Clarissa and Septimus

As we progress further into the novel, Woolf dives deeper into Septimus' thoughts, as well as providing a background story and further insight into his character. After reading these new sections, I think that quite a few parallels are emerging between Septimus and Clarissa.

The first hint of a connection between the two is when Woolf introduces the "beak-nosed" Septimus as a character. Clarissa was also described as beak-nosed, back in the first chapter. Because "beak-nosed" is quite a specific description, as opposed to just saying "pointed nose" or "large eyes" (features that number of people might share), it seems that Woolf is intentionally connecting the two in terms of physical description.

More important are the numerous parallels between their ways of thinking and attitudes towards the world and humanity itself. We know that Clarissa, for the most part, thoroughly enjoys life. She breathes in the bustling streets of London, and finds beauty in things such as the early morning sky and bunches of carnations and arum lilies. I would argue that Septimus is also able to find his own instances of beauty amidst his mental illness. Although strange to the reader, tears fill Septimus' eyes as he looks up at the plane, "this beauty, this exquisite beauty" (21).

In addition, both Clarissa and Septimus are readers, specifically readers of Shakespeare. In the first chapter, we see Clarissa reading a page from Cymbeline through a shop window. For Septimus, reading Anthony and Cleopatra before the war had a profound impact on him. Much like Clarissa describing Sally's kiss as "the most exquisite moment of her whole life", Septimus describes Shakespeare's work as lighting in him "such a fire as burns only one in a lifetime". I believe these details might be important in the broader narrative due to the reactions both characters received from others for reading Shakespeare. For example, Clarissa's husband, Richard, says Shakespeare's sonnets should never be read because it is similar to listening in on one's conversation through a keyhole. Sir William, who self-proclaims that he "never had time for reading", has some kind of "grudge" against Septimus and looks down upon his character. Perhaps both Richard and Sir William are stifling the true Clarissa and Septimus, respectively, and causing them to conform (intentional or not) to society instead.

I suspect that Woolf created Clarissa and Septimus to be reflections of each other. She puts them in the same city, London, but also in two very different worlds. Clarissa's biggest problems pale in comparison to Septimus' horrendous experiences. But they share other things, like their love of reading and their opinions on the stifling constraints of humanity, for example. I think Woolf might have done this to draw attention to the huge contrast between the different social classes in London at the time. Two people who are very similar at heart, but whose circumstances result in vastly different experiences.

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Isn't it funny? The way the mind works?

The sense of closure is very strong in Sag Harbor, especially compared to the other novels we've read this semester. In Catcher in the Rye, it was tough to tell if Holden had actually grown as a person by the time the novel ends. For both Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and The Bell Jar, it was understood that both Stephen and Esther were about to open a new chapter in their lives. However, we are left in vague about how the future will fare for each of them.

In Sag Harbor, Ben very lays out a detailed plan for his new school year. He's going to reform his wardrobe, and "make out with three girls a semester". He's also going to be turning sixteen, which will allow him to attend more concerts and parties. As Ben puts it, "It was going to be a great year".
I find it interesting (and kind of cute) that Ben "[is] sure of it". I got the image of a boy standing up straight and taking a deep breath, ready to conquer whatever was thrown his way. A pretty firm image to end upon. No loose strings are left untied in this ending. Ben has gotten a job, kissed a girl, picked out a "little Benji" and it is understood that this chapter of his life, coming out to Sag Harbor, is coming to a close.

But the thing is, the novel doesn't end exactly there. Instead, Whitehead, shifting to present tense, makes the last sentence, "Isn't it funny? The way the mind works?"

It's a very interesting phrase to end on. For me, the fact that it's in present tense makes me think that future Benji is sort of chuckling at old Ben for being so idealistic. I don't really know what this implies. Maybe his school year turned out a lot differently than he initially thought? Or maybe he's commenting on how expectations in general are overrated? Or maybe that's not his intention at all.

Either way, the strong sense of closure I felt during this chapter felt sort of undermined by this last sentence. If I'm following my interpretation, it makes for an uneasy ending. The plan Ben described sounds like it would make for a pretty good year. But maybe the last sentence is indication he had a much crappier year than expected.

