Miniaturization

"It is by thus triumphing over the forces of both time and space that the miniature offers its consumer a fantasy of control, one suggesting that art, knowledge, and/or technology can conquer even death" (448).

I believe this quote is saying that Wuthering Heights is a small part of history that is able to out live even the death of the culture of the time. In other words, Wuthering Heights a mini slice of life from the time period that we are able to experience through reading.

It is interesting then to look at all of the aspects that Nancy Armstrong writes about. Folklore is especially intriguing, especially in the context of Heathcliff's arrival into the Earnshaw home. He is perceived as something that embodies these superstitious fears. Being unknown in origin, he irks the family and sets off this seemingly traditional culture. By doing this, he exposes much of the culture as kind of an ironic figure.

The cultural criticism seems to suggest that Wuthering Heights works to preserve the culture of the time - "the native culture" (449). In photography, the more urban areas get a look at the less industrialized life of rural England - almost as if they are looking back in time. Wuthering Heights also does this for us. It reveals the history, culture, and traditions that we have certainly built upon.

Docs and Illustrations

I found the illustrations and depictions of the gypsy lifestyle to be very interesting - especially the one where the pig is fleeing the gypsy tent. It is a sketch, so I assume someone had intended it to be an insult to the gypsy way of life - that even a pig wouldn't want to live like a gypsy. That mindset perfectly describes Hindley's and Catherine's initial rejection of Heathcliff once they had learned his origins and Catherine's inability to marry him despite her love for him. I think most of the pictures just show strangers as compared with the "normality" of the Earnshaw's home. People tend to reject the things they are not familiar with and I think in this case the Earnshaws not only saw Heathcliff as mysterious, but also dangerous because of the prejudices associated with his supposed origins. The illustrations then go on to depict royalty - this being the way Nelly views Heathcliff. She is the only one (maybe besides Catherine, although she is in denial) that sees Heathcliff from a positive point of view - she has an optimistic view of his origins, despite everyone else's negative ones.

I also like the tie-in of the legal aspect with Heathcliff's degradation. Although he is depicted as someone of lower class, gypsy origins, he rises to the top. And not only that, but he is seen as strange and not of their world. Yet, he uses the laws that they are so familiar with to become successful. By doing this, he proves two assumptions wrong. 1. That he is of lower class and will never be able to rise above this stature, and 2. That he is not able to assimilate into their society.

Wuthering Heights

What I find most interesting about this novel is its characters and the way they interact (especially Catherine). At first, the amount of characters and their relations to one another was greatly confusing - I found myself extremely overwhelmed. Then when Ellen Dean began her story of their histories, the twisted tangle of the relations of family disfunction became clear. I was somewhat amazed by old Mr. Earnshaw's fondness of a stranger child as compared with his own blood. His compassion was astounding and it is easy to see how these children grew to become the adults that they eventually transformed into. Heathcliff, originally insensitive, is ironically sensitive to Hindley's blows and insults as he makes it his life goal to seek revenge on him. Catherine's adoration for Heathcliff, yet hatred for his "gypsy" origins, sends her into hysteria. She is completely torn by what her heart and her mind are telling her. Edgar's incessant need to make Catherine happy, yet never truly being able to fulfill her (at least not like Heathcliff can) makes him less worthy than Heathcliff, even though in society, Edgar would be seen as more worthy on the surface. And then the fact that it is his fervent pursuit of happiness that splinters their relationship even further, making everyone miserable is certainly a form of irony. It seems to me that all of this could be simplified if Catherine had confessed her love for Heathcliff and if he could have accepted it. However, the involvement of complex emotions deeply entangles the story. In turn, Wuthering Heights has become a place of somber, gloomy confinement of human distraught.

The Book Fool

This chapter interested me from the get-go. I have certainly recognized glasses as the symbol of reading, but I have never thought of it in the way that Manguel portrays. He calls these glasses "a mask through which the world can be observed" (291) and permits that they have become "the reader's emblem, a mark of the reader's presence, a symbol of the reader's craft" (291). I enjoy this chapter so much because there are so many eloquent descriptions of everyday things that we often take for granted within its text. As well, I never thought of the reader as a fool - I always thought of reading as an act of intelligence. However, when reading about Brant's "folly of the scholar" (297), I quickly realized how it could be seen as foolish. When reading was more of a form of entertainment, it could be seen as indulging when someone read often. Nowadays, because of technology advances, the ability to entertain ourselves requires little effort. Therefore, reading is seen as quite the task and an intellectual form of entertainment. Especially when you can readily turn on the TV to Jersey Shore and let your brain rot without any difficulty at all. So it makes sense that reading would be seen as a more prestigious form of mind stimulation today.

"We are merely the stars' tennis balls" - Webster

When I first began reading Maguel's A History of Reading, I was almost bothered by the extreme presence of repetition and continued to find myself saying "get on with it". However, I soon came to understand that Manguel's deep-seated passion for books and his immense knowledge of texts explained a necessity for his methods of writing. Also, as I read on I found an enjoyable sense of humor and wit in his descriptions. The quote I used for my title is just one of  the many highlights made in my copy of this book. His renditions of reading made me think about how it came to be and how it has impacted human nature and culture in ways I never had before. 

There was one point that I did not particularly agree with, though. Near the beginning, he explains that reading is being alive because you are learning life experiences through other characters. Although I think this can certainly happen, I do not think it is as effective as actually going through those experiences. Also, I do not think that reading, mainly solitary reading, is beneficial because it takes you from the real world and creates for you a fantasy world, hence Manguel explaining how as a child, he "believed in sorcery" and "prepared [himself] for encounters with ghosts, with death, with talking animals, with battle" (pg. 10). I do think, however, reading instills a greater sense of imagination that can be maintained long after childhood. But the issue of reading by oneself only is a concerning one because it implies absolutely no social interaction and that is essential to learning and living. 

The idea of questioning how we came to be able to read is one that I could not really grasp. In fact, as I was reading about it, I started to be unable to decipher some words because I had no answer to any of Manguel's complex questions.Yet, I was able to learn a great amount about speaking, writing, and then reading that has evolved over the years. 

The best idea I found in this entire reading assignment was based off of a quote by Phaedrus. It goes "The painter's work stands before us as though the paintings were alive, but if you question them, they maintain a most majestic silence. It is the same with written words; they seem to talk to you as though they were intelligent, but if you ask them anything about what they say, from a wish to know more, they go on telling you the same thing over and over again." I think this quote simply ties up the ideas Manguel makes about reading. It concludes that memorizing words are not enough, it is relating to them through all of the senses. It is through a silent connection and conversation with the words that makes them real. The reader is the painter, allowing the words to be shaped whichever way they desire.

Intro to Erin

To start, I enjoy wit and humor, hence the title of this blog. That would probably be the most important thing I could say about myself. Second is that I love literature and writing. My fortes are poetry and short stories, however I hope to publish my own novel one of these days. That would explain why I chose to become an English Education major. I chose the education part so that I could have some spare time to write and also, because I've always enjoyed school and I guess I just never want to leave. One of my favorite things in this world is my one-eyed Chihuahua named Skippy. Another is my Kindle (one of the most useful electronics I own, even more so than my cell phone). I suppose that's the basics.