Two or Three Things I Know for Sure is a beautiful exploration of the human condition, told from a unique female perspective. Allison speaks frankly and intimately with her reader and allows them into the deepest facets of her being. It is because of this, and her extraordinary gift for weaving words together, that I found this work the most moving and relatable of the readings we have done in our class. Despite her incredible talent, Allison never comes off as pretentious or self-aggrandizing, but more like a woman who is telling her story in the most honest and forthright way she can.
Allison’s reflections on love and lust and the tragedies and joys that are born from them showcase her distinct ability to combine sensitivity with a kind of primal rage. This ability can be seen here:
Love was something I would not have to worry about….Women who pined, men who went mad, people who forgot who they were and shamed themselves with need…Love was a mystery. Love was a calamity….Sex was the country I had been dragged into as an unwilling girl—sex, and the madness of the body. (55)
The author employs strong, evocative language to relate her thoughts to us and one cannot help but be moved by the way in which she does it. For a long time sex and love exist as two mutually exclusive entities for Allison. They are “countries” that are completely independent of one another. As a result of things she has observed in the past and her sexual abuse as a child, this concept makes perfect sense and though I have heard of this emotional response before, Allison’s description makes the concept so utterly comprehensible. Allison seems to be stating that at this point in her life she found love something that can be prevented or kept in check by the force of ones will, while sex is a wild, uncontrollable force. In other words, our bodies will betray us but our hearts and minds don’t have to. This conviction does not last much longer.
Allison is equally vivid and bold when she describes the first time she experiences longing for another person in an emotional sense rather than a purely sexual one. The author says:
She had no way of knowing that without warning or preparation I had just become my mother’s daughter, my sister’s counterpart-tender and fragile and hungry for something more than dispassionate curiosity. (58)
Allison can finally relate to the vulnerability, which she had mistaken for weakness up until this point, of the women in her family. It is not until now that she can truly feel a total and complete kinship with her mother, sister, aunts, and cousins she had always watched with a sense of pity and confusion while growing up. Again Allison’s interesting juxtaposition of adjectives can be seen in this passage. She is “tender” and “fragile” yet “hungry” all at the same time.
Allison’s work is endlessly rewarding because of her honesty and courage. At the risk of sounding cliché, the author takes her reader on a journey of self discovery and explores how one can come to truly love and accept oneself.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Symbolism in "Angels In America"
In Angels of America Tony Kushner walks a fine line between pessimism and optimism. He highlights the spiritual bankruptcy present in modern day society while yet also reassures his reader with hope and redemption (in the afterlife). I am particularly impressed by this because he does it through clever, biting dialogue that leads the reader to question their own beliefs regarding existence, both earthly and otherworldly.
It seems to me that each of his characters is used to represent a certain point of view. Though they have many similarities in terms of their insecurities and unfortunate positions in life, each of them is unique in their perspective and background. The character Joe is of particular interest to me because he is symbolic of the fact that anyone, no matter their religious background or strict upbringing is immune to doubt and self-loathing. Mormons can be homosexual and there is no cure for this. No amount of prayer or denial can make Joe straight and this causes unbelievable anguish for himself and for his wife Harper. However, Kushner uses the character of Joe to represent the importance of knowing and accepting oneself. This is clear when he tells Harper:
My whole life has conspired to bring me to this place, and I can’t despise my whole life. I think I believed when I met you I could save you, you at least if not myself, but…I don’t have any sexual feelings for you, Harper. And I don’t think I ever did. (78)
This passage is important for several reasons. Here we see the concept of salvation and how Joe’s religious beliefs have led him to believe that acting on his homosexual impulses were something wrong and unnatural. In some ways it is as if he felt he was giving penance by marrying Harper and attempting to save her from her mental illness. When he comes to the realization that he can neither “cure” himself or his wife he is forced to reevaluate everything he has ever known and amazingly he comes to the conclusion that this was in fact inevitable and he cannot hate a part of himself that he never had any chance of resisting in the first place.
Another character that I find endlessly intriguing is Roy. He is possibly the antithesis of everything that Joe is-shameless, dishonest, and devoid of any real spiritual conviction. It is interesting to me that Joe admires Roy so much seeing as how he represents everything Joe would appear to not want in a mentor. The differences between the two can be clearly seen here:
This is…this is gastric juices churning, this is enzymes and acids, this is intestinal is what this is, bowel movement and blood-red-meat—this stinks, this is politics, Joe, the game of being alive. And you think you’re…What? Above that? Above alive is what? Dead! (68)
In Roy eyes, to be alive is to embrace the unadorned ugliness of existence and particularly human nature. He is infuriated not only by the fact that Joe won’t take the job in Washington but also because he considers Joe to have a holier-than-thou attitude. I also think he is acutely aware of Joe’s inclination toward self-deception; perhaps this is because he recognizes his younger self is his pupil.
In the end, each and every character serves a significant symbolic purpose in this play yet the characters do not come off as stereotypes. Kushner’s characters are nuanced and unbelievably human which makes the work a moving and wildly entertaining read.
It seems to me that each of his characters is used to represent a certain point of view. Though they have many similarities in terms of their insecurities and unfortunate positions in life, each of them is unique in their perspective and background. The character Joe is of particular interest to me because he is symbolic of the fact that anyone, no matter their religious background or strict upbringing is immune to doubt and self-loathing. Mormons can be homosexual and there is no cure for this. No amount of prayer or denial can make Joe straight and this causes unbelievable anguish for himself and for his wife Harper. However, Kushner uses the character of Joe to represent the importance of knowing and accepting oneself. This is clear when he tells Harper:
My whole life has conspired to bring me to this place, and I can’t despise my whole life. I think I believed when I met you I could save you, you at least if not myself, but…I don’t have any sexual feelings for you, Harper. And I don’t think I ever did. (78)
This passage is important for several reasons. Here we see the concept of salvation and how Joe’s religious beliefs have led him to believe that acting on his homosexual impulses were something wrong and unnatural. In some ways it is as if he felt he was giving penance by marrying Harper and attempting to save her from her mental illness. When he comes to the realization that he can neither “cure” himself or his wife he is forced to reevaluate everything he has ever known and amazingly he comes to the conclusion that this was in fact inevitable and he cannot hate a part of himself that he never had any chance of resisting in the first place.
Another character that I find endlessly intriguing is Roy. He is possibly the antithesis of everything that Joe is-shameless, dishonest, and devoid of any real spiritual conviction. It is interesting to me that Joe admires Roy so much seeing as how he represents everything Joe would appear to not want in a mentor. The differences between the two can be clearly seen here:
This is…this is gastric juices churning, this is enzymes and acids, this is intestinal is what this is, bowel movement and blood-red-meat—this stinks, this is politics, Joe, the game of being alive. And you think you’re…What? Above that? Above alive is what? Dead! (68)
In Roy eyes, to be alive is to embrace the unadorned ugliness of existence and particularly human nature. He is infuriated not only by the fact that Joe won’t take the job in Washington but also because he considers Joe to have a holier-than-thou attitude. I also think he is acutely aware of Joe’s inclination toward self-deception; perhaps this is because he recognizes his younger self is his pupil.
In the end, each and every character serves a significant symbolic purpose in this play yet the characters do not come off as stereotypes. Kushner’s characters are nuanced and unbelievably human which makes the work a moving and wildly entertaining read.
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