this mustache hurts my face

Zach Blog

Here are the notes I took on page 203:

• Rebecca inhabits her 
• max is saying men and simple and women are really complex (men try to figure it out)
• Max finds the change that he sees in the narrator is unpleasant 
• doesn’t want her to be older (would not suit her), okay with her outer look not her personality/self changing (not the right sort of knowledge) 
• innocence, not age that is changing 
• Knowledge: the expression that she has all the time left and something else took it over, (she loves the reaction) 
• husband and father= not that different, a certain knowledge that should be kept under lock and key (did R get the knowledge) 
• garden of eden: eve wants the knowledge and then has to leave

Right now I have around three areas of interest: happiness, the past, and pain. Connecting this to happiness, the narrator feels a false sense of happiness as she is transported from her reality into her fantasy. She allows herself to become completely overcome by her fantasy not even realizing that it is fake (a myth!!!). Similar to the myth of grosse point, ignorance can give a false sense of happiness. Connecting this to my other two interests, confronting reality or the past can both be painful and living in ignorance is a way to protect yourself against that, but by doing you so give up the chance to experience genuine happiness.  

For Asha Wednesday 10/29

hey asha we (mike and I) are located on the couch behind you!

Just like the extreme differences between the west and east wing there is a huge difference in the way Maxim and Mrs. Danvers cope with Rebecca's death. Maxim tries to completely erase her from his memory while Mrs. Danvers cleans the dust off in Rebecca's rooms everyday. There is no in-between stage in their mourning. In the time that Mrs. Danvers is showing the narrator Rebecca's rooms, it seemed like the one time the narrator is learning all about Rebecca, and she feels likes she's learned too much.

ZACH BLOG: Our AOIs

So during our last class, we mostly focused on our own personal area of interests. Talia gave us her AOI, and she used page 148-150 as her text for backing it up. It was funny to me because I chose page 148 as well. We didn't go over mine in class because we needed more text and not the same page. ANYWAYYY. My AOI is Public Image. It fascinates me why Maxim and the Narrator married each other, and it got me thinking that it might be because of their public image. The questions I asked myself were:
Did Maxim lose his high status and good public image when Rebecca died? and it that why he wanted to marry again to keep his status high as a married man? He even says "I wonder if I did a very selfish thing marrying you"(148).
-now that might mean that he did not get married for love, but to keep his status up.
Also, why does the narrator feel the need to gain this higher public image and marry Maxim? what is he giving her that Mrs. Van Hopper wasn't other than that image? and if it is just for the image why did she need it? Why did the narrator have "no choice" (148)?
My last question I asked myself was-Did Manderley itself lose its image when Rebecca died?
I have not yet found the perfect answers to these questions, and I have a feeling I never will, but I think I have a good sense of my AOI already.
Any thoughts or questions to add would be very helpful!!
Thanks

ANDDDD sorry again this is so late. I just got home from the stupid apple store. (at least they fixed my computer).

Sorry

sorry guys. I know I havnt posted yet. Im still stuck at the apple store cuz my computer decided to crash yesterday and they're fixing it now. I dont know how much longer it should take because this apple store is taking foreverrrrr. Im sorry ill do the best I can.

Forrest Gump

I was struggling with the idea of the idiot savant during our last class but realized after watching Forrest Gump what the idiot savant represents and how the character helps develop a certain lens the reader can wear while reading Rebecca.  I imagine everyone has seen Forrest Gump so I don't want to summarize the plot, but basically Forrest is slightly retarded and no one thinks that much of him besides his mom and Jenny.  What I realized though is that throughout all of the chaos during the time in the movie, Forrest seems to be the only person with a stable grip on the situations he and others face.  He never falls into the manipulation of others and never manipulates anyone, he's just a good guy who's out there doing all he can to improve the world.  I'm going to try to draw a parallel between him and Ben, because no one expects much from Ben, and frankly, Rebecca hated him.  However, Ben seems to be the only contrast from all of the manipulation at Manderley, and he is the only person in the book to hold Rebecca in a negative light.  Not sure what this means for the rest of the book, but Ben seems to be a pretty important character that chills out in the background and under the radar.

Perception

In relation to the west and east side of the house and perception, and I know it's probably annoying that it's the only thing I talk about, I wanted to pose the question: does a person's perception of his or herself put them in one side or the other, or is it other people's perceptions that place someone?  I worded that terribly but I was thinking about how what one person thinks about himself differs from what other people think (obviously).  This relates to that long conversation that we had a few classes ago about the hockey team; we may think we're tamed on the east side but everyone else may see us as west siders.  Which perception holds true, and which perception actually matters?

