Tales of the Unexpected 1

<Tales of the Unexpected>

Journal 1

 

*I'm not sure if I'll be able to access internet while I'm away, so I'm posting a bit early. There's just too much you can read into this stuff, and a 700 words limit is tough... I hope I at least made some points clear. These stories are packed, once you try to read into them.

 

 

 In all of the short stories we have encountered so far, there is a common theme. The dark elements of human nature are illuminated repeatedly in every story. But not only do the main characters show this aspect, but I condemn every single character for having and displaying such dark elements. In <Taste> it is easy to see Richard Pratt as a repulsive pratt, but isn’t Mr. Schofield guilty as well for betting his daughter? And his daughter as secular for eventually accepting? The man overseeing the bet and the girl that follows in <Man from the South> may show their dark nature as obviously as the actual betters. But the fact that curiosity and entertainment kept them from stopping the utter nonsense, even helping and watching, reveals them. There are many more, but I would like to focus on one character specifically for this journal.

It is quite obvious in <My Lady Love, My Dove> that the wife Pamela is dominant over her husband Arthur as they plot mischief. The submissive, weak, inferior dark side of Arthur is shown in this aspect. Pamela comes from a richer family, is literally bigger than him, and is less discreet about her idea of ‘fun’. Pamela’s big, white face represents superiority and up-class, and also reminds me of the Queen of Hearts from the 2010 <Alice in Wonderland> movie. The first person to speak in the story is Pamela, not Arthur. On page 50 Pamela says “You know you disliked them as much as I did,” forcing her emotions on Arthur as if he were a mere component of herself. On page 51 is a lengthy description of the house and garden which shows their wealth, but Arthur readily calls it “My wife’s house. Her garden,” and makes no attempt to call it his, or even theirs. Then when objecting to Pamela’s plan and her pointing out that he had played tricks before, he says “That was different. It wasn’t our house. And they weren’t our guests.” This stroke me as odd coming from a man—it seems almost domestic, and perhaps implies a gender role change between the two. And Arthur eventually does as Pamela wishes.

Arthur has a knack of making excuses to and for himself. As mentioned, Arthur is more submissive to his wife. Arthur is intimidated by her, but tries to deny it. On page 51 the lines “Mind you ~ the way she carries on.” show an example of Arthur trying to give excuses. On page 56 “It was nothing much, mind you ~ lager stockholdings.” we find Arthur playing down his sneaky actions and justifying himself. This makes one wonder if his initial reluctance to Pamela’s plan is just a façade to get her to urge him, thus putting the responsibility and blame on her.

Despite all this, Arthur is no less mischievous than his wife. When Pamela first proposes her plan to eavesdrop on the Snapes on page 52, Arthur responds that “That’s about the nastiest trick I ever heard of. It’s like—why, it’s like listening at keyholes, or reading letters (…)” But on page 54 Pamela reminds him that Arthur did exactly that—reading letters of other people. So he has proved that he is really no better than his wife, only more discreet and passive. Pamela even goes to pin-point it for him on page 53, “(…) I’m a nasty person. And so are you—in a secret sort of way. That’s why we get along together.” Another thing to consider is on page 55 as Arthur goes to ready the mike, “I hesitated. It was something I made a point of doing whenever she tried to order me about, instead of asking nicely.” Of course, Arthur ended up doing just as Pamela wanted, but the point is that Arthur was not hesitating because he was opposed to the idea of eavesdropping, but just to set Pamela off.

There is much more that can be read into, and perhaps I am reaching too far. But Roald Dahl has clearly portrayed many dark sides of human nature in just one character.

Journal #3

Reading Journal #3: Form a “claim” about Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

At first glance, Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” might appear to portray the colour white as a symbol of innocence. After all, as the novel develops there is less and less white, and when Dorian orders flowers he asks for “as little white ones as possible.” However, the face of the avenging James Vane is expressed as a “white handkerchief”, which does not really fit in to “innocence.” Therefore, it is perhaps more accurate to assume that white symbolizes a sort of blankness—whether it be blank innocence or the blank stare of death. In this sense, “the white purity” and the “rose white boyhood” of Dorian Gray is something that is untainted and pure yes, but also blank.

Journal II-The Picture of Dorian Gray

 In this journal, I would like to talk about beauty portrayed in The Picture of Dorian Gray.

 First off, let’s start with what Lord Henry says right at the beginning of the book. When Basil says that he has put too much of himself in the portrait of Dorian, Lord Henry laughs that there is no resemblance between the two of them. Basil has an intellectual expression at most, while the picture—Dorian—is beautiful. Then Lord Henry launches off into a lengthily speech about how beauty ends where an intellectual expression begins, and that beautiful people don’t think, thus remain delightful.

