Red is Not the Only Color: Day 2

Summary: Red is Not the Only Color is a collection of short stories that narrate the lives of modern Chinese women who are struggling to understand the intimacy they share with other women.

The short story, “Brothers” by Wang Anyi and translated by Jingyuan Zhang focuses on the relationship between two women who first realized the strength of their intimacy alongside a third, while they were roommates in college. Initially, the women negatively associate men with children in order to explain how both have the abilities to control women. However, Old Li’s baby chases danger and adventure by playing with his stroller much in the same way that the women chase adventure by exploring “dangerous” thoughts. This aligns the women with children and is contrary to how the women view themselves. Yet, through witnessing the child fall during his adventure, Old Wang is able to understand the fatal danger that forced Old Three out of their group during college.

Originally the women swear to never have children in order to insure their senses of freedom throughout their lives. Similarly, the women often describe their husbands as being childlike, suggesting that they feel the men also control their freedom (103, 114). By describing men and children with the same set of terms, the women suggest their disgust for being controlled. For the women, being childlike is not a positive feature until Old Wang desires to be, and Old Li actually becomes, pregnant with a child (110). Even after this moment, however, the women continue to desire to be free from control and use their thought provoking conversation in attempt to remain free.

The child’s interaction with his carriage reflects the women’s late night discussions. The child “liked the moment when the carriage was going to topple, and tried to recreate the dangerous situation and relive the experience of coming to safety” (136). Not only did the child like the excitement from actually risking his safety, but he also enjoyed the moment after the risk when he returns to be stable. Similarly, during college, the women explore topics that are often so profound, that they cannot continue them without the fear of reaching the conclusion that nothing exists or matters. In response to this, the must, like the child, spend time using a regular schedule in order to regain their sense of stability. The child enjoyed the feeling of “coming to safety” after the thrill of almost toppling over; this reflects how after a deep conversation, the women would return to their structured lives in order to regain their thoughts and feelings that had been completely drained from them during conversation (95). Just as the child reaches his breaking point and falls from the carriage, Old Three reaches hers and must separate from the group.

Old Wang cannot understand what made Old Three become a “traitor” to the group, but is able to do so after she witness the child’s fall. After Old Three’s breaking point, Old Li and Old Wang are left confused, but understand that, “Those earlier nights in which they had poured out their hearts to one another became a weak and fragile thing, which was easily broken” (95). Their search for profound realizations gave them a “dangerous situation” that made them feel alive and free, similarly to the child rocking his carriage and for this reason they pushed it as deeply as they could. However, Old Three became the victim of the child’s fall when the conversation went too far; after seeing the child experience the same consequences for his adventure, Old Wang is able to understand their relationship. Just like the extreme conversation that ruined Old Three’s intimacy with the women, the child’s fall ruins the relationship between Old Li and Old Wang. This is highlighted by Old Wang’s statement, “There are some things that are extremely beautiful but very fragile. Once broken, they cannot be repaired” (141). The term “fragile” is used earlier to describe their conversation, suggesting that Old Wang aligns Old Three’s removal from the group with the ruthless nature of their conversation as well as the silence she and Old Li suffered through after witnessing the baby’s fall.

Word Count: 689

Confessions of a Mask

Summary: Yukui Mishima’s Confessions of a Mask details a man’s self reflection and personal analysis in attempt to understand his childhood desires towards both men and gruesome death as well as how he fought these desires by trying to love a woman; his confusion between platonic interest and sexual desire hinder Kochan’s presumed ability to align his desire with what he perceives as appropriate.