The whole picture

I posted a picture on Instagram yesterday of a view in my town when I went fishing. In the picture, like in person, it looked immaculate. Though, the spot is about 200-300 ft from a main road and right next to a country club. The way I took the picture, no one can see these loud and distracting imperfections. The only way to notice these imperfections is to actually be in the same spot in person, otherwise, they are completely unnoticed.  So what looks like a perfect spot for a relaxing day of fishing ends up by being a day filled with distraction, muffled chatter, and cars zooming by behind you. This can be seen with Rebecca. All the characters see her as my perfect fishing spot. They only see the one perfect part of the picture I showed instead of the country club, the road, or even the desolate field that used to be flourishing with corn. All of Rebecca's imperfections cannot be seen because the narrator is a separate human being and is only showing us the perfect view so we are lead to believe that Rebecca is the definition of perfection.  Also, this can be translated into our lives in which we have to stop basing and judging people by the view in which they take their picture. We have to accept, understand, and learn why they show us the specific view. Here is the picture if you didn't see it before. I wish I thought of taking a picture of everything else but I just made this connection. 

When we read the marriage proposal and were asked to write about it I wrote, "She is too blind to see the ridiculousness of this proposal because she is using him just as much as he is using her. He uses her because she is the complete opposite of Rebecca and she uses him to live in Manderley and she realizes she may not find another husband. The narrator has seen the way he has acted and blown up before so she shouldn't be surprised if that were to keep happening. It's also unfair of him to propose to her because he is much older and has already been in love before and she won't be able to share the joy of experiencing first love when she's not someone elses." 

I just thought it was interesting that he would marry someone because she is the complete opposite of Rebecca and would be unable to love her. The fact that he can do that to someone just proves that he is not a good person and there will problems down the road. 

Max de Winters=rude

I'm going to start off by saying that for now, I am not a big fan of Max de Winters. Maybe he will shape up later on and not be such a jerk, but for now, he is the biggest jerk and I dislike his character. He is very rude. The whole marriage proposal thing was just so bizarre. First of all, I was not even thinking about the fact that they had the possibility of getting married, and honestly if I were the narrator I would have sticked with Mrs. Van Hopper. Sure, she's annoying and obnoxious too, but at least she is not trying to replace someone with you, like Max de Winters is. He is trying to fill in the space of Rebecca in Manderley, but in a bad way. He is almost asking the narrator to marry him to be his servant and please him, but not be too much like Rebecca because that brings back bad memories, and that is just no okay. He even says "instead of of being companion to Mrs. Van Hopper you become mine, and your duties will be almost exactly the same"(54). Like excuse you.  He was also a raging jerk during his proposal. He insulted her and said she is "as ignorant as Mrs. Van Hopper, and just as unintelligent" (53). Who would want to marry someone after that?
(and I realize this post is really long, I just needed to get this off my chest)

Zach Blog: Thirst for Rebecca

So basically, sorry for posting late but I have been so busy all weekend. But in class we went over all of the character roles. The narrator is a jealous person that only compares her self to Rebecca. She cant't get over how "perfect" she was and I feel as if she loves Rebecca and that is the reason for her obsession. It is really the same thing in the Virgin Suicides with the boys so in theory the narrator is the boys. Kind of sad actually because the boys aren't as awesome as they think they are :(. Maxim de Winter is still attempting to get over Rebeccas death and we all know that he will never actually accomplish that. Finally, Rebecca is the "ideal" women in the story. She had brains, beauty, and bread well. So the way I see this story is just how everyone sees Rebecca as a superhuman and constantly compares everyone to her which leads to everyone being insanely depressed because no one can ever accomplish that.

Back to Survival

I was scrolling through my news feed and saw this post from humans of New York: 

"We've been trying for a few years. We both want it very badly, but it's probably been hardest on my wife. It's her body and she's been the one that's had to go through all the treatments, so I think the failure hits her hardest. It seems especially unfair because she's the sweetest and most liked person I know. Sometimes it's hard to keep our frustration from becoming the focus of the relationship, but it's also brought us closer together and given us a shared goal. We've got another treatment in a couple weeks. It's a very advanced procedure and we're very hopeful about this one."
"Will you be OK whatever the outcome?"
"'OK' might be too strong a word, but we'll definitely survive." 

It started making me think of survival again and made me question if you really do have to be okay to survive  Our narrator certainly has survived something, but it brings me to the question is she okay? I think it is a little early to answer this question though I could certainly start. Just something to think about. 

In class we questioned the retelling of a dream and if we really know if it's the truth or not. I learned the word confabulator, which makes something better than it actually is, which made us ask if Manderley is everything the narrator makes it seem.
Then we discussed the characters and defined what an idea man and woman is. We defined the man as strong, rich, "good with a sword", have power (bloodline-->legacy)
The ideal woman was beautiful, domestic, mother, loving, complacent, social space, entertainment, good image)--> she just reproduces for the bloodline but doesn't take care of the children due to their class.

Pride and Prejudice or Rebecca?

