body paragraph(s)

Ok so I was writing my first paragraph, still unsure about the state of my thesis, when I realized it was simply too long to only be one paragraph in a 3 page paper, so I decided to split it into two.  I don't like it quite as much since I feel like they're less developed no that they're so short, so that's why I'm going to post both so that we can combine them later if possible.

                While Therese shows her capacity for affection and friendliness with Carol, her inability to connect or socialize amiably with the other people in her life demonstrates a lack of maturity stemming from her lesbianism.  Even during short interactions with less important characters, such as Mrs. Robichek, she shows little compassion; once Therese sees “the terrible, shocking ugliness of the short, heavy body with the bulging abdomen…she could not make herself listen” to anything this hospitable woman says (20).  Her disgust with Mrs. Robichek shows a shallowness and lack of understanding that becomes very much a part of her character.  For instance, as soon as Therese falls in love, she becomes more and more distant from Richard, and eventually she starts to detest him with little reason.  Though she never has felt anything more than a platonic friendship for him, she does say, “I like his attitude-more than most men’s.  He does treat me like a person instead of a just a girl he can go so far with or what not” (81).  In the year she has known him, he has treated her very well, but that does nothing to stop her from very quickly changing the way she treats him.  When Therese spends time with Richard after seeing Carol, she first suggests that Richard “cancel the reservation [to Europe] in case she can’t go,” (54) and then denies his offer to see his family on a Sunday because she’d rather “work.”  When Richard points out the oddity in her reasoning, she again brings up the idea of cancelling the trip to Europe.  In this scene, Therese knows she no longer wants to date Richard, and in her defense, she does make clear she still cannot love him, but instead of seeing him as a friend who’s loved her for a year now, she views and treats Richard as a nuisance. 

In addition to the attempts to avoid future encounters with him, Therese’s love for Carol further impacts her friendship with Richard negatively as she starts to become enraged over nonsensical issues.  In a later scene, Richard presented Therese with a kite as a thoughtful gesture, much to her enjoyment, and ironically this causes her to immediately think of Carol.  She begins flying the kite successfully, but once it runs out of line, Richard excitedly suggested he cut it.  Since she clearly equates the state of bliss she feels flying the kite with the bubbly sensation she gets from her new love, Therese experiences so much anger that she “couldn’t believe she had heard it” (99).  In a frenzy, “Therese jerked the stick sideways, out of his reach, speechless with anger and amazement. There was an instant of fear, when she felt Richard might really have lost his mind” (99).  She then proceeds to scream in more fury than she releases throughout the rest of the novel combined, which proves her irrationality since Richard literally just cut the kite that he himself made.  From this point, their relationship only deteriorates as Therese brushes off Richard more and more, until finally he realizes she no longer wishes to see him because of her feelings for another woman.  In the argument which proceeds, Therese lets her all her inhibitions go and attacks Richard in every aspect of his life, saying, “You’ll drop painting some day and me with it.  Just as you’ve dropped everything else you ever started” (156).  She continues with, “You’re like a little boy playing truant as long as you can” (156).  Therese, before having undergone her transformation, never would have belittled Richard’s aspirations, and furthermore her comments have little to do with their fight.

This is what I have so far. A lot of work to be done, but I'll know more on where to go once I finish my thesis.

Thesis and Project Narrative

So far, the one thing I've written most frequently about, the one thing I've felt most strongly about, is my beef with Therese.  I talked a lot about Richard, but mainly I wrote about Therese; I always tend to focus on character flaws in the main character, since sometimes they can harder to pick up on, so it's no surprise that's what interested me.  That said, I should probably focus my thesis on the subject of Therese's character and the significance of such. Therefore, I have come up with

The immaturity displayed by Therese both in her relationship with Carol and her interactions with other people illustrates Patricia Highsmith's view of lesbianism as frequently a childish mentality.

I phrased it in this way because I don't think Patricia Highsmith actually thinks lesbianism in general is childish, but I think she may be arguing that girls sometimes pursue queer lifestyles mainly because they aren't mature enough to know where they are emotionally and psychologically.  She also may just be showing the way in which society at the time saw lesbianism, as young girls who become overwhelmed and proceed to act irrationally and selfishly.  Either way, Therese ends up changing a lot in the last chapter or so, and still remains in love with Carol, so clearly Highsmith has no real qualm with lesbianism in general.  I intend to include some of this dialogue in a brief intro/conclusion

 In order to make this argument, I'm going to first show all the flaws in Therese's persona once she becomes enamored with Carol in regards to Richard as well as some other minor characters like Mrs. Robchiek.  In the next paragraph, I would talk mainly about the problems with her relationship with Carol, and believe me, they're there.  In both of these paragraphs I'd try to show after all of my evidence how these things depict lesbianism in a childish light.  In my conclusion (in as much space as I have left) I'll be most likely pointing out that although these things suggest Highsmith sees lesbianism as childish, she certainly doesn't believe it's always that way or can't change into something more grown up, using the final pages as evidence.