In analyzing himself, Kochan often rationalizes his inverted desires as products of his ignorant childhood. Because he describes childhood as “a stage on which time and space become entangled” Kochan is able to relieve himself of any blame or agency for the guilt he feels in what he desires sexually (15). Because his childhood is a period of distorted time and space, Kochan is not accountable for his the events that occur during his childhood. Specifically, Kochan claims that during his childhood, he was not able to distinguish tragic world events from problematic family events from lavish fairytale events and that the three “always appeared to me to be of equal value and like kind” (15). Using this as a frame for understanding Kochan’s self analysis, Mishima’s novel appears as a rationale and justification for why the character does not fit the social norm regarding desire that is expressed on page 114. Furthermore, the rationale voids the character of any personal agency in acting on his desires because the “childlike” state in which his desires begin is out of Kochan’s control, despite the ideal that a Japanese man should be a master of self-discipline.

By referring to his desires as a consequence of his childhood, Kochan is able to express, no matter the level of sincerity, a desire to escape it. This allows the character to appear as a victim of his childhood, not a person of agency who willing partakes in it. Kochan reflects, “I had thought that with ‘earnestness’ (what a touching thought!) I too could escape from my childish state” (100). Whether or not Kochan sincerely wanted to be rid of his “childish state”, he attempts to convince the reader that this is true; by belittling his attempt, Kochan is able to emphasize his nature as the victim—despite his best efforts, he was simply unable to change his desires. This is reflected by Kochan’s interjection, “what a touching thought!” suggests that in his reflection, Kochan acknowledges that his attempt was noble, but naïve, as he is inherently a victim to his childish nature. Furthermore, Kochan is excused of agency when he states his desire to “escape”; if he tries to avoid his behavior, he cannot be held accountable for its persistence.

By the time Kochan seems to be in control of his self proclaimed “inverted” desires (and before he ultimately falls victim to the dancing shirtless man), and despite his acknowledged “immoral delight” in corrupting his relationship with Sonoko, Kochan describes himself and Sonoko as “living in a nursery no longer […] we were inhabitants of an adult edifice…” (242-243). At this moment, Kochan truly believes that he is in control of his inverted desires; for this reason, he is no longer in the “nursery” of his distorted childhood. Because Kochan has rid himself of his childhood, he thinks he is able to live without desiring the images of men and death like he did in his youth. This idea is reflected in Kochan’s previous statement that upon being forced to grow up, he will be free from his past; he states, “Then for a time I had the illusion that I had been liberated from memories, from memories of all my past” (219).  The term “illusion” reflects that this sense of freedom will not last for Kochan. However, since he cannot distinguish fairytale from reality, this illusion is gratifying because it seems real. Furthermore, the term “liberated” suggests that Kochan wants to be rid of his childhood desires; the verb highlights the idea that without the desires, Kochan will be without burden.

Word Count: 661

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

Summary: Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde is an account of Audre’s life as she grows up, struggling to understand issues of race, gender, and sexuality while detailing her experiences with friends and lovers who Lorde describes as the women who affected her most.

The first portion of Lorde’s text exploits the rhetorical device of euphemism. By describing things in more “polite” or less concrete terms, Lorde is able to encompass all of the bold details of her feelings without seeming to be off-puttingly blunt or ‘in-your-face’.

The first moment that suggests Lorde’s multiple gender identities is her use of an elaborate euphemism in her account of using her mother’s mortar and pestle. The first experience with the mortar and pestle that she describes reflects Lorde’s views on her own gender; in the prologue, she states, “I have always wanted to be both man and woman, to incorporate the strongest and richest parts of my mother and father…” (7). This statement allows the reader to entertain the idea that in fact, the mortar and pestle encounter is completely sexual imagery. Furthering this idea, Lorde reflects on the power of euphemism; after confessing her confusion regarding “euphemisms of body”, Lorde states, “the sexual content of life was masked and cryptic, but attended in well-coded phrases” (32). By using these moments to frame the passage of text that describes Lorde’s interaction with the mortar and pestle, it is clear that this experience is a reflection of the character’s multiple gender identities.

