All things freakish

Throughout this course we have discussed many interesting topics, and many things which make people freakish. The most disturbing thing I think was talking about how it was freakish to have a female heroine. One day I hope that is no longer the case, come on, we women can be strong and leaders. Anyways, feminist rantings aside...

All of this talking about what makes someone different makes me wonder what is normal at all. Maybe there isn't any normal, and everyone is freakish, and all of our trying to belong and fit in is in vain since we are all too freakish to begin with.

I don't have much to expand on this topic with, its just a little thought I had. But it gives you something to think about anyways.

I Ain't Ever Satisfied...

Of all the books we have read so far, I loved Never Let Me Go the most. It was an easier read yes, but I enjoyed the first person narrative, the subject matter, everything. This book deserves all the awards it got.

The most interesting thing I found about this novel was the question raised by the "normal people" about whether or not the clones had souls. Even more interesting to me was the way in which Emily and Madame chose to expose the existence of their souls- through art and creativity. I remember early on in the book wondering why there was no mention of the students taking any math or science courses. This made me wonder- does Kathy not mention which organs are being donated because she doesn't know that much about anatomy or is it just not important to the story? Not that this is of huge significance really.

The idea that got me the most in this book was this: If a human being really wants or needs something, he will purposely remain ignorant to the downfalls of the source. Not unlike global warming, I would say. We know exactly what we are doing to the environment, that our kids or maybe their kids will be stuck in a world of extinction and natural disaster, yet we chose to lie to ourselves and pretend it isn't happening, or that it is totally normal. Not unlike pretending there is no reason to wonder whether clones have souls. I believe this novel not only raises the important questions about the ethicality of cloning, but the ethics of the consumerist society as a whole. Another reason I (being the "hippy idealist" I am) loved this book.

Nights at the Circus... still going...

Nights at the Circus...
I thought I would have loved this novel when I was told it was about feminism and empowering women and all such motifs. However, I really haven't been able to get into this novel. For me there are too many random tangents that I get bored reading, until finally I put the book down and do something else. Unlike the other books for this class, I have been reading this for nearly 3 weeks and haven't finished it yet. I think that so far I haven't really gotten to a point of "Oh, I wonder what happens next!?!?" that really keeps me interested in a book. Or in Never Let Me Go, as I wondered just where the story was going. I really couldn't care less about what happens to Fevvers and Walser, so, I have been trying to think about why this is so.

What I have decided so far is that I just don't get why Walser initially cares so much about Fevvers, and I don't see how he falls in love with her at all. I thought he was just interested in her in a journalistic way, and when we discover he is "in love" I was taken a little aback. The rest of the novel I can see how he does love her and so on, but the beginning of the book really didn't get me hooked at all. If I didn't have to read this for a class I would have given up already.

I do think that Carter finds an interesting outlet for her positions on feminism and the like, however, this is definitely not a book I will read again for a long time.

Freakish

During class, the one topic that jumped out at me the most was the concept of the Carnivalesque, especially because it was so difficult to define as one thing or another. I am not sure if I am totally off base in my interpretation, but the whole concept reminded me of a scene in an old favourite book of mine as a teenager. In This is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn by Aidan Chambers, there is a scene in which the main character describes a memory from her childhood where she and her friends performed a dance for the adults at a party, which continued long after their audience had disappeared. As their dance continues the children eventually take off all of their clothes and the experience becomes what many would describe as pagan, with a sense of disconnect from the world of people in this brief time of their lives through an elated all-night primal dance. I think in this case the reason this can occur is because as children we are not as afraid to break away from social norms and expectations, and oddities are somewhat expected by adults.

How I think of the Carnivalesque is mentally being removed from the normal state of reality. Everyone involved has to play along with the new reality for it to work and keep people disillusioned. In Geek Love, during the Glass House topless auditions scene, everyone (except the one girl who thinks this is a serious audition) is in a safe place where they can express their abnormalities and show their bodies off to the public without (for the most part) any shame. Once the disillusionment is lifted and Olympia is at home recalling the events is the first time she really feels shame about her liberating experience in the spot light. I think that anyone who truly goes through a carnivalesque experience will feel slightly ashamed later, because the whole idea of the carnivalesque is the removal from the normal rules of life, and once returned to those boundaries, one will feel awkward or ashamed at what has occurred in the alternate reality. That is why it makes us uncomfortable or unsettled as well. We as a people don't generally like changes to our establishment of what is appropriate. Change in general makes us feel uncomfortable. As long as Olympia originally felt that feeling of liberation, I would say it is definitely Carnivalesque.

The other thing I wanted to talk about was Olympia's statement that "a true freak cannot be made. A true freak must be born." (pg. 20). I feel that what she is really saying here is in relation to the other 'freaks' at the Glass House that night. Those freaks are masquerading as freaks, but in reality, at least physically, are quite normal people. For example the "Two middle-aged men wore matching red plastic jeans with broad leather belts strapping their adjacent legs together" (pg. 18) so that they can look like conjoined twins attached at the legs. When the social norms flip, Olympia is now better than them because she is not a fake freak, she was born that way and is truly different. Yes, her parents played with her genes to create her, yet she is the real thing, and has no choice in the matter. Miranda is also a 'true freak' with her tail, which is part of why Olympia doesn't want her to remove it. Anyone who tries to be a freak by changing their appearance, whether performing surgery like the Arturans or just parading around in the Glass House, is not half as freakish as Olympia and her family because they were born, not made. In Olympia's world, the Binewski's are always on top.