Author: dickinson5625

 

Everyone in life and in Cereus Blooms at Night has secrets. They are masqueraded in different ways and the severity of each is different. The most notable skeletons in the large closet that Shani Mootoo has created are Mala’s childhood that was filled with abuse, different love affairs with Chandin and Lavinia and Sarah and Lavinia, Tyler’s sexual identity and preference, and the disappearance of Mala’s father.

 

When recounting the event of killing her father, on page 229, it starts as a struggle, She is unsure of what to do and jumps around his body, “did she only imagine the vapor of hot air that passed over the blade? She jumped up and, extremely vigilant, edged her way toward his feet.” But as the recounting continues, Mala becomes determined and has a plan to get Chandin in the sewing room, locked away where nobody could find him and she would be at peace “She locked the door. She leaned up against it with relief and then mounted the stairs.” She was free.

 

This said, she was never happy with missing Asha so when Judge Bissey came and delivered her letters to Mala I was surprised that she wasn’t upset that they were never delivered because of the Mailman’s fears. Continuing with secrets and my lack of faith in our current legal system, Judge Bissey’s secrets are alluded to on page 243. Anyway, the notes came to Mala as a sigh of relief almost. She wasn’t angry but happy to know she was ok and give her hope of reuniting.

 

Secrets are powerful, but eventually they become liberating to share once you have the right audience. We talked about confession in class and that to be coerced into confession is not the same as doing it on your own. It took Mala a long time to admit to her father’s disappearance but with the way the book ended, I believe that guilt was gone and there was only hope for Asha and her reuniting

n Cereus Blooms at Night, there is a big emphasis on familial structure and importance of the different roles that each member plays. On page 133, we see Mala pegging for God to go back and time and let her leave with her Momma and Aunt Lavinia. Everyone in her life that she cared about; mom, aunt, sister, left her and left her with her abusive father more importantly. But she does not have anger towards them. It leads me to think if she is just selfless in this situation because she knows the abuse that her father is and was capable of so at least the ones she loves are away from his abuse or if it is an envious plea rather than an upset one. But, then, if wishing for things why not just wish her father to stop, change, be different, or go away himself?

I think it is interesting the different factors that play a role in love and forgiveness. In my own life I have faced similar abuse with my cousin and brother. Both when I was very young, and both of sexual nature. But, as these memories became unrepressed, I was and am unable to forgive my cousin whom I was not very close with, ever, and very easy to forgive my brother who was my best friend. The difference? I see the difference being the quality and amount of love I have for one over the other. I think that is why Pohpoh could forgive her mother and sister; she loved them so much. Unrelated, I have to wonder if her mom and aunt ever found out about her father’s actions as the town seemed to notice abuse, not necessarily of sexual nature, by the girl’s appearance and actions.

In Written on the Body the main character has troubles with their identity. Because we never find out the sex of the narrator, it leads me to believe that the author chose to depict X as confused. Confused in sexual preference and sexual identity. In contrast, in Me Talk Pretty One Day the main character, David, is from a young age, identifying with female or feminine norms. We spoke about shame in the beginning of the semester and on page 10, David talks about hiding his stacks of Cosmopolitan under Boy’s life and Sports Illustrated. The concepts of shame and conformity run wild through our readings. What I find to be very interesting is this need in grade school to have someone like Agent Samson in the school. While at first I should have realized the negative connotation around her due to the analogy of being taken out in handcuffs, I assumed it was just because David was embarrassed because of his speech impediment. As I continued in the first chapter it is disheartening to think that teachers try to correct more than just a lisp. David’s efforts to cover his lisp corrected the scrutiny from the teachers but Samson could not change him as a person. The idea of shame, again, comes up in David’s concern that he would be stranded alone if Agent Samson were successful in “changing” the other boys. The fact that the boys just became quieter speaks to the shame, too. By keeping their mouth’s shut, harassment could be kept to a minimum. But, this leads to a sense of isolation that I believe was the ultimate reason the narrator in Written on the Body also ended up being isolated in a cabin in the woods. With everyone trying to change people to make them become “normal” those who are not going with the norm feel the need to hide. People in power, whether parental, school, political, etc. are social dictators of this matter. In my own experience, if my parents get made at me, well, ok. But, when they say they are disappointed in me I feel so shameful and disheartened. Shame is a horrifying feeling that David and the narrator have to continuously overcome.

Page 162

“Passion is not well bred. Her fingers bit their spot. She would have bound me to her with ropes and had us lie face to face unable to move but move in each other, unable to feel but feel each other. She would have deprived us of all senses bar the sense of touch and smell. In a blind, deaf and dumb world we could conclude our passion infinitely.”

 

In this passage the narrator is reminiscing on the past relationship that the main character and Louise had. This was stated after Louise asked is he would be true to her. He responded “with all my heart.” The irony here is that earlier in the book the narrator talks about the hoop of rope that she had around his heart but it was in a positive sense in which he was talking about at the time.

 

There is a sense of struggle within this passage. The deprivation of the senses as described only leads me to believe the turmoil felt within the main character. He is lost without Louise but at the same time is unable to have her. As elated as he once was with her, he now describes their relationship in a negative light with pain she caused him by pinching his nipple, binding him to her, and then stripping him of the innate senses. Moving as one sounds more like a struggle than a pleasure, too. Where her touch used to be soft, the narrator describes it now as a bite.

 

Previously the narrator wrote a short passage on each sense respectively and the importance of each in regards to Louise. To now be stripped of them by her contradicts previous passages. However, going forward I think the main character would benefit from being blind, as he would not have to see Louise sick and suffering. On page 186 it is written, “What then kills love? Only this: neglect. Not to see you when you stand before me.” Again the senses are removed and painful feelings are present; death, pain, and neglect.

Page 56

“THINGS HAD CHANGED. What an areshole comment. I had changed things. Things don’t change. They’re not like the seasons moving on a diurnal round.”

This passage comes from when the author is talking with Jacqueline. Jacqueline is questioning about his relationship with Louise and their relationship as well.

It is interesting to try and conceptualize change and what changes; people or “things.” The author contrasts things changing with the changing of seasons. To me this is interesting because is the main character not doing the same thing as habitually as the seasons changing? It is said that people change and not the things comprised by people. Is the main character not insane by all accounts; doing the same thing repeated times and expecting different results? He claimed that things would be different with Jacqueline to her but when it comes down to it the issue is that he has not changed for her.

This passage could be interpreted in rationalizing and taking the burden off of his back in the sense that he believes Jacqueline should have expected this and that he is justifying his actions. The author writes on page 57 “There are victims of change but not victims of things.” That said he is admitting to being the culprit in the causing of pain. At the beginning of the book the saying “I love you” is talked about as an empty phrase. If the main character is so cynical to believe this, then perhaps the concept of love in itself is not a true feeling; therefor maybe he is not capable of empathy for Jacqueline in this situation and is able to just pass it off as change and much like with seasons, if we don’t adapt accordingly we wont survive. She is just a victim of circumstance.