Girls Gone Wild!

This week we delve into our second primary text of the course which was Doris Lessing’s The Grass Is Singing. Here are my short responses to the “things to think about” question sheet:

1. Dick’s farm is the embodiment of Africa’s alienation to Mary. Mary thrives in a city environment with lots of people, lots of interaction. Dick’s farm is the complete opposite and really drives Mary crazy. Dick, on the other hand, loves the solitude of living on his own farm. From the eyes of Charlie Slatter, he sees Africa as land to capture, to make his own. He has no real connection to Africa except for his ability to own it.

2. I think the novel suggests that black sexuality can become overpowering to the white woman. In Mary’s case, since she gave Moses power, he can use that power over her, even sexually, and she will succumb to it without choice.

3. Marriage, in general, is scary. It only seems less scary because most people partake in it. Mary fears marriage because what she saw her parents go through. They both could have been very happy people if they hadn’t been married to one another, just as Mary would have led a much happier and different life if she hadn’t have married Dick. In terms of the fear of marriage connection to the fear of the black man, I feel like it deals with the inability of turning back or changing things. Once you are married, you are stuck with that person until one of you dies. And once you let the black man have power over you, you can never get it back.

4. Mary is not like anyone else before she married Dick. She may have suffered from different mental ailments, much less alarming and harmful than the ones she developed after being married. She never wanted to get married or be in a romantic relationship or have sex. Mary “was not like that”. She never really grew up.

5. As the author, Lessing does not make Moses and Mary have sex but she does fill pages with sexual undertones. I do not think that perpetuates the myth of sexually potent black males, I think it enhances Mary’s struggle to keep power and adds another element that makes it even harder for Mary to deal with. Is it possible that Mary was actually attracted to Moses even though she was a flaming racist? Perhaps he was the outlet for her sexuality that she never discovered.

6. The Turner’s house symbolizes the idea of being stuck. It is deeper than isolation; it is not only being secluded but being uncomfortable and lacking the inability to change or fix things. Mary tries to make that house better, more comfortable, a place she could live, but it symbolizes the fact that Mary is never at home there, in the house or with Dick on the farm. It emphasizes how just how bad things are.

7. The novel could have been much more exciting or disappointing if Moses’ point of view was mentioned. If Lessing was to fill his mind with developing, deep thoughts, things could have been much different to the reader. If Lessing had chosen to portray him as white people in the novel saw him, it may have seemed a little redundant and would have perpetuated the stereotype of the dumb black man, which few readers today are interested in reading.

8. Mary’s parents’ marriage really screws everything up for Mary. She does everything in her power to avoid being in the position her parent’s were in but ends up in an even worse position. Mary seems to side a little bit more with her mother than with her father. She resents her dad for putting her mom in a situation she could not get out of. Moses put Mary in a situation she could not get out of. She handed her power over to him and she could not get it back. He controlled her, every part of her.

9. Although Mary does not actively take a stand in her and Dick’s finances, she is forced to play a role when he gets sick. I think this quote does apply to Mary because she essentially does lack identity. At the beginning of the novel she was constantly aloof, a true individual. But when people start talking about her, she leaves herself behind and becomes someone she wishes she never was. She takes no responsibility for herself but relies on people around her to decide who she must be. To Dick, she is the idle wife, to Moses, she is his slave.

10. The institution of marriage plays a huge role in this novel. Had Mary’s friends not relied so heavily on the institution of marriage, Mary most likely would have never gotten married and remained content. It is clear that she did not believe in the idea but for a short period forgot why. Marriage made things so difficult for Mary because she felt there was a role she had to play. She could not adapt to it as she pleased. It is almost surprising that she and Dick never had children since it was a common practice among married couples.

11. The causes of Mary’s psychological breakdown include getting married, giving up her life in the city, poverty, losing her identity, her superiority complex with the natives, and her succumbing to Moses.

Ethnography

For this ethnography assignment I chose an In N’ Out restaurant for my observation field.  For over an hour I sat on the outside patio at a table next to the window looking into the restaurant.  I have chosen to focus my analysis on four groups of people that I gained the most observational material on.  Coincidently, these four groups each consist of a male and female subject. 

Observation Group I: There is a male and female walking with coffees.  She is wearing long sleeves and he is wearing short sleeves.  She woman is walking a few steps behind the man while they 

talk and watch their dog.  The woman is making plans for a trip they should go on.  He responds with “uh huh’s.”  **TIME PASSES**  They walk to the same car together, stand on the driver’s side of the car, passionately make out for about one minute, then the woman goes to the passenger side of the car, they both get it.  They appear to talk for a minute or two and then they drive away.

