The Picture of Dorian Gray

Greatest apologies for my absence though I have doubts it was even felt by the cyber community. Greater efforts will be made to keep everyone aware of my ramblings.

In PODG, Wilde writes: "The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion--these are the two things that govern us." Wilde's observations with this remark are absolutely genius. In attempting to prove him wrong, I have contemplated different forces which drive individuals to make decisions and have found that every choice each person makes is based upon society or religion. The only three exceptions I could imagine are money, power, and love. All can be dismissed with relative ease.

Money is simply a social device that allows people to barter goods or services easily. With more money, you can barter with less hassle. But in itself, money has no influence over decision. It is only the opportunities that money gives people within society that entices someone to base a decision upon finances. Similarly, power is attractive because it allows one to elevate himself above another. It is another tool society uses to influence an individual's decision. Love can be seen through both eyes. Pending on the type of love, it can use social or religious pressures to control man. Christianity's Golden Rule is based upon loving one's neighbor as himself. A romantic love is based upon society's ideals. Men and women learn how to behave in romantic relationships from their environment. (Mind you I am not speaking about sex. If left alone long enough, instincts and curiosity will kick in.) But the daily nuances of a romantic relationship are learned by society: holding hands, caressing, kissing… So in the end, society and God are all that determine one's actions.

The Captain’s Doll

"The future is like a big tangle of black thread. Every morning, you begin to untangle one loose end—and that's your day. And every evening you break off and throw away what you've untangled and the heap is so much less: just one thread less. One day less" (84). To Captain Hepburn, this is all the future is. After considering this statement, I find some truth in it. Each person has to find a purpose to his existence and work towards making some sort of meaning with his life. But, it is rather depressing if your purpose does not advance your situation or that of any one else. The relationships we have with others give our lives meaning. I suppose that since Captain Hepburn was emotionally detached from all those around him, he could never see any more substance to his life simply because it did not exist. Lawrence also focuses upon reminding his audience that there is a finite amount of time in life. Each person much decide which threads he will work upon untangling: hopefully, at the end of the day he will be able to sleep at night with a clear conscience.

Once a widow, Captain Hepburn developed some strange ideas about marriage. He determined it would be best for his next wife to honor and obey him. In return, he would "love" her as a wife, but he would not love her as a man should love a woman. In considering Hepburn's new idea on the concept of marriage, I was reminded of Margaret Fuller's ideas on marriage in "The Great Lawsuit" and four types of marriages. 1) The household partnership, 2) Intellectual companionship, 3) Mutual idolatry, and 4) Religious or journey to a common goal. Fuller's descriptions of marriage seem right on the money. Captain Hepburn's first marriage seemed to be one of mutual idolatry (his only goal was to make her happy). He found this marriage unfulfilling, so he hopes his second marriage will be a household partnership. But the Countess knows that this type of marriage is not the ideal so she is hesitant to attach herself to him.

The subject of the doll must be addressed to some degree: Hepburn was controlled like a puppet by his wife. After her death, he was controlled by the false roles he assumed a man should take in a marriage.

Remembrance of Things Past: Place Names: The Place

In ROTP, Proust makes many references to the art of photography. In his mind, this art form is not perfected and lacks many of the qualities other works of art have. I cannot wholly agree with this argument. Photography has the ability to represent to represent reality in ways other art forms lack completely. Proust finds that "a photograph acquires something of the dignity which it ordinarily lacks when it ceases to be a reproduction of reality and shows us things that no longer exist" (821). But don't all photographs represent a moment in time which can never be recaptured? Even if the person continues to live or the structure continues to stand, it will never be as it was in that moment.

Proust writes that "children have always had a tendency either to depreciate or to exalt their parents" (828). In today's society, this seems especially true. Children do change the priorities and lifestyle of parents. The responsibility of parents is very great: they have the opportunity to mold a child into a responsible adult. Each child is born with their own personality, and it the duty of parents to ensure the child does not grow up without restraints believing they are the center of the universe. Many parents cater to a child's world; these individuals grow up selfish and with entitlement issues. To my own parents, I am grateful for your love and support. With your example, I was taught to be aware of the world and to give to others freely. I am not the most important person in the world, and I am quite all right with that. If I can improve the world in some small way, I have completed my task. I apologize for my tangent.

My reading of Proust seems to have come to a standstill. I have finished the first thousand pages, but cannot force myself to continue. Perhaps in the winter I'll finish the remainder, but for now I want to read something a bit lighter,

Remembrance of Things Past: Place Names: The Name & Madame Swann at Home

You hear it said that each person is given the same amount of time in their day. To a certain degree, I suppose this to be true. But Proust introduces a concept that I had not considered that "in our lives the days are not equal" (424). He further explains his theory by stating days come in different gears. He finds that "there are mountainous, arduous days, up which one takes an infinite time to climb, and downward-sloping days which one can descend at full tilt, singing as one goes" (424). Each day contains 24 hours; each hour has 60 minutes; each minute has 60 seconds… But a day can contain many different moments that can last a second or an afternoon. Or a day can simply contain the 1440 minutes and have no extraordinary moments. In life, there are times—often unpleasant—that simply seem to drag on. Those fleeting moments of happiness seem to be more difficult to hang on to.