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Emotional Roller Coaster

The last two chapters of Black Swan Green were definitely quite intense. You have Jason's pent up frustration finally release. We see his inner "smart ass" come out. He has his first kiss. But while all of this is happening, his family is falling apart.
These sections were my favorite part of the whole book. It's very action packed, and as I read, I could vividly imagine everything playing out in a movie. In addition, I think by this point in the book we know Jason very well. We have experienced his insecurities and internal struggles over popularity and ethics. We know how he idolizes his sister, Julia. We've seen both compassionate and asshole versions of Jason (when he brushes off Dean repeatedly as a moron). Since we've basically befriended Jason, we can't help but let out a satisfactory grin when the calculator is crushed. We smile at Jason's exchange with Ms. Lippetts, banter that almost resembles Julia's rhetoric. I couldn't help but feel proud as Jason finds a girl to share his first kiss with- someone who wasn't Dawn Madden. And I felt heartbroken as Jason's dad struggled to explain that he was getting divorced.
Besides the emotions, I felt like there was closure in these two chapters, which I enjoyed. The fact that Jason was finally brave enough to expose his bullies after all this time was extremely satisfying to read. And of course, replacing Dawn with Holly. I think the title, January Man, really brings home the idea of coming full circle.
But I think with this sense of closure comes a new beginning, similar to novels (most notably) like The Bell Jar  or Joyce's Portrait. Esther steps over the threshold of the door, her future uncertain. Stephen leaves Ireland to pursue something extremely unpredictable. For Jason, the same type of feeling is present. Who knows if there will be bullies at his new school? How will he deal with his new stepmother? Will he find new friends? Although I hope that Jason's experiences will make him well-equipped for the future, you never know.

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Sylvie vs Luna Lovegood

Something that really struck me were the parallels between Sylvie in Housekeeping, and Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series (If you've read Harry Potter previously, you may be already drawing connections between the two). Although the chance that J.K. Rowling actually based Luna on Sylvie is near impossible, the two characters are remarkably alike.

If I tried to write about their numerous similarities it would get awfully repetitive, so I made a table:

Sylvie Fisher	Luna Lovegood
Likes to spend time amongst nature. For example, she doesn't sweep the leaves into the corner of her house because she doesn't want to disturb nature. She doesn’t mind the rodents, birds and insects that later inhabit the dilapidated house.	In the 5th movie, Luna is seen bringing apples to the thestrals in the Forbidden Forest, all while barefoot. In fact, Luna goes on in her adult career to become the wizarding equivalent of a naturalist, called a magizoologist.
Sylvie doesn’t mind the rain seeping through her shoes. In fact, she kind of enjoys it. She buys garish jeweled slippers for Ruth and Lucille. One Lucille realizes that the slippers aren’t particularly stylish by society standards, she rips the sequins off.	Luna owns a pink-strawberry printed pair of sneakers, which her classmates hid from her. Thus, for most of the year, she walks barefoot through the halls and outside. In the movie, she doesn’t seem very upset about it.
Expanding on Sylvie’s style, she arrives in Fingerbone wearing a green dress made of silk, complete with an ornate brooch of lilies.	Luna is well known for her odd sense of style. At a wedding, she shows up in bold yellow dress robes, complete with a sunflower in her hair. Luna also regularly wears radish earrings, a beetle ring, pink glasses with one red and one blue lens, and a necklace made of a Butterbeer cork.
Sylvie is a non-conformist by definition. Her idea friends are people who she has just met for mere hours. She does not eating with the lights on. She doesn’t keep the house tidy and often snacks on crackers stored in her coat pockets. Nearly everything about Sylvie’s lifestyle is the opposite of “normal”.	Ravenclaw prizes originality, creativity and individualism. Luna embodies these characteristics. She is well known for reading the Quibbler, her dad’s magazine, upside down. She also keeps onions in her purse, to ward off vampires. Luna’s often described as “bizarre” in the series by other characters.
Standing out in the crowd doesn’t come without judgement, however. In Housekeeping, almost all of Fingerbone whispers about the weird woman who is Sylvie. She is stared at nearly everywhere she goes. Soon, Lucille finds herself unable to live with such a non-conformist. The residents start to question Sylvie’s parenting abilities and turn their noses at the condition of her house. Sylvie doesn’t really mind all the attention until the close of chapter 9.	Luna is often referred to as “Loony Lovegood” for her eccentric appearance and behavior. As mentioned above, she was the frequent victim of stealing and hiding. For the most part, she was unfazed by all the rumors about her and instead chose to be non judgemental and quite accepting of the people around her.
Probably the hardest but most important characteristic to describe is the lofty, carefree manner in which Sylvie conducts herself. She remains calm under all circumstances, including the flooding. She doesn’t mind walking in damp clothes. Sometimes Sylvie, known for being remote, becomes lost in her own thoughts and doesn’t reply when her name is called.	Luna is also characterized by her dreamy and distant demeanor. When faced with an uninteresting conversation, she often drifts away. Luna has no trouble spending time alone with her thoughts. Although Harry, Ron and Hermione find her bizarre, they eventually become quite fond of her, just as Ruth becomes fond of Sylvie and her mannerisms.
Personally, I think Sylvie comes across as intelligent, in her own unique way. Although she does seem detached, I feel as if all her actions and words are very deliberate.	Luna is also smart (Ravenclaw), but not in the same way as say, Hermione is. She loves learning about odd things, and doesn’t care if it had a logical, practical application or not. She doesn’t care if people things she’s nuts or wasting her time. Instead, she wants to know things simply because they are there to know: she values knowledge for its own sake.