The more I read of this book the more I draw connections between it and Pride and Prejudice. There is the upper-class woman (who is rude and annoying), though I'm not sure if she reminds me of one specific character. She is more of a mixture of Mrs. Bennet or Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Mr. de Winter not only has an amazing house that is very similar to Pemberly, but also "set himself a standard of behavior" (17). He also writes the main character a letter to apologize for his behavior. These are just some of the many parallels that I am seeing in this book. I find it both intriguing and annoying at the same time.

dreamers

When an anonymous student ( Matt) posted the question "why can't I go to the college of my dreams?" I was seeing how it could relate in any way to the book while I was reading. On page 3 she says, "Moonlight can play odd tricks upon the fancy, even upon a dreamer's fancy". Although it has nothing to do with college, it still relates to the idea of dreaming.

Sike

Yeah two pages into this book and I don't like it.  Seriously took two pages to describe going through a fence and through a field.  I don't understand the need for such excessive description about literally every minute (small not time) detail.  If this is a precursor for how slow the rest of the book is going to be I already know I'm not going to enjoy it.

Class today FTB

So yeah class today was really interesting.  I really liked the gothic, romantic, and horror aspect of the class. Seeing how the three collided in the movie was really interesting and actually easy to see after we researched them.  As of right now I'm not dreading reading this book like I did during TVS, I think seeing the three aspects of the novel work together through the narration is going to be entertaining. 

Looking for a quote

Does anyone know where a quote about the boys and their wives would be?

Grosse Point

So I was taking a break from my homework and I decided to goggle what grosse point look like to get a better feel for Eugenides background and also the town that this story takes place in. I came across a picture that showed the boundaries between the two and when I clicked on it, it brought me to this website: http://www.63alfred.com/thewalls.htm it shows the separation between the two and it is not what I expected to see at all. there are actual walls dividing grosse point from the city of Detroit and the contrast between the two is amazing. Just thought some of you might find it interesting (also I only looked at this one website so don't quote me on any of this, I don't know how accurate it really is, but the pictures are interesting).

Isiah 5:1-7 to Virgin Suicides

So I hate to bring religion into an intellectual concept but I feel this will make a lot of sense to everyone. In Isiah 5:1-7 it reads: 

The Song of the Vineyard

5 I will sing for the one I love
    a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
    on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones
    and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
    and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
    but it yielded only bad fruit.

3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
    judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
    than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
    why did it yield only bad?
5 Now I will tell you
    what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
    and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
    and it will be trampled.
6 I will make it a wasteland,
    neither pruned nor cultivated,
    and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
    not to rain on it.”

7 The vineyard of the LordAlmighty
    is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
    are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice,but saw bloodshed;
    for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

I found this reading very interesting because it has a lot to do with parental control in the Virgin Suicides and also the discussion we had in class. The coolest thing with Biblic Readings is how they mean completely different things to people at completely different times. Though, tonight this reading hit me hard. Basically, the owner of the vineyard, the vineyard, and the vines are metaphores for parents, their living space, and children.  All parents want the best for their children; that's a fact. However, the "best" is generally debatable.  It all depends on the child and what they need. Most parents try to form their child into their ideal when that is never the case. The best for a child is the support and care that the child needs so they can grow to be responsible and mature.  In the parable, the vineyard owner makes a "Garden of Eden" type of setting. Perfect growing conditions, perfect vines, perfect setting, but the vines bear wild grapes. This causes great confusion to the owner; why didn't the perfect grapes grow? It is because these ideal growing conditions do not grow ideal grapes. You get what you get, but you have to adapt your vineyard to your vines, not your vines with your vineyard. This is where the Lisbon parents went wrong. Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon tried to make their ideal grapes with ideal conditions, not ideal conditions for their vines. This lack attention to their children because they think they will just grow to become their ideal made the children "wild grapes" and eventually led to the daughters' suicides. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3L4EZwmRrA

This one goes to eleven.

Endings and such

The end of this book kind of made me realize that although I understand why the boys are so engrossed in this investigation I think the rest of the town is right for sort of letting it ago because what the girls do is inexplicable. That sort of leads into the thing about the asylum  and essentially to me it seems as though the boys are trapped in the asylum of their own tree house unable to escape "those rooms where they [lisbon girls] went to be alone for all time"(243) because they saw the situation from a different frame of reference than the rest of that world and since no one else understands them they are trapped.
Afterthought- the whole trapped thing also applies to the lisbons but I don't have time to delve into that side of it right now.

This is the end...

Hold your breath and count to ten. (Anyone get my adele reference) well now you did. I just wanted to state something. Unlike the Handmaid's Tale when I didnt know what happened in the end and freaked out and really wanted to know. With The Virgin Suicides I was kind of ok with not knowing. It didnt bother me as much as i think it should have. But I dont care if i never find out.