As you might have guessed from my comments in class, I believe that Ariza's feelings towards Fermina should be labeled as an obsession rather than as love. Towards the end of class, someone pointed out that we do not actually get to read any of the letters that Ariza and Fermina write to one another. Depending on how each of us felt about Fermina and Ariza's relationship (whether it was love or not), each of us seemed to imagine the letters differently. The following is what I imagine one of Ariza's letters to sound like (with a few of my own slightly cynical comments in parentheses):
My dear Fermina,
It gives me such pleasure to watch you from the bench in the park as you walk past me each day (what a creep). Each time I look at you, your beauty astounds me as if I were witnessing it for the first time. The sheer grace of your stride makes you appear to be an angel, gliding through the air. I long to touch you gorgeous, shiny hair to see for myself if it is as silky soft as it appears to be. While we almost never make eye contact, I follow your eyes with mine; they captivate me. Once your eyes did seem to meet mine, and my heart stopped beating for that instant. Your smile and mouth, however, are what draw me to you the most. When you laugh or open your mouth to speak to your aunt, I imagine how wonderful it would be to speak to you myself. If only I were permitted to do so, I would surely be beside myself with glee (he is obsessed with a girl who he has barely ever spoken to).
As you know, I admire you so fondly, and I long for the day when we can be together. Surely, it will be the happiest day of my young life (because he does not allow himself to be happy at all; all he thinks of his obsession with Fermina; he even seems to enjoy punishing himself with his “love” for her). While I suffer greatly because we cannot be together, it is surely worthwhile because one day we will be together and I shall be eternally overjoyed. My mother even encourages my suffering because she too believes that one day you and I will be together and that my suffering will sweeten our future love all the more (his obsession is UNHEALTHY, and this is bad parenting on Mother’s part; she should encourage him to court Fermina in a more natural and low-key way and to experience other parts of life as well).
I shall now conclude this letter and leave it underneath the porch of your house as we had planned. I hope to find your reply buried in the ground underneath the bench in the park under on which I sit and admire your loveliness. Once again, my darling, I would like to declare my undying love for you. I hope this letter finds you well. I shall see you as you walk to school tomorrow, and I hope to hear from you soon (he sees her nearly every single day but never speaks to her; they have no verbal communication).
Fondly (obsessively),
Florentino Ariza
Basically, I believe that Ariza and Fermina do not have enough face-to-face interaction to call their feelings for one another love. They simply do not know each other well enough. Therefore, Ariza can fill his letters only with compliments about her beauty and descriptions of his obsession with her. (582)
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Saturday, November 3, 2007
What's In a Name?...A lot if you ask Mother
Mother's character in The Sound and the Fury certainly would not have agreed with Juliet(of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet) that "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." In fact, Mother is positively superstitious when it comes to the names of various characters in the novel. When characters such as Benjy, Caddy, and Quentin experience hardships or act out, Mother blames their very names for their suffering.
Mother's superstition drives her to change Benjy's name from Maury to Benjamin when he is five. Once Benjy's retardation becomes apparent, Mother simply decides that Benjamin "is a better name for him than Maury was (58)." Mother's doubt of Maury as an acceptable name is probably derived from the fact that her brother, Benjy's former namesake, is a less than successful man with limited morality. She also fears that her brother Maury's unscrupulous actions have cursed his name and that, because he bore the name Maury as well, Benjy was also cursed (with his disability). Since the name "Benjamin came out of the Bible (58)," Mother thinks that G-d will look more favorably upon Benjamin. Once he is given the name Benjamin, Caddy playfully bestows the nickname Benjy upon him. However, nicknames also upset Mother. She tells Caddy to stop calling him Benjy because"nicknames are vulgar [and] only common people use them (64)." Mother simply cannot look past the fact that Benjy will be Benjy regardless of whether his name is Maury, Benjy, or Benjamin.
