I started writing this as a response to Sophia's post, but started to go off on a tangent and decided to write my own instead. I think the point Sophia makes about Cecilia being compared to an animal is really interesting. Both of the lines she mentioned also stuck out to me, especially the puppy reference. Something about a puppy is that they are cute and innocent, which is what I think Cecilia struggles with. She wears a stained wedding dress (which is really contradictory in a way) and is referred to as a "mature woman" (1). Cecilia always seems to be stuck between two roles. It's almost as if her personality is in a quandary. I also think its interesting that the narrators say that "a few of [them] had fallen in love with her, but had kept it to [themselves], knowing that she was the weird sister."
Random side note, I was really annoyed that her mother threw away her wedding dress after she died.
You've got so much going on in this post, Talia. First, the wedding dress, which Cecilia OWNS and wears as one might wear a uniform: as identification, with pride, and relentlessly. Yes, Mrs. Lisbon throws it out because she doesn't see it as valuable, and the boys see it as evidence that Cecilia is the "weird sister." Who is she marrying? Why is it dirty, the opposite of what a wedding dress is SUPPOSED TO BE? In addition to the fact that Cecilia seems to be rejecting the characterization of the "little sister" who is cute and innocent, the fact that she is referred to as an animal rather than a human is completely dehumanizing (as Zach pointed out in his post). How does someone makes sense of the contradiction between how she sees herself and how others define her?
ReplyDelete