In chapter 11, Lorde’s interaction with the mortar and pestle reflects her desire to encompass the “strongest and richest parts…of [her] father” (7). In talking about the pestle, she states, describes it as, “long and tapering, fashioned from the same mysterious rose-deep wood [as the mortar], and fitted into the hand almost casually, familiarly”(72). This is a euphemism for Lorde’s desire to have what she perceives is the best part of a man. The words “long and tapering” suggest the phallic comparison that is confirmed by the way the pestle makes her feel. It is significant that the pestle is “fashioned from the same mysterious rose-deep wood” as the mortar is because it highlights Lorde’s notion that she should be able to encompass the best of both man and female. There is no reason, since they are not made of the same material, that she should not be able to obtain both. This is reinforced by the way that the pestle fits “into the hand almost casually, familiarly”. This statement highlights the notion that it is not strange or unfamiliar for her to obtain the pestle, or in it’s non-euphemistic terms, a penis. Lorde suggests that the reason she desires the parts of a man is because it gives her a sense of security. She describes the pestle saying, “The heavy sturdiness of this useful wooden object always made me feel secure and somehow full…” (71-72). The presence of the pestle makes her feel “secure and somehow full” as if without it, she is anxious and incomplete.

Word Count: 510

…Three, Two, One, Contact: Times Square Red

Summary: Samuel R. Delany’s part two of Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, “…Three, Two, One, Contact: Times Square Red” argues that our democratic society requires both contact as well as networking interactions; in order to encourage contact interactions, there must be establishments that allow for people of various classes to freely interact.

Delany suggests that woman and men embody “different political and socioeconomic classes” and suggests that in order to rid society of this hindrance, we must “overcome the sexual scarcity problem” by encouraging heterosexual individuals to embrace a “pro-sex infrastructural change” (195-196). However Delany’s own suggestion to encourage this is gendered in itself. This moment raises the question of how Delany views women.

He specifies, “Such hostels would be equipped with a good security system, surveillance, alarms, and bouncers (as well as birth control material) available for emergency problems” (196). Although these precautions are practical and probably necessary, Delany is pointing to an “inherent” gendered difference. He states because these hostels are catered to women, that women are in need of outside security and protection, unlike men. This disproves Delany’s previous claim that women and men are easily capable of embodying the same political and socioeconomic classes; because there is not a quick fix to this, extra security for women in the hostels that are designed specifically for them is necessary. If it was possible to “overcome” the class problem that simply, one would assume that both men and women are in need of the same types of security; according to Delany, the hostels that cater to men do not need the extra precautions. This reinforces the idea that combining the two classes is not possible by simply encouraging the same behavior—different precautions are needed for men and women; this genders the groups even more.

Delany goes on to state, “if we are going to do such a thing, it is only sensible to put its control into the hands of women and set it up for their use and convenience from the start” (197). This also reflects the misaligned gendering; the men are the “we”, the ones who “are going to do such a thing.” The men are the ones who will be in control of setting up these hostels, only giving the illusion that the women are in control. The hostels would not be a class equalizer for heterosexual individuals; the hostels are still initiated by men and not women.

Furthermore, the text appears to have all individuals be the target audience. However, at the end of this section, in the moment where Delany suggests that heterosexual individuals have the same freedom in sexual encounters as they gay community has had, Delany speaks directly to his male audience as opposed to both males and females.

Delany states that women will have more power in their security

…precisely as it becomes common knowledge among straight males that, in this town, you now have a statistically much greater chance of getting laid with a newly met woman (because, even if she doesn’t want to bond her life to yours forever but just thinks you have a cute butt, a nice smile, and something about you reminds her of Will Smith or Al Borland or John Goodman, she has somewhere to take you), and that the best way to exploit this situation of greater sexual availability is probably not to antagonize random women on the street (197).

