Tag Archives: realism

Week 5, Moravia, “Agostino”

Posted on by

 

Reading Moravia’s Agostino brought me a new perspective towards the transition between youth and adulthood. While I was trying to empathize the situation Agostino was going though, such as him witnessing his mother’s relationship with the young man, I could not understand – by heart – what Agostino could have felt in those moments. In this way, I felt quite attached to Agostino’s thoughts; I did not have any prejudice or bias towards the scenes he was witnessing, so it was easier to perceive – as information – what Agostino was feeling.

What really stood out to me was how Moravia depicted the change of Agostino’s thoughts and perspective towards his mother. In the early parts of the book, where he first saw his mother “let herself fall awkwardly into the arms of [the young man]”, Agostino was confused of why his mother would indulge in a “feminine clumsiness” (11). Then, as he learned more about adult sexuality from the boys at Vespucci beach, his initial misunderstanding turned to “complicity, curiosity, and mug, glum approval” (47). This initial change of thought and perspective was weirdly understandable; I could not relate to it because I did not go through the same thought process nor achieved the end product similar to Agostino, but I was able to follow this change of thought without denying it. Furthermore, it was interesting to see the instances where Agostino had to hold back what he truly wanted to say to his mother, showing how there was that ongoing conflict between his innocent youth and emerging early adulthood. For instance, Agostino wanted to shout to his mother, “cover yourself, stop showing yourself to me, I’m not who I sued to be” (69).

Although it was tempting to view Agostino in a psychoanalytic perspective, I chose not to do so. The reason for this goes back to Aragon’s obsession over sensuality. Agostino’s story, which was a short instance of his much wider life, was full of new sensations; it was almost as if Agostino was piled up by new stimuluses that he could not resist but pursue. In this way, Agostino let his sensual experiences guide his thoughts, rather than rationalizing everything. Therefore, I respected this “pursuant towards sensuality” and decided to follow along the same line; I, too, focused on understanding Agostino in regards to sensuality, rather than logical rationalization.

To conclude my blog, I’d like to end with a question: Moravia, intentionally or unintentionally left out big gaps on Agostino’s life; his regular day-to-day life, as well as his previous relationship with his father. How do you think his regular day-to-day life would have changed, after his summer instance? Also, it was told that his relationship with mother had changed. How about the metaphysical connection he must have had with his father? Do you think his attitude towards his deceased father would have changed?

Week 4, “The Shrouded Woman”

Posted on by

Reading Bombal’s The Shrouded Woman was a fascinating experience. Not only did it create a unique perspective that I had never even dreamt of, but it also facilitated a metaphysical environment for me to reflect on my own life.

I truly enjoyed the fact that the narrator was a dead person. Although I highly doubt that what happened in the story happens in reality, it was fascinating to read Bombal’s creativity in this matter. Speaking of creativity, I believe Bombal successfully “created” an authentic world in her book. In other words, she created an environment in her book where all the characteristics of the world were derived from her creativity. In this way, I view Bombal’s book as a fictional literature that is “real” in itself. In addition, I was heavily impacted by the perspectives of this book. While following the Ana Maria’s reflections of her past, I, too, reflected on my life so far; I reflected upon the relationships I had, my actions in certain situations, and how I could have been perceived by other people. The fact that Bombal’s book affected me in this way shows that it was “real” in its own sense. It created concrete effects in my life, giving me a new perspective to view my own life.

Another notable characteristic of Bombal’s book was how the role of women was depicted. Before reading the book, and during the first sections of the book, I had a strong expectation that this book would depict women to be inferior and “controlled”. Part of this initial expectation proved right, as the women of the story seemed to have limited opportunities in any department of life than men had. For instance, Ricardo went abroad for his studies, whereas no other women did the same. However, the way women were portrayed, at least in the case of the narrator, was against this prejudice of women being inferior and “controlled”. This is especially in the case of Ana Maria, the shrouded woman. Following Ana Maria’s reflections, it almost felt as if she had superior wisdom than any other people who were living. Ana Maria shows acceptance, sympathy, and pity towards the people who had hurt her in her life. She depicts the sorrowful events of her past as something silly and childish. Perhaps this also shows a separation between life and death; the wisdom we could only gain through death. For some reason, however, this “superiority” of the narrator being in an extraterrestrial realm made me perceive a sense of superiority of women. Moreover, this understanding was strengthened after reading about Maria Griselda’s prominence.

To finish of my blogpost, I would like to ask a question: Ana Maria freed herself from her “terrestrial anxieties” through reflecting and evaluating the relationships she had and how those relationships affected her life. Do you have any “terrestrial anxieties”? Where do your “terrestrial anxieties” come from? How do you think you can free yourself from them?