Observation Group II:  Around the same time, another pair of a man and a woman wait for their food to be ready by the condiment stand.  The man pulls out his Blackberry and uses it for a few minutes, but not for a phone call, while the woman just sips from her drink.  After he puts his away, she pulls out her iPhone,

 which has a yellow cover, and she plays with hers.  They have minimal eye contact.  After they move outside to the patio, where I am sitting, and sit at a four person table.  They choose to sit next to one another.  The man crosses his legs with them more spread apart while the woman crosses her legs closer together.  Man seems to finish his food first and pulls out his Blackberry again.

Observation Group III:  The next subjects are younger than the first two sets.  They seem to be in their early to mid twenties.  They bring their food over to a two person table in the corner of the restaurant.  The woman sits against the wall an

d he faces her towards the window.  In the middle of their meal he pulls out his cell phone and does something on it.  The woman continues to eat in silence.  After he puts the phone away again and they eat and talk.  They kiss each other from across the table.  And then return to eating.  He gets up and throws the trash away.  While he is gone, she picks up her phone and does something.  She puts it away before he returns.  After they are done, they leave the restaurant with interlocked fingers.  As they approach the car they kiss each other for only a moment and then part to opposite sides of the car.  She gets into the driver side of the car. 

Observation Group IV:  The final subjects that I observed for only a moment were waiting in line to or

der their food.  They were teenagers.  They embraced each other very closely, arms wrapped each other.  The girl rested her hands on the boys butt and giggles.  The boy shook her hands off his butt but as she continued to giggle she put her hands inside of his pants and actually touched his butt.  He repeated the motion to have her remove her hands. 

Analysis:

It seems that I focused my observation on couples opposed to platonic groups of individuals.  It cannot be confirmed that group II was actually a couple but one could argue either way.  It has been my assessment that romance is typically illustrated in terms of physical action opposed to words.  As an observer, my ability to hear the conversations of my subjects was limited.  I was fully open to their physical actions, however.  It was clear to me that groups I, III, and IV were couples because of their physical contact and it was unclear that group II was in a romantic relationship because there was a lack of physical contact.  It seems that romance is more of an act than a feeling.  And if that is the case, is it more for the people involved or for people who can see them?  I am most certain that the girl who stuck her hands down her boyfriend’s pants was not doing it for my benefit but it certainly it was an illustration of her affection for him.  Who was she trying to tell, him or everyone at In N Out?

 

            What made group I so interesting was their dynamic between indifference and passion.  For the majority of my observation, they not only lacked physical contact, but they lacked real communication.  They were together but were not very involved with one another.  The man was indifferent to the woman making vacation plans for them, while the woman did not stand next to him while she spoke.  She practically followed him while they walked.  Therefore, it caught me by surprise when they partook in a very passionate, tongue-y kiss in the parking lot.  McDonald explanation of today's sex comedies versus the ones in the 1960's helps to make sense of this dynamic between passion and disinterest.  One of the main components of the sex comedy in the 1960's was opposition between the main man and woman.  Today, however, this theme can no longer be found in the sex comedy, but is now in the romantic comedy (McDonald 57).  It deals with trying to ignore the undeniable bond and lust and by the end of the film, the desire is so strong that neither character can fight it off any longer.  This couple does not illustrate a romantic comedy.  They are the modern day sex comedy.  There is no struggle, it is just there and available for the taking.  In today's sex comedies, the characters do not have to work very hard to get sex; that is not where the conflict lies.  Typically, the issues and struggles occur after the sex has occurred.  Group I illustrates this lack of struggle to tap into their sexuality with one another, while simultaneously illustrating not knowing what to do next.

            Group II symbolized realism to me.  They exuded this confusion of their relationship.  They could have been friends, co-workers, or boyfriend and girlfriend, or husband and wife.  It suggests that the line between these relationships could actually be blurred into one another.  Sometimes it is difficult to define relationships because society has already defined them for us.  Just because the subjects of group II did not partake in physical contact should not suggest that they are not romantically involved with one another.  It seems the idea of “PDA”, public displays of affection, has completely changed the idea of romanticism.  Instead of it being a personal thing between two people, it now for the people involved and for everyone around them to see, to validate that it happened and provide meaning for the actions. 