 Lord Henry is known for his wit and criticism, as was Oscar Wilde. Personally I think he is the greatest resemblance to Oscar Wilde himself. Then is it safe to think that Wilde thought the same of beauty? Like what Lord Henry says about art—that the purpose of art is to be beautiful—Lord Henry deems Dorian “a brainless, beautiful thing, who should be always here in winter when we have no flowers to look at, and always here in summer when we want something to chill our intelligence.” Lord Henry seems to regard beauty as something totally independent of moral values.

 On the contrary, Lady Narborough tells Dorian that, “You are made to be good—you look so good.” In this we can see that Lady Narborough sees beauty entwined with ethics. Actually, this view was that of most of the Victorian society of the time. This actually goes further into time, to the time of Plato and Socrates. In his book The Symposium, Plato states that things which are good are beautiful, and vice versa as well. Plato’s words connect with the main theme of the Victorian era, which Wild criticized sarcastically so much.

From what we see in the Preface—“beautiful things mean only beauty”—Wilde clearly disagrees with the Victorian view that beautiful things must be moral and ethical. We all know he does. But Wild devised his book to mirror himself and the society around him. We can see Wilde as Lord Henry—although he himself claimed to be Basil—disregarding the average ideas and spreading his own ideas, Lord Henry by his words and Wilde by both words and writing. There are those influenced by those words, such as Dorian, and there is also the society that stands against his thoughts. In the book this is eminent in Lady Narborough’s words. Wilde seems to have channeled his ideas into this book.

 

This is just another thing, but the book mentioned above, Plato’s Symposium, is about love, specifically Eros. Interestingly, according to this book, the best form of love is when a young boy loves an older man. And when Wilde was convicted, part of what he said for defense was indeed, that people of old, such as Plato and Socrates, had loved young boys. Following the steps, perhaps? But if Wilde read Plato, then does he relates with the homosexual part but not the view on beauty?

Journal I

 Last year, in Literature class, I learned that the very first sentence of a book is worth looking at. In the case of <The Picture of Dorian Gray> the whole first paragraph is a single sentence. It describes the air of the current setting, with an emphasis on roses. As I have only read the first chapter, I am yet to find out if this has any relevance with the book. I will keep an eye out for the ‘delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn’.

 In the first chapter, there are two, or rather three characters. The character that attracts my attention the most is Lord Henry. He has a very strong, firm belief and stance in what he says. What Basil says about Henry is interesting as well—‘You never say a moral thing, and you never do a wrong thing. Your cynicism is simply a pose.’(page 7) and ‘I don’t agree with a single word that you have said, and, what is more, Harry, I don’t believe you do either.’(page 15) But Lord Henry surly does seem to pursue his own interests. He keeps nagging Basil to tell him the reason he would not sell the painting, and when Basil accidently says Dorian’s name, Henry is on it in a flash. Most of what he says has a strong air of self confidence too. Also, the way Basil wants to keep Dorian Gray from Henry caught my eye as well. Basil did say that he wanted to keep Dorian a secret to make life more romantic, but is that really all? In the last part of the chapter, Basil says ‘Don’t spoil him for me. Don’t try to influence him. Your influence would be bad. The world is wide, and has many marvellous people in it. Don’t take away from me the one person that makes life absolutely lovely to me, and that gives to my art whatever wonder or charm it possesses.’ to Henry. Somehow, this seems like it may be a prediction. Given Henry’s strong view of life and his chase for amusement, perhaps he will do something to influence Dorian Gray in a way Basil does not want him to.

 Another thing that is interesting is the relationship of intelligence and beauty portrayed by the characters. Lord Henry especially has a strong view in it. What with saying that beauty ends where intellect begins, that beautiful people don’t think…I understand that he might be referring to how people tend to frown when deep in thought. But still, it seems too much. Perhaps a sort of black and white theory is in process, or dichotomy. I would like to see if this idea continues throughout the book.

Now, to examine the book in a bisexual sense. Basil uses the word ‘romance’ quite frequently when talking about Dorian Gray. Henry also said that ‘Women have no appreciation of good looks. At least, good women have not.’ I don’t want to make any absolute statements yet, but I think these are worth remembering if we want to come back to this topic.

 

The first chapter seems introductionary--the following chapter promises the appearance of Dorian Gray. Thus I think there will be a new beginning.