This blog post will focus on the letter from the Narrator to Louise on page 105. Specifically, the following lines, \u201cYou are safe in my home but not my arms. If I stay it, will be you who goes, in pain, without help. Our love was not meant to cost you your life. I can\u2019t bear that. If it could be my life, I would gladly give it.\u201d (Winterson, 105). The opening line of the section demonstrates the powerlessness and impotence the Narrator feels in their current situation. The line implies the only way they are valuable is as a provider of housing but not as a partner or source of comfort. This feeling is perpetuated in the second line with the opening and close words, \u201cIf I stay\u201d and \u201cwithout help.\u201d The Narrator works under the assumption that the only way one can be helpful to someone afflicted with cancer is by providing medical treatment. They ignore the possibility that their emotional support is just as valuable as anything Western Medicine can provide.<\/p>\n
In the final three sentences the Narrator creates their excuse for leaving. They perpetuate the idea that they must abandon Louise for her to survive. This is exemplified in the third sentence with the use of the words, \u201cOur love\u201d and \u201cyour life.\u201d This sentence could be written as \u201cWe should not cost you.\u201d That the separation of the two, and destruction of \u201cwe\u201d is necessary for the survival of Louise.<\/p>\n
The last two lines are a confession of the Narrator\u2019s feelings, \u201cI can\u2019t bear that.\u201d (105). Rather than handle the messy aspects of a relationship they would rather leave. Even after Louise had already states she will under no circumstances go back to Elgin, the Narrator feels it is necessary for her to do exactly that because they \u201ccan\u2019t bear\u201d to be the person Louise relies on. These lines attempt to make a selfish decision seem selfless. They suggest that the Narrator chooses to leave out of fear rather than sacrifice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This blog post will focus on the letter from the Narrator to Louise on page 105. Specifically, the following lines, \u201cYou are safe in my home but not my arms. If I stay it, will be you who goes, in pain, without help. Our love was not meant to cost you your life. I can\u2019t … Continue reading The Narrator and Selfishness In “Written on the Body”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[346798],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2023-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2298","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\/5366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}