So far throughout this whole book, the main character has yet to show really any feelings toward anybody. Her best friend as of now is Anna whom she has known for only two months, and the thing that she likes about Joe is that he is quiet and doesn't like to talk about his feelings. Then throughout the book so far her own father is missing and potentially dead, but she hardly shows any emotion of sadness towards this.
During this passage she kills a fish, and begins to feel a little sick about killing it. This sickness she feels is one of the only times throughout the book so far that she has any sort of feelings or emotions for anything. Then after realizing that it is ridiculous for her too feel this way, she starts to say that certain things are alright to kill. All of the things she names are animals, except for one. She mentions that it is also alright to kill enemies. This is just another hint that she has no feelings and that she may be a little crazy, if she thinks its ok to kill another person, even if it is an enemy.
1.) Why do you think she feels she is rationalized in saying that it is alright to kill an enemy?
2.) Why do you think it took her this long to actually have some feelings for an object or person?
For question 1, I think she tried to rationalize her action by recalling it's ok to kill the enemies because it's the thought that the society, the civilization has embedded in her mind.
ReplyDeleteI think, it took her long because of all the anguish she has experienced in the past. When grief reached a certain level, it actually make you fell indifferent, the emotion of pain disappear and she can hardly feel anything anymore.
The main character may feel rationalized in killing an enemy because her father wanted her to avoid religion throughout her life, so possibly she wouldn't feel the moral shame. Also she doesn't feel bad about leaving her husband and child so she doesn't seem to have a a fully active conscious.
ReplyDeleteI think it took her this long to have feelings because when she killed the fish she was in control of its life, and she actually physically killed it, while when she hooked worms and the frog she wasn't actually killing them so she didn't feel bad.
I think it is interesting how throughout the story so far, we see that men as having power over women, from the history of her husband and the way that David talks to Anna. However, when they go to the island looking for her father, the narrator is the only one able to do anything. She describes how incompetent the men are at gathering wood, rowing, and fishing. She also said that she would rather not kill the fish, but after David’s failed attempts at it, she does it for him. This brings about a reversal of masculine and feminine roles.
ReplyDeleteAs for how she felt sick from killing the fish, I think she felt bad because she took away something’s life, meaning that she had total power over its life while she is unsure if she has power over her own life. We see her reluctance of power when she describes how when she was young and wanted to keep beans to become all-powerful, but “Just as well, I thing, as I had no idea what I would do with the power once I got it; if I’d turned out like the others with power I would have been evil.” (Atwood 33) This leads me to think that she is unsure if she really wants power over her own life or even the life of another animal.
She is against killing anything herself because, perhaps, she doesn't believe she should kill anything. If someone else is doing the killing though, it seems to be okay with her. It sickens her that she was the one who personally cause the death of the fish, not someone else. If someone else had killed the fish, I don't think it would have bothered her. I think the same goes with the enemies part. She knows (or thinks) that it is alright for enemies to be killed because that is what society thinks, just as long as it isn't her that is doing the actual act of killing
ReplyDeleteI think that she is rationalizing about killing an enemy because it is something that has been drilled into our heads since we were young. It makes sense to kill enemies because they stand between what we want and if we justify that taking out the enemy is okay so we can get what we want.
ReplyDeleteI think it took her so long to feel anything, because she always has her guard up so high. I just think this fish caught her off guard and made her flash back to the member of her brother's drowning.
I think that by saying it is okay to kill food and enemies she is only repeating what her father told her to justify her killing the fish.
ReplyDeleteI think that is not so much a matter of it taking a long time for her to show emotion, but more so the act of taking life from the fish that caused her to show emotion. I think she relates to the "taking of life" and that is why it bothers her so much. One of these ways is the abortion she had which she is very troubled by.