            In addition to this changing idea of romance, cell phone usage seems to hold an ever-changing meaning in social situations.  As an on looker, it appears that group II and III’s usage of the cell phone suggests boredom or disinterest.  But really, when I consider how often I use my cell phone while I am with my boyfriend, there must be a mistranslation between the phone user and the person they are actually with, and with the people who surround them, and in my case are watching them.  For group III, the cell phone acted as a means to entertain for the girl when the boy left.  It appeared as if the boy was using the cell phone as a means of communication while he was with the girl.  Nevertheless, cell phones have become an added confusion factor when it comes to the world of dating and interpretation of the signs.

            If I was to define group III in Romantic Comedy terms, they would be the best friends who end up together.  They illustrated comfort with one another while refraining from physical forms of affection.  However, the little kiss in the middle of their meal was just enough to illustrate the depth of their connection without making anyone around them regurgitate their food.  When they left the restaurant, they had intertwining fingers.  They were not actually holding hands, but they were “holding fingers.”  It suggested more of a cute than passionate romance.  They did not look like they were trying at anything, whereas group I really showed passion and work when they kissed.  In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche is constantly looking for this highly idealized relationship and partner.  When she says “I don’t want realism, I want magic” it suggests that the real world lacks this form of illustrated love and passion.  It is idea of the ultimate show of affection.  You must do to love.  Group III were much more real than magic, but there was still romance.

            Group IV is your teenaged romantic comedy.  Young love is always interesting because it is in its developmental stage.  Even though the communication between men and women is always complicated, this complicatedness is heightened when you are a teenager.  I assess that the explicit touching in an In N Out by the girl was out of necessity in her mind.  She needed to show the boy how much she liked him and she did so physically.  I am certain that the boy understood this but he also seemed to understand the intensity of the act was a little too intense for public.  It just seemed to me that their intense, embracive hug was an illustration of their affection towards one another.  Perhaps this is because they do not know other ways to express it.  In fact, people they need others to categorize them into a romantic category for it to be so.  It is extremely similar to Bye Bye Birdie.  Had no one talked about Kim getting pinned, would it really have mattered at all?  Would she and Hugo felt the same way about each other?

 

Work Cited

McDonal, Tamars Jeffers. Romantic Comedy: Boy Meets Girl Meets Genre. London: Wallflower Press, 2007

"We've had this date with each other from the beginning!"

This evening my group did our presentation/discussion to the class on A Streetcar Named Desire.  I absolutely love this play and film.  I do not, however, love that we had to present during the fourth week of class.  All in all, however, I think we did a pretty good job as long as we neglect our inability to stay within the suggested time frame of 30 minutes.  Our group knew this was not enough time to cover all the topics we wanted.  In fact, we even had to throw a few topics out to allow more time and in-depth analysis for the topics we did cover.  

Since we did not have much time and starling different schedules, we did most of our correspondence and planning via e-mail.  I took a firm role in organizing and would like to think that I played a role in leadership, as well.  I made sure that we stayed in constant contact over the past week on our assignment.  I ensured that the topics we thought were most important were covered by someone and that everyone was pulling their weight.  We all maintained a good sense of teamwork while also doing work individually. Luckily for us, all of our themes and ideas intermingled in some way so we were able to act as a support system.  For the actual presentation, I helped pick out two clips that we would use.  I also organized the structure of the presentation, timing, order, ect, prep work, if you will.  

One of the requirements of the assignment was to create a class activity.  I wanted to make sure there was a little something extra, besides our discussion, to add to our presentation and the class's participation.  Although a bit immature and certainly lacking scholarly appeal, I thought the "Who would you rather do" game would be a great tie in of pop culture, the play, and the real personality battle of Stanley vs. Mitch, which is a major and thought provoking theme.  It seemed to be a great way of illustrating the theme among the students as to what sort of personality they prefer in a partner and really give a sense as to why this brute of a leading man works so well.  We were only so lucky as to get the opportunity to be able to "act out" a scene in the play.  I think it was utterly essential in the remembrance of the reenactment that Blanche be played by a boy.  Perhaps the gender-neutrality was not quite represented as I would have liked, nor did it add depth to the character of Blanche, also as I would have liked to be illustrated, but nevertheless it was certainly entertaining. 

I am thrilled that I was able to be a part of the A Streetcar Named Desire group and presenting was an immense amount of fun!  At the same time, I am thrilled I do not have to prepare for it any longer!

E-mail

Since I am a little bit neurotic, I am juggling a few different e-mail addresses around at the moment. But I have decided to use the oh so sophisticated leoni.kathleen@gmail.com for my purposes here. Ta Da

The Second Time Around

This is my second attempt at making a blog. Somehow I deleted my other account or some crazy nonsense, but nevertheless, here we are again. I'm a little frustrated but still in good spirits. I think I can make this blog thing fun if I try. Soooo..... I will!