!