Summer
“She knew that Mrs. Royall was sad and timid and weak; she knew that layer Royall was harsh and violent, and still weaker.”
This stood out to me because I don’t often associate weakness with being harsh and violent. Harsh and violent make me think of a strong and scary man. But when these words are paired with weakness, I see the reason for his harshness and violentness. It shows that he is weak and therefore he has to be harsh and violent to protect himself…it’s sort of a front so people don’t see the real him. Since Charity lives with him, she is able to see that weakness.
I think this relates to lawyer Royall’s weakness with alcohol and his desire to be with Charity. These things both show his weakness…so this line is just a hint to make sure the reader realizes it. I think that it describes the cultural narrative of men being strong and sometimes too strong, but I also think it kind of expands on it. I think that by having the reader consider that strength is a way to cover up a weakness is something that really hasn’t been considered in other readings…or at least isn’t something that I haven’t noticed yet.
“Oh, I don’t believe half the bad things you all say of the Mountain!”
This stood out to me because it really says a lot about Harvey’s character. It shows that he isn’t judgmental and does not place value on someone because of where they’re from. I was really impressed at the way he made Charity feel good about herself and made it so she didn’t need to be ashamed of where she was from. This really made me like Harvey. I think it relates to other parts of the book because it sort of re-affirms at the realness of Harvey. Through the book up to this point, Harvey has always seemed to have a genuine care for people and has been very considerate of others…for example, when he accidentally got Charity in trouble with his aunt…he felt bad and talked to his aunt about it for her. I think this sort of contradicts the cultural narrative that many city people look down upon country people. This showed the city boy actually giving the country people a chance before judging them.
This stood out to me because I don’t often associate weakness with being harsh and violent. Harsh and violent make me think of a strong and scary man. But when these words are paired with weakness, I see the reason for his harshness and violentness. It shows that he is weak and therefore he has to be harsh and violent to protect himself…it’s sort of a front so people don’t see the real him. Since Charity lives with him, she is able to see that weakness.
I think this relates to lawyer Royall’s weakness with alcohol and his desire to be with Charity. These things both show his weakness…so this line is just a hint to make sure the reader realizes it. I think that it describes the cultural narrative of men being strong and sometimes too strong, but I also think it kind of expands on it. I think that by having the reader consider that strength is a way to cover up a weakness is something that really hasn’t been considered in other readings…or at least isn’t something that I haven’t noticed yet.
“Oh, I don’t believe half the bad things you all say of the Mountain!”
This stood out to me because it really says a lot about Harvey’s character. It shows that he isn’t judgmental and does not place value on someone because of where they’re from. I was really impressed at the way he made Charity feel good about herself and made it so she didn’t need to be ashamed of where she was from. This really made me like Harvey. I think it relates to other parts of the book because it sort of re-affirms at the realness of Harvey. Through the book up to this point, Harvey has always seemed to have a genuine care for people and has been very considerate of others…for example, when he accidentally got Charity in trouble with his aunt…he felt bad and talked to his aunt about it for her. I think this sort of contradicts the cultural narrative that many city people look down upon country people. This showed the city boy actually giving the country people a chance before judging them.
posted by Vanessa Weitlich at 8:46 PM
2 Comments:
In response to your first section, I find this very true, but also would like to go on to discuss how this can be a bad thing. Coming from personal experience, men often fall into problems because they feel weak but are raised to never show it. Often men get violent when they get upset because they are not allowed to show their feelings in any other way for fear of being weak. Also, I think a lot of times women (and men) get in abusive relationships with men because they can see the weakness in the person—they know both sides but think that the weak side can win over. When Charity finally marries Mr. Royall at the end of the novel, I was left wondering what kind of marriage this would be. While it hints that he married her to help her and will not force anything on her (when he sleeps in the chair) I wonder how long this will last. She married him out of necessity, but with his violent tendencies, how long will it be before he shows them towards her?
In response to your second passage, I want to talk about something we brought up in class today. After what we know happens in the end, do we like Harvey? I personally find it hard to completely hate him mainly because of the reasons you discussed in your post. He is charming, not only to Charity but also to the reader. However, I find it hard to not be at least partially turned off by the way he treated Charity. When we finally learn of his engagement it seems he has just played Charity along for the benefits it got him. Did he ever do the good things he did because he liked her, or was it just to get what he wanted?
I like your second passage about young Harney. I agree with Jim in that because of things like that that he says to Charity. I know that he does seem very sweet, sometimes I think he may be too sweet to be true. I think that since Harney comes from a bigger town he sees many different people on a daily basis. Therefor I think that that has culutered him and made him to be more accepting of people. I liked him a lot more after he said that comment your quoted. I think it gave Charity confidence and helped her accept that she was from the mountain.
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