{"id":1964,"date":"2022-09-20T00:41:30","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T04:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/?p=1964"},"modified":"2022-09-20T00:41:30","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T04:41:30","slug":"sunset-time-of-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/2022\/09\/20\/sunset-time-of-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunset Time of Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI am living in a red bubble made up of Louise\u2019s hair. It\u2019s the sunset time of year but it\u2019s not the dropping disc of light that holds me in the shadows of the yard. It\u2019s the colour I crave, floodings of you running down the edges of the sky on to the brown earth on to the grey stone. On to me,\u201d (Winterson 138).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In this passage, natural imagery is used as a means of measuring time and constructing identity in regard to the narrator\u2019s relationship with Louise. While <\/span>Written on the Body<\/span><\/i> follows a non-linear path, the narrator\u2019s references to months, seasons, and natural processes acknowledge the passing of time and relationships. By referring to the \u201csunset time of year\u201d which Louise herself personifies in this passage,<\/span> the narrator suggests what they perceive to be the ending of their relationship. Notably, in this metaphor Louise is not the \u201cdropping disc of light\u201d that will return to the sky the next day; rather, she is the \u201ccolour\u201d that floods everything, an ephemeral element that will never return in the same way twice. This generates an air of finality for their relationship, which the narrator struggles with due to both the mistakes they made and Louise\u2019s cancer diagnosis. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Though the narrator is devastated over the end of their relationship with Louise, there is a sense of the inevitability of nature and time within the sunset metaphor. Just as sunsets are bound to last only a short time each day, the narrator\u2019s \u201ccircadian clock\u201d supposedly ends their relationships once a short six months have passed (Winterson 79). Despite their\u00a0efforts, the narrator\u2019s exclusive relationship with Louise ended within this time frame, which casts doubt on whether they are capable of fully changing. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201ccircadian clock\u201d also represents the process of reinvention the narrator goes through with each new relationship. As seen throughout this novel, the narrator has an unstable sense of self; though the narrator tries to break their circadian rhythm to stay with Louise, they still restructure their identity around their relationship with her. Louise\u2019s influence, which is demonstrated through her red hair and colorful sunset, seemingly brings life to the narrator, who stands in \u201cshadows\u201d contrasted before her light. The \u201cbubble\u201d of Louise\u2019s bright hair, which \u201cholds\u201d them in place and which they \u201ccrave,\u201d suggests that her presence fully encompassed their life and identity. Since Louise\u2019s hair is represented throughout this novel as something made of life and energy, its inclusion in this passage seems to suggest that Louise gives new life to the narrator. Additionally, the repeating idea of her light flooding \u201con to brown earth,\u201d \u201cgrey stone,\u201d and the narrator lumps these items into a category unified by their drab qualities and the color and life Louise brings to them. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall, though the novel ends with the possibility of a second chance for the narrator and Louise, passages such as this call into question whether the narrator ever truly changes their nature for the better.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI am living in a red bubble made up of Louise\u2019s hair. It\u2019s the sunset time of year but it\u2019s not the dropping disc of light that holds me in the shadows of the yard. It\u2019s the colour I crave, floodings of you running down the edges of the sky on to the brown earth … Continue reading Sunset Time of Year<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4998,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169404],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2022-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4998"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}