Reading Black Swan Green and Jason's interactions with Julia, I'm always reminded of my own interactions with my own older sister Claire.
We're about the same distance apart age-wise as Jason and Julia. I always thought of my sister as flawlessly capable the same way Jason does. Claire would always win every argument against me because of her ability to choose her side wisely and in general just picking her battles.
I envied her ability to think critically. She was always able to pick apart things about me, like my opinions or my writing. She always just seemed to be a bit better than me at everything I tried to do. She left for college when I was Jason's age in the novel, so that aspect of it resonated with me in particular.
It was a huge moment for me when I finally won an argument against her, something of a right of passage.
Because of things like sibling interactions, Black Swan Green has really resonated with me and it's without a doubt my favorite book we've read so far.
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Monday, April 6, 2015
The end of Housekeeping
The question came up in class of whether or not we as individuals owe it to society to make ourselves useful and I've been thinking about it a lot.
I feel like we do owe it to society to be useful because from birth to death everyone is constantly consuming things. Every life creates numerous burdens, environmental or otherwise, and as a result I think people should at least make an effort to make a positive difference on the world. By that I don't really mean becoming the world's biggest humanitarian and donating millions to charity or devoting life to volunteer work, sometimes just living can make a positive difference. By living transiently it subverts the whole process of equalizing and for everything they consume it becomes more of a burden for others. Maybe this perspective is only from the fact that I'm a product of society. In that sense, I am the angry boat man paranoid about my belongings and being angry at people whose lifestyles are different.
Which way does the pity go?
For me, the transient lifestyle doesn't seem super great because I've grown accustomed to the basic comforts of indoor life, but pity only comes from projecting one's own values on someone else I suppose. Everyone becomes a unique character and if it happens to be one that is more suited to a different lifestyle then it's no fault of theirs. Maybe that contradicts my original point.
The coming of age aspect of Housekeeping was definitely more of a finding of a social niche to fill for Ruth. She never felt comfortable in her own skin or her own society, and Sylvie provided an alternate lifestyle for her. When presented with another option Ruth realized she had other options for a direction in life. Over time she learned enough about herself to make the decision. I used to think coming of age was more of a ritualistic thing, like going into the woods and killing a bear armed with nothing but a toothpick and a pebble, but the novels that we've read have made me realize it's much more of a subtle, gradual difference, and definitely a more personal change than anything else.
I ended up enjoying Housekeeping much more than I thought I would when I first started reading. It started out slow and the characters for me were not relatable. I think it's the questions that the novel posed that prompted a lot of thought that made me enjoy the book a lot more.
I feel like we do owe it to society to be useful because from birth to death everyone is constantly consuming things. Every life creates numerous burdens, environmental or otherwise, and as a result I think people should at least make an effort to make a positive difference on the world. By that I don't really mean becoming the world's biggest humanitarian and donating millions to charity or devoting life to volunteer work, sometimes just living can make a positive difference. By living transiently it subverts the whole process of equalizing and for everything they consume it becomes more of a burden for others. Maybe this perspective is only from the fact that I'm a product of society. In that sense, I am the angry boat man paranoid about my belongings and being angry at people whose lifestyles are different.
Which way does the pity go?
For me, the transient lifestyle doesn't seem super great because I've grown accustomed to the basic comforts of indoor life, but pity only comes from projecting one's own values on someone else I suppose. Everyone becomes a unique character and if it happens to be one that is more suited to a different lifestyle then it's no fault of theirs. Maybe that contradicts my original point.
The coming of age aspect of Housekeeping was definitely more of a finding of a social niche to fill for Ruth. She never felt comfortable in her own skin or her own society, and Sylvie provided an alternate lifestyle for her. When presented with another option Ruth realized she had other options for a direction in life. Over time she learned enough about herself to make the decision. I used to think coming of age was more of a ritualistic thing, like going into the woods and killing a bear armed with nothing but a toothpick and a pebble, but the novels that we've read have made me realize it's much more of a subtle, gradual difference, and definitely a more personal change than anything else.
I ended up enjoying Housekeeping much more than I thought I would when I first started reading. It started out slow and the characters for me were not relatable. I think it's the questions that the novel posed that prompted a lot of thought that made me enjoy the book a lot more.
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