Although Delany’s audience is neutral in the beginning part of this passage, the diction suggests it is intended for men. Even the term “getting laid” is terms of a man’s sexual experience; at this moment, Delany is still trying to appeal to both men and women by suggesting that women will have more power by avoiding catcalls and men will be satisfied by easier sex. Because he chooses to describe the sex in terms of a man, Delany subtly insinuates that men are his target audience. Furthermore, he offers the extended text in the parenthesis that is entirely directed towards luring men into his idea. The three men he alludes to, Will Smith, Al Borland, and John Goodman, are all empowering figures for the men he is addressing; powerful enough that they are intrigued, but with enough variety that they can see this a possibility for themselves.

Word Count: 713

Times Square Blue

Summary: Part one of Samuel R Delany’s Time Square Red, Times Square Blue offers a variety of anecdotes regarding Delany’s experiences on Forty-second street and Eighth Avenue including his peers’ opinions on the city’s movement in closing their frequented theaters as Delany ultimately argues that the city used the “safe sex” movement as a front for closing the businesses and allowing space for family friendly money to be spent.

Although Delany states in his introduction that his purpose in writing Time Square Red, Times Square Blue is to present one part, Times Square Blue, that offers anecdotes by which the reader can appreciate the more analytical Times Square Red, there are moments in the first part of his analysis where (outside of the anecdote) Delany interjects with personal concern not for society and the success of businesses, but for his own sexual lifestyle; this personal investment in the subject weakens Delany’s argument by shifting the focus from the benefit of the community to the benefit of the individual.

In speaking of his purpose, Delany states:

 Nor is either piece a plea to reinstate the porn theaters that the thoughtless greed running rampant in cities like New York has recently smashed… However indirect, my argument’s polemical thrust is toward conceiving, organizing, and setting into place new establishments—and even entirely new types of institutions—that would offer the services and fulfill the social functions provided by the porn houses… (xvii).

In this statement, Delany suggests that the downfall of the theaters was the “thoughtless greed running rampant.” The greed that overshadows the businesses and culture of New York seems to be the focus of his argument at this moment. Similarly, Delany’s statement here uses diction, such as “conceiving” and “organizing,” that suggests a logical and fact based argument. This argument is later supported with his conversations near the end of the section with the bar owner Jimmy Withrow and bartender Hoke Jones (94-96, 103-104). Convincing as this argument is, the moments where Delany interjects what is at stake for his personal life in having (or not having) these establishments available work against his logical claims.

Delany’s use of personal anecdotes is not what troubles his argument; it is in the moments that he steps out of the anecdote to offer the reader his analysis where Delany carelessly interjects his personal investment. After an adequate reading of the usefulness of theaters, Delany tries to support his analysis by offering his own opinion, “I don’t see how this can be accomplished without a statistically significant variety of partners…” (46). Although Delany’s anecdotes are, rightfully, in first person, this moment in the conclusion of the analysis fails to reflect his critical approach. The phrase, “I don’t see how…” is entirely appropriate within the context of the anecdote, but placed within his analysis, it becomes inappropriately subjective and personalized.

There is a moment where this same topic of sexual lifestyle reappears and Delany uses his personal thoughts to support his argument. He notes, “I’ve always felt my best when I had a single person in my life as a sexual focus, at the same time a general population of encounters with different men…” (83). It is effective here because he presents his opinions similarly to the way in which he discusses others’ anecdotes and has, at this moment, not yet stepped into the analytical role, as he did with the earlier example.

Again, however, Delany backtracks and states his argument in selfish terms as opposed to observations that can be used for critical thought. After highlighting Jimmy and Hoke’s opinions on the reconstruction of New York, Delany steps back from the narration mode and reestablishes the anecdotal aspects of his argument by speaking in terms of himself. He questions, “ What kind of leaps am I going to have to make now between the acceptable and the unacceptable, between the legal and the illegal, to continue having a satisfactory sex life?” (108). Instead of closing the section with a strong claim, he reflects on how this will effect himself.

Delany proves that he is able to form strong claims and well support his argument through personal anecdotes. However, in the moments where his narration shifts to become self-serving, Delany loses the appeal of his argument based on critical thinking and analysis through anecdotes.