Imagining Sylvie as Luna had actually made the book come to life for me. Although there are lots of similarities between the two, there are also differences, which I didn't really address. As we come to the end of the book, I'm looking forward to see how Sylvie deals with some serious judgement coming her way.

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Forgetting About Pain vs Easing it

In The Bell Jar, one scene that stuck me as interesting was when Esther views childbirth for the first time and is particularly shocked by the medicine given to the woman on the table that knocks her out completely. The birth clearly has a large emotional effect on Esther, considering how vividly she remembers it. I wonder if it might be parallel to Esther's dislike towards men.
Probably the most recognizable example would be Buddy: the fact that Buddy might be delivering babies and giving out doses of the medicine in the future scares Esther, as she scarred by seeing the birth.  Buddy also says in a very "sinister, knowing way" that maybe when Esther is married she will not want to write poems anymore. This causes Esther to think about marriage and childbirth as equivalent to being "brainwashed" and becoming "numb as a slave in some private totalitarian state".
Another person who is very similar to Buddy is Dr. Gordon. Esther describes him as having "nearly perfect" features but immediately distrusts him. Esther's instincts about Dr. Gordon turns out to be fairly accurate. He makes her go through shock therapy, something Esther describes as a horrible "punishment".
Besides being similar in profession, both men attempt to (or believe in) make their patients forget pain, rather than help them work through it. The woman during childbirth was "given a drug that would make her forget". To Esther, it is "just like the sort of drug a man would invent". Although the drug would make her forget how bad the pain had been, a "windowless corridor of pain was waiting to open up and shut her in again".
This scene is almost mirrored during Esther's shock treatment, in which Dr. Gordon attempts to make Esther forget about her pain through electrotherapy. The woman giving birth was on some sort of "awful torture table, with these metal stirrups sticking up in mid-air at one end and all sorts of instruments and wires and tubes". The bed that Esther lays on is creepily similar, a "table on wheels with a machine on it" and is given wires to bite. The woman, despite having been given 'treatment' or medicine, was "in terrible pain, obviously feeling every bit of it". Esther also feels every bit of the shock treatment, thinking that with each jolt, her "bones would break".
In addition, I think the quote about the woman waiting for a "corridor of pain" to "shut her in again" is very similar to how Esther feels as if she is trapped in a bell jar. Although many people, including even her mother, try to make Esther numb towards her pain, she is trapped underneath a fog of pain that constantly returns.

After thought: The fact that Esther trusts Doctor Nolan is also telling about Esther's attitudes towards different genders. ALSO Esther's thoughts on double standards concerning chastity further hints at that.

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Holden's Hunting Hat

One interesting detail in The Catcher in the Rye that I’ve noticed is how often Holden will mention his unique hunting hat. As you may recall, he first obtained the red hunting hat for a dollar after leaving all the fencing team’s equipment on the subway. Even Holden admits it’s “corny” when he wears it with the peak in the back but he “likes it that way”. The hunting hat is an interesting item to consider because it’s sort of an inconsistent symbol, if it is at all. At first, I was inclined to think that the hunting hat, being so gaudy, represented how Holden knew he was different from everyone else and wanted to show it. But after looking for passages with mentions of the hat, it becomes unclear.Sometimes Holden seems proud, wearing his hat. He mentions multiple times that he really “got a bang” out of wearing it. He carries the hat everywhere he goes, and Holden seems incomplete without it. After Holden gets beaten by Stradlater, he searches for his “goddamn hunting hat”, making the two seem nearly inseparable. At other times though, Holden seems to be ashamed of wearing the hat. He usually takes it off in public, like when he was riding on the train or checking into the hotel. Holden acknowledges the hat makes him look like a “screwball”.

