tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8819402384388065847.post1877549207800184583..comments2023-09-10T02:52:56.331-07:00Comments on <center>English 206: British Literature from 1800</center>: A Couple of Stories by Mansfield and JoyceRussell Potterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023313195827310776noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8819402384388065847.post-11649871467876100472016-06-15T07:14:47.439-07:002016-06-15T07:14:47.439-07:00The Modernism period was a chance for all writers ...The Modernism period was a chance for all writers to take risks. At this point, even women were being accredited more and more for the work they were putting out. These two short stories were so impactful and simple, yet as I thought about them more and more, I realized their bigger pictures. In Joyce’s “Araby”, the narrator is juggling his love and desires for Mangan’s sister, who reflects his thoughts of Arabia and the bazaar he wants to go to alongside his schoolwork, his uncle, and the city of Dublin. The narrator romanticizes the bazaar for the entire story, yet gets there to find out that it is nothing like what he hoped, and ruins his hope for a future with the girl. When he is let down because of the bazaar, he realizes that this relationship with Mangan’s sister will never actually happen. A story, that could have been one of pure love-where he would get the girl and say he doesn’t need to give her any fancy things to prove his love, turned into a sad one, because he was totally defeated that he let his romanticized thoughts take over the reality of the situation. Love is difficult and people long for different experiences and places in life, and I think that is the main message of this modernist work. It is truthful and poetic and is one of my favorite things we have read for this course.<br />In Katherine Mansfield’s “The Garden Party”, I immediately thought of how it was a mockery of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Much like Josephine, Laura is constantly questioning her place in the world and if she is really living the life she deserves and would want for herself. We get a lot of perspective throughout this short story, hearing the story unfold and also reading into Laura’s personal thoughts. Laura has a realization that working people are much kinder than the people she has known, and have many important things to worry about like caring for a family, and helping others. Laura’s main worries are what to wear, what party she is going to, etc. Her normal cares were all materialistic until she learns about life from these workmen. She views her family in a different light when they still hold a party after Mr. Scott’s death. She does not understand their ignorance but even still, is stuck in her old ways and gets excited over the party. She is human and immature, and Mansfield wants us to see this. The closeness in names and demeanor of Laura and Laurie is definitely on purpose, and it is very clear by the last lines of the story. They have very similar responses and behaviors to one another, yet they are divided because her brother Laurie does not know of what life outside being rich looks like, yet he understands how she must feel to have experienced that. Laura at this point may want to help others and make something of her life, which is something Mansfield may want readers to interpret through her very open-ended conclusion to the story.<br />Both of these modernism pieces really opened my eyes to the changes taking place in writing so quickly during this time. People were opening up about real emotions and hitting home about the issues and inner emotions of people and that is so important. This era changed writing forever and paved the wait for future and made writers begin to speak about raw and real problems. <br />Alex Kerfoothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06309064020644883997noreply@blogger.com