Marcel's infatuation with Gilberte Swann also sparks some insightful remarks about humanity. With each individual that one has interactions with, "a new personality" is developed (465). Around different people, someone can exaggerate certain traits that will fit that particular group. In a family setting, someone is completely different than at work or out with friends. On that same thought, love has the ability to create "a supplementary person whom the world knows by the same name, a person most of whose constituent elements is derived from ourselves" (505). In English when someone is in love and has a relationship, the lovers know one another on entirely different levels than regular acquaintances. One person is able to have those multiple personalities to fulfill their different roles.

Proust wrote Remembrance of Things Past more than a century ago, yet it continues to mirror some aspects of current American life. The growing dissatisfaction and inability to find contentment grows further out of many people's reach. Proust finds that people "continue to struggle and hope a little longer, but happiness can never be achieved" (672). Why? Once we overcome our circumstances, there is nothing to fight for and we lose our sense of appreciation for that which we strive for. We find "the phenomenon of happiness either fails to appear, or at once gives rise to the bitterest reactions" (672). If we continue to pursue empty dreams, we will never be fulfilled.

In the middle of Madame Swann at Home, one small snippet discusses the magic of the New Year and new beginnings. Marcel is disappointed in people who "cease to believe in the New Year" and believe any new goals are futile (526). I pondered this for a bit and hope that I shall never become one of those who don't believe in the magic of the New Year. I firmly believe that every individual has the ability to change, reform habits, and grow as an individual. The New Year offers every one the opportunity to examine their lives and improve them.

Remembrance of Things Past: Swann in Love

In the first half of Swann's Way, I thought Swann would be someone I could really look up to. He seemed to be able to function for every social clique and was above the constraints of both upper and middle class culture. He was educated and appreciated the arts. But then Swann in Love happened; how could such an amazing individual get hung up on a manipulative creature like Odette?

Marcel makes some amazing observations about humanity: "Three-quarters of the mental ingenuity and the mendacious boasting squandered ever since the world began by people who are cheapened thereby, have been aimed at inferiors" (209). In modern American culture this is apparent in countless ways. People seem to use every possible way to prove they are better than their neighbors by competing with the Joneses. The rat race is completely ridiculous and Proust explicitly states that those who attempt to elevate themselves about the rest of society are "cheapened" because the squander so much of their time and energy. Those who try to compete are often left unsatisfied and discontent. It is a shame that humanity has become more involved with this behavior since Proust published ROTP.

The use of flowers in ROTP continues to amaze me. The flower Odette gives to Swann in that fateful carriage ride is none other than the chrysanthemum (239). Chrysanthemums are the flower of the dead. They are often placed on graves to remember the departed. This could be no accident: the flower seems to represent Swann's loss of life and vitality and his enslavement to Odette. Also the cattleya mentioned repeatedly in Swann in Love refers to an orchid that takes 5-7 years to bloom. After years of cultivating this stick, you have a beautiful flower for 10 days and then it dies. The effort is not worth the reward. Similarly, the effort Swann puts into the relationship is not worth the reward that he obtains.

Remembrance of Things Past: Overture & Combray

To maintain a healthy level of insanity, I've decided to read Proust's Remembrance of Things Lost this summer. All 1.5 million words of it. The use of memory and reflections upon the past are prominently featured throughout the work—especially in the madeline sequence (48-51). Like many other modernist writers, Proust focuses upon sensory details like taste and smell to describe his memories. In these first two chapters, Marcel reflects on his childhood and impressions he has of people. I doubt he is entirely reliable (a modernist technique, no doubt), but he it is his unreliability which is one reason the work is so endearing. Marcel himself seems to realize the problem memories can have in relation to truth. He finds: "We try to discover things, which become precious to us on that account, the reflection of what our soul has projected on to them; we are disillusioned when we find that they are in reality devoid of the charm which they owed, in our minds, to the association of ideas" (93). How many times has an individual gone back to visit people or places of the past and they are simply not right? They have lost the charm they once had and no longer resemble those precious memories which we have created and cherish.

Marcel delves into the issue of society and its impact upon the characters within the book. Marcel's family falls within the middle class and his compares France's society to a Hindu caste system in which sharply defined castes are determined at birth. One's station in life cannot be changed unless there is "the accident of an exceptional career or of a 'good' marriage" (17). Everyone accepted their role within society and seemed to play the part they had been given happily.

Hamlet: Is He an Unlikely Hero?

Hamlet is the not the typical hero many would envision when considering Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, but he does have many of the characteristics that other heroes have. His call to adventure comes from the ghost of his father. Though Hamlet has many helpers on his journey, he never seems to fully trust any around him and kills or has killed all who seem to act as allies (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) or mentors (Polonius). Perhaps this is because the hero must act alone and complete the journey without any outside aid. As stated on the handout, "the action occurs in a heroic past. With the exception of Omeros epics feature the heroes of a culture: the kings and warriors. The churls and gravediggers are of little consequence. In epics, the heroes illustrate how members of society should behave to create a better world for all. How Hamlet accomplishes this, I'm stumped. Also, after the hero completes his task i.e. avenging the death of his father, he should emerge with some great wealth (whether tangible gold or a great revelation), but Hamlet is left to die. (In fact, everyone seems to die; the body count is remarkably high even for a Shakespearian tragedy.)