“I considered her. I didn’t love her and I didn’t want to love her. I didn’t desire her and I could not imagine desiring her.” (26)
The narrators need to constantly remind that “ I didn’t love her”, “I didn’t want to love her”, and, “I didn’t desire her” throughout the quote was something that I found very captivating. The repetitions in this passage made me question the narrator’s honesty. Repetition is interesting in way that it has the ability to form arrangements, which catches our attention creating comfort within our minds. If you repeat something several times a part of you will start to believe it, whether it is true or not. I questioned whether Z was trying to convince the audience or him/herself that he had no intentions of loving Jacqueline. I think that Z wanted to make sure that his/her point was made by letting us know that not only did he not love and desire her but he had no intention of loving nor desiring her. It is almost like he was refusing himself love.
I think this passage is about the way Z views relationships and how one should feel in relationship. The fact that Z can even say “I considered her” says a lot about how much he/she values relationships and the importance of a relationship and love. In this passage Z comes off as very selfish. Even though he/she does not love Jacqueline and has no intention on loving he/she still does not mind having her around. Z is selfish for not being honest with her. Instead of thinking about her feeling and needs as a person who also would like to be loved all he can offer her is being “considered”. I think this passage is forcing us to look at love and in a more forced way. Love in this passage is being looked at as unwanted where as I am so used to seeing love being an intangible thing that people yearn for. In this sense love is seen as being something to avoid. I also think that the author forces us to look at love as one sided. In this sense it is very clear that the narrator wants nothing to with love but the woman is the equation can possibly be yearning for love.
I really like your analysis of the blog. This author used the repetition part of “The Method” from Writing Analytically to analyze the text. Another interesting way I interpreted the quote was also by focusing on the word “didn’t.” I thought it was interesting how the narrator says “I didn’t” as in used to, instead of “don’t.” This shows the reader how the love the narrator had was far back in the past and is no longer in the present.
I agree with your argument that the narrator has little value for healthy relationships and thinks little of love. In my post I talk about how the narrator views women and moves quickly from lover to lover, but I think your post goes more in depth for the narrator’s reasoning. The narrator doesn’t search for love, but searches for beauty and adventure in a woman, and only married women seem to provide zim with that. The narrator is almost certainly selfish and unromantic and I believe that’s why ze hates cliches about love.
I had this quotation written down for last class on Monday, and i agree with your idea of what the speaker is trying to say. Do you think there is a reason for the distance that is intentionally put between the speaker and the character that is being described? My group discussed how the speaker in this moment relates love to death as it was stated a few sentences later that love is like walking the plank. I agree that the speaker values a relationship but why is he/she distancing themselves?
This quote prefaced my quote and I could not decide if I should add it or not. I think you did a great job capturing the meaning of the words and seeing the thought behind the repetition. I agree that he seems to be “denying himself love” as you stated, but i also feel that there is fear behind that denial pushing it to the limit of repetition. Fear is a mighty force, and so is denial. These two together is a recipe for disaster. Though, the fact that he “considered” her, shows that there is a lick of positivity and chance, yet the repetition of denial and also fear, that I find is important to add, gives a negative and almost saddening connotation to these words.