Word Count: 718

Giovanni’s Room

Summary: James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room narrates the relationship between an American, David and his lover while in Paris, Giovanni that is complicated by David’s conflicted feelings about loving a man, as opposed to his fiancée Hella; these feelings ultimately lead David to choose Hella and which leaves Giovanni alone to become subjected to his death.

Throughout Baldwin’s text, windows give David, the opportunity to reflect on the goings on around him; however, this seemingly helpful tool is complicated by the fact that very often, the windows only offer a small view of the outside world, especially if they are tinted or covered.

The novel begins with David standing at the window looking out into the south of France; not only does he see outdoors, but he sees his reflection in the window (1). David is able to see himself as it is presented in the window: it cannot be a clear reflection, and because it is a window, the surrounding landscape overpowers his own image. The window is the means by which David will narrate the story; the reader sees his understanding of himself as he is imperfectly reflected in the window, as well as his perception on the outside world. Because David only has the window to look through, his vision of the world offers an incomplete picture; likewise, the reader only sees the parts of what David sees that he deems important enough to narrate, which results an even more incomplete version of his view.

David’s experience watching the two girls at the American Express Office reflects this notion of looking through an imperfect and partial window. He states, “Yet I also suspected that what I was seeing was but a part of the truth and perhaps not even the most important part…” (90). Because David is a step removed from the girls, he is able to acknowledge that his window is “but a part of the truth” and “perhaps not even the most important part.” Although this idea applies to the telling of his own story, he is unable to acknowledge this because he does not have the same distance. David’s distance and partial window is confirmed when he must later speculate on Giovanni’s downfall, as opposed to stating the actual story—his window does not allow him to see the whole of the events (154).

The letters that David writes to Hella act as windows through which she can view David’s foreign life. Jacque encourages him to tell Hella about his budding relationship with Giovanni, but he decides not to because he does not want to hurt her; later when they two have an established relationship, Giovanni encourages him to tell Hella and refuses for the same reason (55, 81).  Because David is in control of the letters, he is able to decide what to include and what to leave out. This is different from his own window because in the latter case, the information he is allotted is not in his control. In this aspect, David’s window puts him in the same space as the metaphorical window Hella has; she can only see what David allows and David can only see what the window allows. This begs the question: Who decides what makes up David’s window?

While living with Giovanni, David notices that although the room is not large enough for two, it has two windows. This reflects David’s and Giovanni’s differences in their dedication to the relationship. Although Giovanni’s room allows for two separate windows for which the lovers can view the outside, David acknowledges that Giovanni makes the attempt to control what they both can see. He states, “We, or rather Giovanni, kept the windows closed most of the time…To insure privacy, Giovanni had obscured the window panes with a heavy, white cleaning polish” (85). David corrects himself when he begins to suggest that he had authority in deciding to cover the windows; it is Giovanni, not the two together, who makes the attempt to shut them. In this aspect, Giovanni is in control of what David is able to see out his window. Furthermore, it is significant that Giovanni tries to cover the windows by using a “heavy, white cleaning polish.” This suggests that Giovanni tried to clean, or purify the window through which David is able to see their relationship. This claim is supported by the fact that David’s conflict with their relationship is grounded in his thought that it is in some way “dirty” and “shameful” (86, 62).

Later, when David returns to Giovanni, he expresses his feelings of betrayal stating, “I have never reached you…you were here all day long and you read or you opened the window…all day, while I worked, to make this room for you” (137). Giovanni’s speculation of David’s detachment is confirmed when he does things that create distance between the two such as opening his window. This implies that David is not satisfied with the tinting of the world that Giovanni has created for him; he craves a clearer image.

Word Count: 741

Cavafy II

Summary: The second half of Evangelos Sachperoglou’s translation of Cavafy’s collection of poems offers a variety of representations concerning the significance of the relationship between art and sexuality.

