While reading the synopsis on Freaks, which we'll be watching tomorrow in class, I was trying to remember if I had seen it in the past. I'm quite sure that myself and a friend, having heard that Johnny Depp was a fan of the movie, rented it in the early 90s. The refrain "one of us" seemed so familiar, but then I recalled it's because of the Ramones' "Gabba gabba, we accept you, we accept you, one of us." Hmm...I'm really dating myself here. Moving on.
I'm going to reserve my posting on the movie until after we watch it. The rest of this post will be dedicated to Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go which I know for certain I have read! A friend gave it to me shortly after it was released, and I read it in a couple of days while at home sick. I did the same thing this weekend, strangely enough sick with a cold again, but read it more closely and made about 8 pages of notes. I'm writing on it for my paper topic, so I won't go into detail regarding cloning and its implications.
It was interesting to read the book with new "close-reading" eyes. I remember that I really enjoyed the book the first time, appreciating its simple form and compelling storyline. This time, I found the characters frustrating throughout, and the final meeting with Madame and Miss Emily was unsatisfying. After the building of suspense, that section of the book falls flat with Miss Emily's lengthy explanation of why they did what they did. This time it felt like too tidy a summary, dispelling all mystery surrounding Hailsham and its students. Of course, the reader knows for certain what the students are on page 73, so I don't understand why I'm bothered by the full disclosure this time around.
I'm curious about the constant references to weather. "There was bright sunshine, but it must have been raining earlier that day..." (Ishiguro, p. 7). "The downpour had started while we were changing..." (p. 71). "It had turned into a crisp, sunny day..." (p. 136). Even the name of the school, Hailsham, has a weather-related name. I'm guessing there is some meaning in the mention of weather, perhaps as foreshadowing of the tone of the storyline that follows?
I'll leave off here until we've had a chance to discuss the novel in class. I'm sure that will bring new ideas to mind, and maybe bring some of the ones I have into focus.
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I thought your mention of the weather was quite insightful and I found an interesting article written by Margaret Atwood at http://slate.msn.com/id/2116040/ that has a part in it discussing the meaning of weather. Hopefully it's helpful for your paper.
ReplyDeleteI've read the novel a few times now and every time I read it I experience a different frustration - although I still adore the text and continue to find it a compelling narrative. It really does matter how you read the text - for entertainment, for teaching, for writing, etc.
ReplyDeleteWeather: good close reading! I wonder if it relates at all to nature and the novel's questioning of what is natural and unnatural - controllable and uncontrollable? Weather is also an environmental "body," per se, that we try to understand through technology (even manipulate at times). In that sense, weather could be considered a trope for the clones in the novel.