When you add your (now late) journals), focus on a specific piece of text that defines Orleanna early on in the novel. (Include the passage and page #. You should not both use the same passage.)
“She could lose everything: herself, or worse, her children. Worst of all: you, her only secret. Her favorite. How could a mother live with herself to blame?” (Pg 8)
When I first read this I had absolutely no idea what Orleanna (or Kingsolver for that matter) was trying to say. She has been talking in third person about a mother and her children traipsing through a ragged jungle, and then suddenly switches and addresses the reader. I had to read it over a couple times before I realized, I hope correctly, who Orleanna was talking to when she addressed “you”: one of the four daughters who’s foreshadowed to have a not-so-happy ending to her story when, in the sentence before, Orleanna explicitly says, “the disaster she knows is coming”, and then goes on to talk about loss and blame. The interesting thing, is that Orleanna seems to be feeling immense guilt and blames herself for the loss of her child. Why? I guess I’ll just have to read on and find out. One of the first things that jumped out at me about Orleanna’s writing is that it is so immensely different from the way most of her family writes. She writes in metaphors, and intricately-wound foreshadowing that one really has to pay attention to to notice. One of the most interesting of her metaphors (or comparisons, I really don’t know) is the okapi. She first describes it as “legendary: a unicorn” and a “beautiful, strange beast” that carries with it a sort of mysterious connotation; that the beast it not ever fully understood. This seems to be Orleanna trying to describe her own life at some point: somewhat alone, and mystifying. Maybe before she married the preacher. But then she switches and describes the okapi in a very scientific, straight-forward way with no aspect of curiosity or mysticism to it: “some manner of beast, a horseish gazelle, relative of the giraffe.” It seems like Orleanna is describing herself as sort of ‘tamed’. Her wild creativity snuffed out. She was labeled: preacher’s wife. And (maybe I’m taking this a bit too far) that she hated it. She wanted to live her life like her style of writing: unconventional and somewhat spontaneous and random. She wanted to be a free, creative spirit, but something in her life wouldn’t let her do that.
8 comments:
I'd like to follow Orleanna
-Becca
Can I follow Orleanna? Or is she already taken? Well, my second choice would be Ruth, and then Rachel if i absolutely have to.
-Sarah B.
Becca & Sarah "Dolphingirl" Berman, you win.
hey! i didn't choose that account name. i don't think... it just wouldn't let me change it! annoying server.....
When you add your (now late) journals), focus on a specific piece of text that defines Orleanna early on in the novel. (Include the passage and page #. You should not both use the same passage.)
“She could lose everything: herself, or worse, her children. Worst of all: you, her only secret. Her favorite. How could a mother live with herself to blame?” (Pg 8)
When I first read this I had absolutely no idea what Orleanna (or Kingsolver for that matter) was trying to say. She has been talking in third person about a mother and her children traipsing through a ragged jungle, and then suddenly switches and addresses the reader. I had to read it over a couple times before I realized, I hope correctly, who Orleanna was talking to when she addressed “you”: one of the four daughters who’s foreshadowed to have a not-so-happy ending to her story when, in the sentence before, Orleanna explicitly says, “the disaster she knows is coming”, and then goes on to talk about loss and blame. The interesting thing, is that Orleanna seems to be feeling immense guilt and blames herself for the loss of her child. Why? I guess I’ll just have to read on and find out. One of the first things that jumped out at me about Orleanna’s writing is that it is so immensely different from the way most of her family writes. She writes in metaphors, and intricately-wound foreshadowing that one really has to pay attention to to notice. One of the most interesting of her metaphors (or comparisons, I really don’t know) is the okapi. She first describes it as “legendary: a unicorn” and a “beautiful, strange beast” that carries with it a sort of mysterious connotation; that the beast it not ever fully understood. This seems to be Orleanna trying to describe her own life at some point: somewhat alone, and mystifying. Maybe before she married the preacher. But then she switches and describes the okapi in a very scientific, straight-forward way with no aspect of curiosity or mysticism to it: “some manner of beast, a horseish gazelle, relative of the giraffe.” It seems like Orleanna is describing herself as sort of ‘tamed’. Her wild creativity snuffed out. She was labeled: preacher’s wife. And (maybe I’m taking this a bit too far) that she hated it. She wanted to live her life like her style of writing: unconventional and somewhat spontaneous and random. She wanted to be a free, creative spirit, but something in her life wouldn’t let her do that.
Oh grr. This website won't let me post from the same name twice! That is SO annoying!!!!
ps. this is Sarah Berman
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