Cavafy’s “Before They Are Changed by Time,” describes a young couple whose relationship is cut short by circumstances. Their sadness for being separated from one another is complicated, however, because the couple is growing apart; by holding Destiny, who is compared to an artist, responsible for their separation, (as opposed to Time) the couple is able to continue to think of one another as an ideal. The poem narrates Destiny’s noble triumph over Time in the ending of a relationship.

The poem establishes Destiny as an artist in lines nine and ten; Destiny’s enemy, Time, is named in line 11. Because Destiny is the one who intervenes in their relationship, instead of Time, the couple becomes a product of the artist. The introduction describes how works of art become figures of the ideal: “a statue or a painting has transcended the specific features of its individual model and transfigured it into an ideal embodiment of aesthetic beauty and sexual desire” (xxii). This statement describes that works completed by artists become an “ideal embodiment of aesthetic beauty and sexual desire.” This is significant because the very thing that threatened the couple’s relationship was a lack of sexual desire. The speaker notes, “the sexual attraction had gradually waned, / the sexual attraction had been reduced a lot” (147). By becoming a product of Destiny, the artist, the couple becomes the ideal of sexual desire; their relationship regains the thing it lacked.

The artist Destiny, working against Time, intervenes in the couple’s failing relationship in order to preserve and idealize their feelings for one another. The speaker notes Destiny’s actions:

“                                                                        Destiny
appeared like an artist,             separating them now,
before their feeling fades,            before they are changed by Time;
each of them for the other             will then remain forever
a twenty-four-year-old            and beautiful young man” (147).

The speaker describes how after being separated by the artist, the couple “will then remain forever a twenty-four-year-old and beautiful young man.” This statement exemplifies the effect of the artists on his subject. This implies that if Time would have been the one to separate the two, the beauty of their love would have been forever lost; Destiny allows the love to become timeless.

As described in the introduction of the text, “…the attainment of the timeless ideal Platonic Form, leads to a sense of the transfiguration of one’s individual experiences and the redemption of one’s past, of one’s whole existence, and ultimately of the whole of past time” (xix). Becoming the work of an artist, the couple automatically becomes timeless and idealized, as does any painting or sculpture. This allows the couple to not only remember one another fondly, but to also acquire a “redemption” of their relationship (xix). The couple will not remember their love as “gradually waning” as it was when they parted; because they became a work of art, their love is transfigured into an idealized relationship.

Word Count: 512

Cavafy The Collected Poems

The first half of Evangelos Sachperoglou’s translation of Cavafy’s collection of poems offers a variety of poems in which Cavafy uses specific historical events to describe generalized situations while playing with irony and subjectivity; he also advocates art as a representation of the ideal.

In C. P. Cavafy’s I Went, the speaker narrates his struggle with accepting his active participation in seeking pleasure. The poem beings, “I did not restrain myself” (75) which implies that the narrator is responsible for failing to keep himself from participating. The term “restrain” suggests that his participation is something that needs to be kept in check. The speaker’s fault in this failure is highlighted by the grammatical structure of the sentence. The speaker is not only the active agent but also the subject for which the restraining occurs, “I” and “myself,” respectively. It is only the speaker’s responsibility for controlling his participation.

The negative connotation in failing to “restrain” from giving into one’s pleasures is reflected in the second and third lines of the poem. The speaker describes the pleasures as “partly real, / partly swirling in my mind…” stating that the pleasure he sought was only “partly real” suggests that his participation was based on a whim; there was no assurance for making the decision to give into what he should have been restraining from.

However, the third line of the poem complicates this because Cavafy often advocates art and the mind’s power in creating it over anything that occurs naturally. The introduction describes this ideal by use of the flower example; the “artificial flowers, beautiful as the artist-character has willed them—as he sees them in his mind’s eye—are promoted above the real flowers that he has happened to see in nature” (xviii). In relation to the pleasures in I Went, the speaker is justified in giving into his desire for pleasure because the pleasure as he sees it in his mind is inherently, according to Cavafy, more worthwhile and idealized than any real pleasures he can know from experience.