These two conflicting things make it harder to identify whether the hunting hat is symbolic of Holden’s identity and attitudes towards other people. For me, this aspect of the hat is inconclusive. However, I did notice that Holden always removes his hat in the presence of other adults, which brings me to my next point.

It may be that the hunting hat symbolizes Holden’s attachment to childhood. After all, most adults wouldn’t be caught wearing such an odd hat. Holden knows this and therefore takes his hat off around them. On the other hand, Holden puts on the hat at specific times, such as when he was writing about Allie’s baseball mitt, and when he leaves Pencey. He also puts on the hat after getting beaten by Stradlater, imagining himself himself as a tough hero covered in blood. To me, that symbolizes Holden’s desire to cling onto his childhood, which is as unrealistic as his ideal vision of the “tough Holden” in the mirror.

We also discussed the “catcher in the rye” scene in class, talking about how Holden wants to protect the other children from falling off the cliff, which could symbolize falling into adulthood. If we believe this to be true (which I think it is), then this further strengthens the argument of the hunting hat representing Holden’s own attachment to his childhood.

In the last scene, as he watches Phoebe ride the carousel, it starts to rain. Holden mentions that “My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way, but I got soaked anyway”. I thought of this symbolizing Holden sort of coming to terms with his age. He can dream as much as he wants about the idealized world and childhood, but in the end, he cannot avoid the fact that he will grow up. It is inevitable.

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Good vs likeable

I met Holden yesterday, and I didn't really enjoy the encounter. He seems like the entitled white boy, accompanied by a lot of teenage angst. His language is rather crude, speaking in short frank sentences loaded with unnecessary curse words.He seemed to make it his mission to find some fault with everything and everyone he encountered. Holden seemed extremely indifferent- he didn’t seem to care about his fencing team or his grades, and threw the word moron around without a care in the world. What irritated me most was probably this aura of superiority I felt surrounded him. He constantly called other people phonies, which seemed pretty obnoxious. Who even asked for Holden’s opinion in the first place? Why do people even want to be liked by Holden? I definitely did not find him likeable.

But is he a good person?
Now that we've read more into the book, I will definitely say he is good at heart. The way he protects Jane, the girl from his childhood, and Phoebe, his sister, is almost (excuse me for my lack of refined words) cute, in a puppy-eyed kind of manner. Jane is constantly on Holden's mind, and his musings of Jane seem different from Holden's thoughts of anyone else. Whenever Holden thinks of Jane, he fondly recalls childhood memories, such as the way she looked when she got excited about things, or the time they went golfing and Jane lost eight balls. On the contrary, Holden constantly judges other people on a surface level- literally. He emphasizes Ackley's pimply face, and Stradlater's impressive physique. Although Holden briefly mentions Jane's appearance on not being "strictly beautiful", he still focuses on experience. Holden even mentions that he got to know Jane "quite intimately", but not by means of sex. For me, this display of affection stands out in stark contrast to Holden's indifference towards nearly everything else, and makes me think that he actually has a heart.
Another thing we might explore is Holden's affinity of calling things "phony". As I mentioned earlier, I initially looked at it as Holden being unreasonably bitter. Yet after getting a glimpse into Holden's protective side, using the word "phony" might be Holden's way to protect his own pride.
We know that Holden, like Stephen Dedalus, is a loner. He sits alone at the football game and doesn't seem to connect with many people. Everyone who rejects or offends Holden in some manner is bound to be a phony. Whether it be the girls in the Lavender Room or Ackley in his own room, they're all phonies to Holden.
I feel as if that is Holden's defense mechanism- he might be trying to make himself feel better when he's rejected. So what if the girls make him pay for their drinks? They're phonies. He tries to convince himself that he's high and lofty and out of their league, instead of facing the fact that he is lonely.
The first chink I saw in Holden's armor was the affection he displayed towards certain people. For someone who doesn't give a single shit about a lot of things, it was a bit surprising. These observations bring me to say that Holden is good, but not likeable. His defense mechanism of finding fault in others doesn't really scream, "I'm a nice, friendly person:". But likeability is shallow in regard to character, and I do believe that underneath Holden's mask is indeed a heart.

*This was written earlier in the week but after class discussions my opinion has shifted!!

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