memories – RMST 202 BLOGS

April 4, 2022

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

This week I decided to read My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. I thought it was an enjoyable read. I found the short chapters very motivating to keep engaged. I’m the type of the person to track my reading by setting time to finish a few chapters. For this book, it was easy to convince myself to read one more and made me believe I was a fast reader. I also thought the beginning of each chapter was intriguing since most started off with very short sentences. I must add in, I was very grateful for the character index at the beginning of the book to refer to if I ever get lost with names and forget everyone.

One thing that caught my eye is the opening of chapter 3. “I looked at my e-mail, at my regular mail, but not with any hope”. This made me question what period this book is set in. In comparison to the other books we’ve read, it’s been somewhat obvious due to war and other clues. Another scene that caught my attention is when Lila says, “[a]dvice about my wedding dress. Please, don’t say no, because if you don’t come I’ll murder my sister-in-law and mother-in-law”. This made me think of the TV show “Say Yes to the Dress” because of the conflict between Lila and her mother-in-law. The show is all about finding the perfect wedding dress and how drama is part of the journey. The show also highlights how the bride’s support system influences her opinions about the dress.

“At a certain point school is over,” Elena replies. “Not for you,” Lila says, “you’re my brilliant friend, you have to be the best of all, boys and girls”. The lecture highlighted this statement as it refers to the title but also because “it should apply to Elena and not Lila” (Beasley-Murray, 2022). I pondered about the questions Professor asked within the video. This made me analyze their friendship. Their relationship seems filled with jealousy and toxicity. I think those traits were showcased when she said, “you have to be the best of all”. If one of my friends said that I would take it almost like they’re saying it in a passive-aggressive tone.

Now the reference to the title was mentioned within the class lecture but I’m curious as to why do you think some authors decide to say this closer to the end rather than a different part of the novel? Along with, I’ve noticed in the past couple books that the title is only mentioned once within the whole book, why do you think that is?

February 7, 2022

Carmen Laforet’s Nada

I decided to go with this book to challenge myself and I’m glad I did. I really enjoyed reading this week’s read of Laforet’s Nada. I was really intrigued by the title because I vaguely remembered that “nada” means nothing in Spanish. Then I read the transcript confirming my thoughts stating, “[a]fter all, a narrative about her experience has cohered in some way, in the book that we are reading and that is now coming to its conclusion, a book that makes “nothing” its theme, that makes something out of nothing. Perhaps “nothing” (Nada) is precisely what she takes from her year in Barcelona” (Beasley-Murray, Pg. 2-3). I can sort of recognize this theme by the way the story began and ended with Andrea entering and leaving Barcelona. Which makes me wonder if that correlates together with the title? Another thing, I kept in my mind while reading was the possible significance of the highlighted statements on the digital version. At first, I thought it was going to be distracting but it was actually really helpful and a bit exciting if there were a lot of highlights on the page.

I was fascinated by how Laforet portrayed each character with great detail while also showcasing how the war impacted all of them and the house overall. Quotes such as “I was afraid to get into the bed that resembled a coffin” and “I never sleep, child, I’m always doing something in the house at night. I never, ever sleep” (pg. 9) really captured a visual of how the family is mourning. I also liked the narrator having inside thoughts “[i]s it possible, I thought, that I am the protagonist in a ridiculous scene like this?” (pg. 182). It was different compared to the other novels we have read. Also, I noticed memories seem to be a common theme within this novel as did the previous ones, which makes me wonder about how someone in the class asked if memories are going to be a similarity between all the novels.

I noticed that throughout the novel continued to reference such as “[i]t was like the end of a novel” (pg. 38) and “[t]hat’s how it happens in novels, in movies, but not in life…”(pg. 206). It wasn’t until I reread the transcript lecture I understood the reference Laforet was trying to convey. That made it truly click for me to gain a full perspective of Andrea’s character as this is how she views the life surrounding her like a story.

A question I pose to my fellow classmates is, something similar mentioned within the lecture, do you think there is a correlation between the title and how Andrea views her life as a story? What do you guys think of the title translating to “nothing”?

January 17, 2022January 18, 2022

Combray by Marcel Proust

I find reading digitally really challenging sometimes and tend to read but not actually absorb all the themes the narrator is trying to convey. I kept that in mind as I started to read this, I put away all other distractions and just read which was a really nice change. I found the beginning a little confusing to keep track of what’s happening, although, I found this read really kept me engaged. I was intrigued by the narrator’s detail reflecting upon their memories considering sometimes memories lose detail over time. Maybe that was purposeful of the author to showcase the significance of these moments? The part that clicked for me was on page nine when the narrator said “generally I would not try to go back to sleep right away; I would spend the greater part of the night remembering our life in the old days, in Combray at my great-aunt’s house…” (pg.9). I think this part clicked because this is where the setting switches to the narrator living in his memories with his family, while before that it was briefly mentioned such as on-page six, “immediately, I would say to myself: ‘Why, I went to sleep in the end even though Mama didn’t come to say goodnight to me’…” (pg.6). Now, rereading the part after completing the whole thing, I understand the importance of this memory highlighting the relationship between the narrator and his Mama.

Throughout this read, the theme of relationships really stood out to me. Of course, the narrator and his mother and father, but also the grandmother and her sister really stood out to me. This relationship stood out to me due to the great-aunt interfering with her sister’s marriage by intentionally trying to make her frustrated by giving the husband liqueurs. It also stood out to me how the author detailed the grandmother’s reaction to smiling to conceal her emotions. Now, the relationship between the son and his mother showcased emotional attachment to their ritual of a goodnight kiss. I found the passage where the narrator is told by his mom to not get caught still awake by his father really shocking. I wasn’t expecting the father to react calmly and argue that he was more worried about his son being upset/anxious rather than worrying about this as a habit like his mother did.

I was also intrigued by the passage about the garden. Is there a correlation between why the father would send his son to read in his room when it rained too much and the father’s interest in the weather? The grandmother on the other hand argued that “especially that boy, who so needs to build up his endurance and willpower” (pg.11) leads me to wonder why the father didn’t believe the same position considering the novel was written in the early 1900s.