March 27 - Why Get married?
Since Paper 2 asks my students to answer the question, "why get married?" and to give me grounds to defend marriage I have decided to read a few stories that may help them get started on the subject:
1. Kate Chopin, The Storm: woman, at home; man, outside. woman cheating on her husband when a stranger comes in the house, during the storm. We analyzed the location of each character, questioning the myth of the fall of Adam and Eve (Calixta lets the snake in). Then, we used the theory of faculties (balancing will/emotion/intellect) to see who was lacking what and if that may explain why a marriage fails...
2. Hills Like White Elephants: The couple is unable to talk about the "it" -i.e. the child and possible abortion. We looked at the problems of communication, in the text and in the couple... looking at what is not said and who gets the last word
3. Break It Down: A guy reflects on the reason why he broke up with his girlfriend...analyzing (over-analyzing) the aspects of love. We concluded that he imposed upon himself the burden of LOVE, while trying to abide by all the rules of love. When he discovers that, with time, the rule of "thinking about her 20 times a day" weakens (to 15 times a day) he is no longer sure of his love and runs away... How is love transformed over time? Do we love with ideas of love, making us forget what love is all about? Can't we bear the pain that will always come with love (the pain of passion transforming itself in tenderness and caring, the pain of questions unanswered when faced with the mystery of the other...) what about the emotions? who is the emotional one in this story? The guy does all the thinking, feeling, questionning, etc while the girl does all the talking...Again, in this couple, big problem of communication
Great class.
1. Kate Chopin, The Storm: woman, at home; man, outside. woman cheating on her husband when a stranger comes in the house, during the storm. We analyzed the location of each character, questioning the myth of the fall of Adam and Eve (Calixta lets the snake in). Then, we used the theory of faculties (balancing will/emotion/intellect) to see who was lacking what and if that may explain why a marriage fails...
2. Hills Like White Elephants: The couple is unable to talk about the "it" -i.e. the child and possible abortion. We looked at the problems of communication, in the text and in the couple... looking at what is not said and who gets the last word
3. Break It Down: A guy reflects on the reason why he broke up with his girlfriend...analyzing (over-analyzing) the aspects of love. We concluded that he imposed upon himself the burden of LOVE, while trying to abide by all the rules of love. When he discovers that, with time, the rule of "thinking about her 20 times a day" weakens (to 15 times a day) he is no longer sure of his love and runs away... How is love transformed over time? Do we love with ideas of love, making us forget what love is all about? Can't we bear the pain that will always come with love (the pain of passion transforming itself in tenderness and caring, the pain of questions unanswered when faced with the mystery of the other...) what about the emotions? who is the emotional one in this story? The guy does all the thinking, feeling, questionning, etc while the girl does all the talking...Again, in this couple, big problem of communication
Great class.
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