Not Much of Anything In the Realm of New

Unfortunately there is not a new novel to discuss for this weeks posting, so this may very well end up being a posting of random stuff. First of all, the trip to the MASC today was pretty cool. Seeing the old texts in there original compositions was interesting, especially comparing them to the way books look today. The content of some of the books was interesting as well, such as the small book that was against the consumption of alcohol.

I am going to digress and talk a little about The Rise of Silas Lapham. Silas' downfall is due to Silas trying to be someone who he was not. He tried to insert himself into the upper class of Boston where he did not belong. Sure he had the money that would allow his family to associate with the other socialites, but they did not have the "culture" to fit in.

Kind of stuck on what else to discuss in this posting, so I guess that is it.

Old Against New

A recurring theme in both The Rise of Silas Lapham and Daisy Miller is the clash between people with old money and people with new money. Amazingly it is kind of one sided though. The families with new money seem oblivious to the ridicule that they receive from the old money families.

In Daisy Miller the Miller family, especially Daisy, does not live up to the rules that their money dictates. The family treats their servant, Eugenio, like a family member. Mr. Costello however, looks down on the Miller family for doing so. She constantly says that the family is "common". Daisy also does not realize the rules that she is to follow now that she has money. She frequently takes walks with men, when it is not appropriate, and because of these actions she is eventually shunned.

Even though I have not completed The Rise of Silas Lapham yet, the same is occurring here. The Lapham family has gained their fortune just recently by selling paint. The Corey family is the old money family that looks down on the Lapham family, and thus sees them as not being cultured.

For me there is a disconnect with me and what is happening in these two stories. I realize that at the time that these stories were written that this is a relevant theme of old against new, but I can not connect with what is going on.

Behind the Mask

I am not really sure what to say about the story itself. It is definitely not the type of novel that I
enjoy reading. I personally want to group it with the likes of Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice simply because it revolves around the love life of the female lead. I found these to be pretty boring, but the saving grace in Behind the Mask for me was the "who is Jean" plot. I could care less about the love triangle that was going on.

One thing that I am not sure about is why Edward looked into the past of Jane once he left the estate. I do not recall that being discussed within the story, and I suppose that his curiosity over Jane's past is due to his infatuation with her. I suppose that this is a logical conclusion because he left all he ever new for a new place and until he got accustomed to his new surroundings that he would look wet his appetite by gathering information about the woman he was infatuated with.

Even though It's easy to focus on the negative in this novel, I am going to focus on the one positive that occurred. The transformation that Gerald has by the end of the novel get overshadowed by Jean's evil plot. While being the Master of the house, Gerald did not take part in the masterly duties that fell onto him once his father died. After falling for Jean however, he changed his ways and began to oversee his property. It is definitely not clear that he continued fulfilling his role as master of the house after Jean accomplished her goal. I would like to believe that Gerald still takes care of his "master of the house" duties, especially now that Jean is his uncle's wife. Gerald should now realize why it is important to be active in his estate.

Joaquin Murieta

Here are a couple random observations about Joaquin that may, or may not, have anything to do with one another.

Joaquin becomes a "monster" that disrupts the American western society by his numerous robberies and killings. Joaquin, and to some extent the narrator, justifies him becoming a monster because of the atrocities that he had endured. As seen in with a couple instances in the book Joaquin is a bandit with a couple of ground rules. Do not kill those who help you and do not harm women. My problem is trying to figure out if he is struggling with balancing these two persona's, the noble Joaquin and the "monster" Joaquin, or if over time through the company that he keeps is he slowly becoming another Three-Finger Jack, a character that eventually enjoys killing for the thrill.

It also appears that Joaquin is beginning to fall in love with his own legend. What I mean by that is that he is appears to be prideful of all of the stories and rumors that are circulated. There is one scene where Joaquin is sitting in a bar or saloon, it was either by himself or playing Monte, that he overheard a conversation. There was a group of Americans sitting near him with one man saying how if Joaquin Murieta was in the bar right now that he would shoot him between the eyes. Joaquin jumped up on the table and exclaimed that he was indeed Joaquin Murieta and that if there was anyone brave enough to step outside with him to go now. Joaquin left and no one followed. I can only believe that this cocky response of "here I am, what are you going to do" was not only influenced by the fact that he new everyone feared him, but it also fueled the rumor mill fire that much more.

These are just a couple of things that I found interesting about Joaquin so far. To end, if there was one thing I could do to change this book to make it better I would introduce chapters or some other breaks in the story, because the way it is constructed now drives me crazy.

The Blithedale Romance

Life After Blithedale

At the end of the Blithedale-Pasture chapter, we are introduced to a strange reversal of roles. Coverdale tells us that through his curiosity that he seeks out Hollingsworth many years later after Zenobia’s death. He finds an emotionally broken down Hollingsworth with Priscilla by his side. The relationship between Hollingsworth and Priscilla has totally swapped with Hollingsworth “showed a self-destructive weakness, and a childlike, or childish, tendency to press close, and closer still” to Priscilla’s side (242). Coverdale observes Priscilla as being the protector and having a watchful quality, the guardian of Hollingsworth (242). An interesting role reversal, seeing as at Blithedale Hollingsworth was Priscilla’s protector, but even though Priscilla was not self loathing, she still stayed close to Hollingsworth’s protective gaze.

This is not a complete role reversal however. With their new roles each character stayed true to themselves. Priscilla is still “deep, submissive,, unquestioning reverence, and also a veiled happiness in her fair and quiet countenance” all qualities that she possessed in her younger years at Blithedale (242). Even Hollingsworth keeps his original purpose as a philanthropist, but instead of rehabilitating other criminals, he is rehabilitating himself because he sees himself as being Zenobia’s killer (243).

Even with this role reversal you can see that the characters changed, but it is frustrating that Coverdale does not grow. He is still the self absorbed bachelor that he had been before his journey to Blithedale. In his confession he says, “I by no means wish to die, Yet, were there any cause, in this whole chaos of human struggle, worth a sane man’s dying for, and which my death would benefit, then-provided, however, the effort did not involve an unreasonable amount of trouble-methinks I might be bold to offer up my life” (246). Same old Coverdale, it appears that he is saying the right, the noble, thing to say, but reading his statement it does not appear to be genuine. The only sacrifice that he had ever made was giving up his bachelor ways for the prospect of improving his life, he was not worried about the others.