Once Quentin is born and left in Mother's charge, Mother fears that Caddy's name might have an ill effect on young Quentin. She tells Dilsey that Quentin "must never even learn that name (199)" and she forbids Dilsey to even speak Caddy's name in Quentin's presence. Father calls Mother a fool for taking to such ridiculous and ineffective measures to prevent Quentin from making the same mistakes that Caddy did, but Mother prevails and the name Caddy is blotted out of their lives. Interestingly enough, this cautionary measure does nothing as we learn that Quentin does indeed grow up to be a promiscuous little rebel and not nearly so good-natured as Caddy was.
Mother is also superstitious about the name Quentin because Quentin (the girl) has such a flawed character and Quentin (the boy) committed suicide. She believes that Quentin (the girl) "has inherited all of the headstrong traits(260)" of Quentin (the boy) and of the other Compsons. She even goes as far as to claim that Quentin (the girl) "is the judgment of both of [the Quentins] upon [her] (261)." Mother claims that giving Quentin (the girl) that name was one of the many forces which drove Quentin to become the unhappy miscreant that she is today. On April 8, when Quentin steals Jason's money--the money which is really rightfully hers--and runs away, Mother immediately, and incorrectly, assumes that Quentin (the girl) has committed suicide just as Quentin (the boy) had. Mother says that she "knew the minute they named her Quentin this would happen(283)" as if the name itself were what could have caused either Quentin's suicide.
Perhaps Mother's superstitions were not all wrong, and the names did draw certain personalities to the people who were called by them. However, it is more likely that Mother is simply deranged and looking for excuses for the many misfortunes which befall her family. (WC 559)
Mother's superstition drives her to change Benjy's name from Maury to Benjamin when he is five. Once Benjy's retardation becomes apparent, Mother simply decides that Benjamin "is a better name for him than Maury was (58)." Mother's doubt of Maury as an acceptable name is probably derived from the fact that her brother, Benjy's former namesake, is a less than successful man with limited morality. She also fears that her brother Maury's unscrupulous actions have cursed his name and that, because he bore the name Maury as well, Benjy was also cursed (with his disability). Since the name "Benjamin came out of the Bible (58)," Mother thinks that G-d will look more favorably upon Benjamin. Once he is given the name Benjamin, Caddy playfully bestows the nickname Benjy upon him. However, nicknames also upset Mother. She tells Caddy to stop calling him Benjy because"nicknames are vulgar [and] only common people use them (64)." Mother simply cannot look past the fact that Benjy will be Benjy regardless of whether his name is Maury, Benjy, or Benjamin.
Once Quentin is born and left in Mother's charge, Mother fears that Caddy's name might have an ill effect on young Quentin. She tells Dilsey that Quentin "must never even learn that name (199)" and she forbids Dilsey to even speak Caddy's name in Quentin's presence. Father calls Mother a fool for taking to such ridiculous and ineffective measures to prevent Quentin from making the same mistakes that Caddy did, but Mother prevails and the name Caddy is blotted out of their lives. Interestingly enough, this cautionary measure does nothing as we learn that Quentin does indeed grow up to be a promiscuous little rebel and not nearly so good-natured as Caddy was.
Mother is also superstitious about the name Quentin because Quentin (the girl) has such a flawed character and Quentin (the boy) committed suicide. She believes that Quentin (the girl) "has inherited all of the headstrong traits(260)" of Quentin (the boy) and of the other Compsons. She even goes as far as to claim that Quentin (the girl) "is the judgment of both of [the Quentins] upon [her] (261)." Mother claims that giving Quentin (the girl) that name was one of the many forces which drove Quentin to become the unhappy miscreant that she is today. On April 8, when Quentin steals Jason's money--the money which is really rightfully hers--and runs away, Mother immediately, and incorrectly, assumes that Quentin (the girl) has committed suicide just as Quentin (the boy) had. Mother says that she "knew the minute they named her Quentin this would happen(283)" as if the name itself were what could have caused either Quentin's suicide.
Perhaps Mother's superstitions were not all wrong, and the names did draw certain personalities to the people who were called by them. However, it is more likely that Mother is simply deranged and looking for excuses for the many misfortunes which befall her family. (WC 559)
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