Earlier in the book, we saw Jake and Bill leave behind their outward appearances and disappear in to the mountain to fish and relax while they waited for Brett and Mike to work their way to Spain through their slow trek. While they are there, we get to see Jake without the constant shadow of Brett looming over him. He mentions that he gets a good nights sleep, saying that he only once woke up (implying he was previously asleep) and remarked how it felt good to be in bed, while in Paris Jake knows the route of the midnight train from hearing it every night.
It seems that the lack of Brett on his mind is what allows him to be able to relax and sleep. While I think is true, I think also that it stems from what Brett stands for in Jake's life. Brett represents something that he can never have to himself, as has been mentioned in the past. Because of his accident we learn of at the beginning of the book, neither Brett nor Jake see him as an available lasting partner for her. He has to live with this idea and is reminded of it every time he is around her.
Brett also is not making it easier for him. In my period, it was never really decided whether Brett was more playing Jake for a fool or if she is just blindly making him feel bad. She shows up randomly at his home while he tries to ignore her, secretly goes to San Sebastian with his "friend" and even asks him to hook her up with a bullfighter, which is not only like salt in a wound, it would also potentially ruin his reputation as an aficionado of bullfighting.
It is clear that there are many reasons why Jake should just pull up stakes and escape Brett once and for all, but I think that there still is some actual connection between them. In the last chapter, when Jake meets up with Brett at the very end, there is not really a sense of malice or underlying heartbrokeness (?) in Jake's tone, just actual concern. This is also the only time that we see Brett not in the company of some other guy than Jake. It is not that he wants to be away from Brett, its that when she is surrounded by other things that serve as a constant reminder that she is unavailable to him, is when he can no longer stand being around her.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Friday, September 14, 2018
Connection, Identity, and Septimus
The question that we were asked in class considering how Septimus and Clarissa Dalloway's paths cross is interesting, because it takes two different worlds and puts them on the same wavelength. The idea that Septimus Smith, who has PTSD, and Clarissa, who is a high-class woman, is strange. However, one way that they connect, but also that several other characters connect as well is through purpose.
This purpose is what they either see themselves as having or in some way struggling to find. In several different places, we see people who have a fairly well-conceived notion of what they are meant to do, while in other places, we see people struggling over what they are meant to be doing with their lives.
Septimus' purpose is very self-defined, as the narrator mentions within the book. He creates this sense of purpose himself, through suggestions to him by hallucinations he gets while he is in the park. His purpose is to transfer certain ideals of reality to the Prime Minister. While this is very focused around his disability and may not be considered a valid source of information, one's purpose is not told to them, but is conceived by them. In this way, it is still valid.
For Clarissa, she mainly develops this sense of purpose throughout the novel. We see near the end that she comes to the conclusion that she is there to collect people, bring people together through her parties which Peter sees as frivolous.
Speaking of Peter, he seems to struggle with coming back from India. He thinks as he walks how society has moved on while he has been away in India, marrying and then unmarrying, doing whatever else he did while there, while in London, all people have settled into a routine that he hasn't been a part of, making him detached from all that goes on there. One example of this is his going to the party, and immediately regretting it, because he didn't know anyone. His purpose now from leaving India is up in the air.
Finally, there is Elizabeth. She is different from the others that I have mentioned in that she has not had the life yet to choose and create a path for herself to follow. She is only turning 18, and she is being confronted with the future, and more specifically with the changes that have taken place over the time her mother has been alive. Mrs. Kilman frustrates this further, by bringing to the forefront all the things she could be.
All of these different scenarios depict the same theme: purpose and finding that purpose. At the forefront is Clarissa, with her fairly clear idea of what it is she must do in life. Next is Peter, whose life has been backtracked in a place he now has no connection to, and at the bottom is Elizabeth, who is beginning her trek through adulthood and is only at the moment gathering together ideas. Another player that rocks this boat is Septimus, who also has these feelings, despite being mentally challenged. He provides a sort of view from both sides of the spectrum, while not really being part of it. This is how Septimus, Clarissa, as well as many other's thoughts resonate in sync.
This purpose is what they either see themselves as having or in some way struggling to find. In several different places, we see people who have a fairly well-conceived notion of what they are meant to do, while in other places, we see people struggling over what they are meant to be doing with their lives.
Septimus' purpose is very self-defined, as the narrator mentions within the book. He creates this sense of purpose himself, through suggestions to him by hallucinations he gets while he is in the park. His purpose is to transfer certain ideals of reality to the Prime Minister. While this is very focused around his disability and may not be considered a valid source of information, one's purpose is not told to them, but is conceived by them. In this way, it is still valid.
For Clarissa, she mainly develops this sense of purpose throughout the novel. We see near the end that she comes to the conclusion that she is there to collect people, bring people together through her parties which Peter sees as frivolous.
Speaking of Peter, he seems to struggle with coming back from India. He thinks as he walks how society has moved on while he has been away in India, marrying and then unmarrying, doing whatever else he did while there, while in London, all people have settled into a routine that he hasn't been a part of, making him detached from all that goes on there. One example of this is his going to the party, and immediately regretting it, because he didn't know anyone. His purpose now from leaving India is up in the air.
Finally, there is Elizabeth. She is different from the others that I have mentioned in that she has not had the life yet to choose and create a path for herself to follow. She is only turning 18, and she is being confronted with the future, and more specifically with the changes that have taken place over the time her mother has been alive. Mrs. Kilman frustrates this further, by bringing to the forefront all the things she could be.
All of these different scenarios depict the same theme: purpose and finding that purpose. At the forefront is Clarissa, with her fairly clear idea of what it is she must do in life. Next is Peter, whose life has been backtracked in a place he now has no connection to, and at the bottom is Elizabeth, who is beginning her trek through adulthood and is only at the moment gathering together ideas. Another player that rocks this boat is Septimus, who also has these feelings, despite being mentally challenged. He provides a sort of view from both sides of the spectrum, while not really being part of it. This is how Septimus, Clarissa, as well as many other's thoughts resonate in sync.
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