Talk:T A 03 (382)

Diana DIas

Our class began with Dr. Foss gifting us with yet another reward quiz. He seemed quite excited about it, sadly the class did not seem quite as enthused with the results of the quiz. Regardless, Dr. Foss told us to pass up our free points, or point, up to him. He had not yet finished grading our Victorian unit tests, but had finished the objective section; apparently we all did extremely well. All except for one of us got all the authors right. This is the best a class has done on an objective section of any of his tests, ever. This was the first day for the 20th century and beyond unit. The class had already read the intro material in the anthology while still in the Victorian unit. Dr. Foss informed us that while he continuously reminded us during the Victorian unit about the themes, he would not be doing so for the last unit, so we should be attempting to do it for ourselves. He listed some of the major 20th century themes and said that it would be the last time he mentioned them. From now on we bring our own focus to discussions. We then moved on to the three short stories we had for reading, and how Dr Foss thinks they are some of the greatest things ever written, and they are his favorite short stories. He then talked about how they ended up on the same day, because every year the syllabus gets more and more squashed. He then states that he has now spent at least 20 minutes babbling. We then moved into small group for the short story Indissoluble Matrimony. Nia Began by discussing how the scene where the couple is fighting in the husband’s mind is so beautifully written, yet so horrible. We then moved on to discuss our confusion on the drowning scene, and whether or not she actually died. Our group believes she did because she was constantly one uping him no matter what he tried. She was passively more dominant in the relationship. She wasn’t necessarily trying to be the better one; she was just stronger than him. We also brought up the fact that she was half black, and whether or not that was important in regards to his treatment of her. We decided that all the ugliness he sees in her comes from him, in his own head. Her feminism, intelligence and exotic looks were all turned into ugly things in his mind. The otherness about her bothered him. He was defiantly sexually attracted to her, which tormented him, because he wanted to hate her. He was very traditional and she was not. We decided that he had a lot of woman hate and self loathing that he pushed onto his wife. We thought it was weird that after he “killed” her he was excited to go back to a life of celibacy and solitude; it shows the issues are within him. We thought that she did not fulfill her role as the wife he wanted, and she did not transition to a married woman. We thought it was funny how, in the beginning, he picked at everything about her and was so angry when he found out she was faithful. We also discussed how sometimes in felt like he was telling the story, when in reality the story was in 3rd person. It was quite a one sided story because the author is in his head but not in hers We then shifted back into large group. Other groups took on the opposing gender roles in this story and the class came to the conclusion that he is weaker and she is naturally stronger. Foss tells us that Mansfield is making fun of his misogyny, but whether or not it is mocking or angry is up to our interpretation. The standard interpretation he gives us is that he has his moment of vain glory. For once her was going to be the man, but she’s really just a good swimmer, and she beats him home. He thought he was finally stronger than her. To beat her he decides to turn the gas on before remembering she always turns it off before bed. We then discuss how he has a revulsion of the idea that his wife represents woman and femininity. He links her with the body and him with the spiritual, the classic binary, and it becomes easy for him to cast her off. Dr. Foss then causes a temporary uproar with the mostly female class, when he says he identifies with him. He quickly clarifies that it is not with the misogyny, but with the characters constant self pity about stupid things like losing his slippers and bumping against rocks. We continue in large group but move on to The Dead. We decide the story still leaves hope for love; Michael loved Greta. Gabriel is thinking about the larger connections with humanity. We discuss the snow falling at the end. Is the snow like a wasteland, or is it more about Gabriel being reborn, the snow being baptismal like. Is it an acceptance of the cycle of life, or does he realize he will never have with Greta what she shared and connected with Michael, so he sees himself as part of the dead? He also feels very disconnected with his country. Greta is from the west and he is always looking towards the east, towards England. The ultimate question we left of the table is whether Gabriel is an artist figure or a self obsessed arrogant who can’t connect. We spend the last bit of class back in small group to discuss The late Daughters of the Colonel. We all agreed that the story was really sad and the girls were quite pathetic. The dad was a god figure in the sisters’ life and now they are reduced to this empty life. At the end of the story they both seem to want to say more, but in the end they just keep going through the motions. We think it is sad that their lives have so little meaning and they are unable to connect with even each other. We discuss their late father’s position in their lives. Even as he dies he glared at them. We thought it was strange that even after his death they still fear his reactions to things like now he is this omnipotent figure watching them. We brought up how they cling to each other, but even that is superficial because they don’t know how to comfort each other. We talked about whether if you’ve never connected with anyone can you? We also think they are older and looked down on as old maids. The only connection with the world was through their father, so they are quite naïve. We think the organ in the street scene shows how sheltered they were. Their situation is just sad. Then….oops Dr. Foss calls that time is up, so our discussions end. Word count:1173