The speaker’s calculated decision to give into his pleasures is reflected in the fourth line. As established in other poems, such as The Vows, “night” is a powerful figure “with its own potent allure” (75). Using this understanding of the concept of “night,” one can understand Cavafy’s use of describing the night as a “lighted” in I Went. A “lighted night” implies some sort of presence of daylight; this causes the night to contain aspects of day. Instead of blindly wandering into the dark night in search of pleasure, the speaker is presented with an alternate night that allows him to experience the daylight as well. This suggests that the speaker knew what to expect within the night, or he at least could understand the events as they occurred.

After making his calculated decision, the speaker loses any restraint and becomes one of the “fearless” in participating in the “sensual pleasure” of drinking (line 6). This giving into one’s pleasure is significant within the series of Cavafy’s poetry because he considers art an activity, which in this case, is the pleasure of drink. The introduction states, “In Cavafy’s view, then, art is not an abstract concept, but an activity, a vital creative force…it imposes its will upon the art-object, removing it from the contingencies that dominate the natural and social worlds (xxi). By using this quote to frame the discussion around I Went, one can understand the process by which the activity of art “imposes its will upon the art-object,” which in this case, is the speaker.

 

Word Count: 596

De Profundis

Summary: Oscar Wilde wrote his letter, De Profunis, to his old lover while in prison; he explains that he’s writing to him out of love and desire to help Lord Alfred Douglas realize his faults and understand the way he should be; Wilde’s The Decay of Lying is written in dialogue and advocates for the appreciation and understanding of art.

In his letter to Bosie (Lord Alfred Douglas), Oscar Wilde forgives his lover for his wrongdoings, acknowledging that it was not his intentions, but his character that cause them. However, Wilde blames himself for his own downfall because he thinks he did not act appropriately in many given situations. This creates a complication between being a victim of your characteristics, without the authority and proper understanding to counteract your bad traits, and actively failing to choose the correct paths. The first removes the individual from all senses of responsibility and treats him as a victim, while the latter places all responsibility on the individual and blames his inaction. It is significant that Wilde uses the victim approach to refer to Bosie, while holding himself accountable for himself because it reflects Wilde’s view that he is superior to Bosie.

From the beginning, Wilde begins to talk down to Bosie; he states, “You did not realise that an artist, and especially such an artist as I am, one, that is to say, the quality of whose work depends on the intensification of personality, requires for the development of his art the companionship of ideas, an intellectual atmosphere, quiet, peace, and solitude” (5). Because Wilde begins his letter with this statement, it sets the tone for understanding his attitude towards Bosie. At this moment, Wilde says that he could not have expected Bosie to possibly understand what he needed from their friendship because he did not have the mental capability. Furthermore

He is constantly condescending of Bosie’s writing and also condemns his interests by denouncing his addiction to extravagance. When referring to his book of poetry, Wilde refers to it as “your little book, ” (49). By using the word, “little” Wilde suggests that his book is of importance and significance, not to mention that he says this while telling him the things he did wrong in writing it (i.e. the dedication). These interactions prove that Wilde believes he is superior to Bosie; for this reason, he holds himself accountable for his actions, and excuses Bosie’s for ignorance.

In discussing Bosie’s inaction during Wilde’s trial, he states, “I have no doubt that you did not mean to do so. I know that you did not mean to do so. It was simply that ‘one really fatal defect of your character, your entire lack of imagination’” (55). Wilde’s inset quote refers to Bosie’s inability to Love because of his obsession with Hate. It is important to note, however, that Wilde blames Bosie’s “fatal defect of [his] character,” not his actions that created his character or choice in facilitating those actions. Wilde does not hold Bosie for his downfall; he views him as a victim.

However, Wilde constantly blames himself for what went wrong in his life. Because Wilde is superior to Bosie, he believes that he is to be held responsible for his ruin himself, “I must say to myself that neither you nor your father, multiplied a thousand times over, could possibly have ruined a man like me: that I ruined myself and that nobody, great or small, can be ruined except by his own hand” (55). Wilde’s choice in saying, “a man like me” reflects his opinion that he is superior to Bosie, as well as his father; for Wilde, it would be almost insulting to suggest that someone who is inferior to him would be able to cause such harm.

It is interesting that Wilde clearly views Bosie as an incomparably inferior intellect, but then goes on to explain to him all of his philosophical breakthroughs in understanding. It could be that he wanted an easily impressionable audience, that he did not think Bosie would be able to refute his ideas, or a subtle way to intellectually attack his old lover, all the while insisting he is not bitter.

Word Count: 698

The Importance of Being Earnest

Summary: Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest details the stories of two men, Jack and Algernon, who both create alternate egos in order to split their time between living in the city and the country; their other personas ultimately become hindrances to their pursuance of love, until they openly admit to their deceit.

The nature of literature within the play highlights the fictional lifestyles that many of the characters in The Importance of Being Earnest portray. Both Algernon and Jack actively create their own fictional stories by participating in what Algernon refers to as “bunburying.” Similarly, Cicily portrays her life with an element of fiction by including events that she imagined as opposed to only including ones she’s experienced. Characters, other than Dr. Chasuble, prefer to delve into a fictional world rather than be bored by reality.

Algernon refuses to accept the notion that truth may be “pure and simple”; he states, “Modern life would be tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!” (6). Even after Jack explains how he made up his brother Earnest, Algernon dismisses the idea that it’s “simple” and insists there is more to discuss about the situation. Algernon takes a term from reality, “truth” and speaks about it in terms of fiction; he insists that “truth” is not as it seems to be in reality, that it must pertain to fiction because that is the only interesting thing reality has to offer. The two men create their characters as a means to live a fantastical life without suffering the implications; if it’s fiction instead of reality, it can occur as they wish.

Miss Prism advocates this benefit of fiction, where things can happen as one wishes for them to occur, not in a realistic manner. When Cicily asks her about the ending of her novel, she tells her, “The good ended happily, and the bad ended unhappily. That is what Fiction means” (22). Using Miss Prisms ideology to understand Algernon and Jack’s alternate egos suggests that the two men do not need to worry about their own well being, as long as they commit their faults under the name of Fiction. For example, nothing bad could happen to Jack because his fictional brother, Earnest, is the one who behaves immorally, not himself.

Cicily prioritizes fiction over reality and for this reason has very clear guidelines for what she expects to be in her diary; when Miss Prism questions why she keeps one at all, she states that everything she would write in her diary should be able to be held in her memory. Cicily replies, “I keep a diary in order to enter the wonderful secrets of my life. If I didn’t write them down I should probably forget all about them…it usually chronicles the things that have never happened, and couldn’t possibly have happened” (22). Cicily does not have any interest in remembering the actual events of her life; she wants to take note of the “wonderful secrets…that have never happened.” This is reinforced by her goal to have her diary published (31). Once her diary is published, it will be a concrete object in reality, combining her fictional fantasy with the real world.

The fact that Dr. Chasuble has never written a book suggests that he is content with fact and his given reality of the world. Cicily describes this, “Dr. Chasuble is a most learned man. He has never written a single book, so you can imagine how much he knows” (34). Because he does not delve into the world of fiction, he is accepted to be a “most learned man.” Books are consistently held with high esteem, but ones with the intention for publishing are automatically associated with fiction, such as Cicily’s diary and Miss Prism’s novels. The fact that Dr. Chasuble has written down his sermons gives authority, but because they are both unpublished and in the form of a sermon, they stick to the world of reality.

The fictional aspects of literature that Cicily and Miss Prism advocate reflect the necessity for the double lives that Algernon and Jack live. Dr. Chasuble’s unpublished sermons still maintain the same value because they are written, but instead advocate reality instead of fantasy.

Word Count: 706