I'm definitely very open to suggestions on this since to me it's very hard to pinpoint Highsmith's motive in making Therese the way she is.  I know there is a significance and I have a lot of evidence for it, but I can't be sure that my interpretation is 100% correct.  Therefore, I'm looking for any kind of constructive criticism, mainly towards that aspect of my thesis.  Thanks in advance, see you next time.

Developments and such

Last Sunday, I gave my overall view of each of the three biggest characters as well as the heads-up that much of what I said would become outdated as the book progressed.  Since I have a lot to say I'm just going to jump right into it; time's a-wastin' here.

At the end of Chapter 12, Richard finally gets fed up getting his plans denied by Therese, and as I said in my last blog, rightfully so.  The guy is totally in the right asking her to go to the concert with him, but she can no longer bear spending long periods of time with him.  The book makes pretty clear that once Carol comes into her life, Therese wants nothing to do with Richard.  So finally it boils over and Richard loses it; he approaches her aggressively on the matter.  Therese responds with the classic "You don't understand" (154), which she repeats later in the argument but also acknowledges is total bull.  Richard understands fine.  However, my dude did surprise me with how he saw Therese as being in a "trance" or "daze," and that Carol "knew what she was doing," and "shouldn't play you like this" (154).  This fits in exactly with how society unfortunately saw homosexuality at this time, as a mental perversion or sickness, and to me this is rather disappointing.  I thought Richard would be above that and a little ahead of his time, as I feel his character previous to this suggested.  He keeps insisting that she will change her mind and return to sanity, which, again, would have been very typical of how many people felt about such things in this era.  Now, I'm going to make a leap here.  I know this isn't going to be well received, but here goes: I think this is a weak attempt by Patricia Highsmith to both antagonize Richard as the mean, simple-minded old boyfriend and also incorporate current cultural issues in her novel.  Hold on, let me say why I feel this way.  There is no doubt that she, meaning Highsmith, would have been dead on to make this kind of claim about society.  The other novels in Lesbian Pulp Fiction and other queer genres prove this so overwhelmingly it's almost comical.  I also feel she did a good thing by depicting this ignorant and archaic mindset, but I just don't think it works with Richard.  The Richard I read earlier in the novel wouldn't have reacted in this way, but then again, I'm biased.  I'm living in a much different time; when I meet a nice and intelligent person, I can safely assume that they won't have ignorant beliefs such as the ones portrayed through Richard.  I guess even amiable people with their head on straight in the 1950's just could not look at certain things the way we do now, so I am willing to concede my former statement, but not entirely.  Moving back to the argument now, I also couldn't help but dislike Therese even more.  In addition to continually using this curt, emotionless, and somewhat condescending tone, she also really goes for the jugular on Richard.  I mean, it was just revealed that she has been avoiding him, the guy she's dated for years, because she has a crush on a women she met a couple weeks ago, so I don't know why she pretends to be surprised by his reaction.  Then, she changes the subject from their relationship to taking a real stab at Richard's profession.  Jeez, lady, this guy was your friend!

A week later, the argument continues, and Richard finally makes a good point when he says, "What really makes me sore is you act like I'm not worth anything, that I'm completely ineffectual" (157).  Then Therese responds in typical fashion with, "I don't have any quarrel with you.  It's you who chose to quarrel over Carol.  She hasn't taken anything from you, because you didn't have it in the first place" (157).  This is real garbage right here.  Of course you don't have any quarrel!  You fell in love with a stranger!  And how can she be surprised he wants to quarrel over the woman who has ten years on Therese and has been spending every moment she can with her?  Essentially, I have a big problem with how self-centered Therese can be.  She couldn't stand Mrs. Robichek because of her ugliness, and now she can't stand Richard because he takes away time from seeing Carol, the only person she actually cares about.  I also found it interesting how when she's talking with Carol later she says Richard's love for her, "doesn't feel like love," and that she thinks it's all just for show.  This is kind of hilarious to me, because the way Richard is acting and has been acting all this time has love written all over it.  Therese on the other hand seems to think seeing a really hot woman and hanging out with her for a little bit is the basis for love like no other.

Well, as far as Richard and Therese are concerned, it pretty much ends there.  Carol invites Therese to go on a trip, so Richard writes for a bit but Therese of course never responds and Richard finally wises up and officially ends it via letter.  To sum up what happens pretty quickly, Carol and Therese reveal their love for each other and have a great time on their trip; unfortunately, Harge, Carol's wife, has a detective follow them to prove that Carol is a lesbian to get full custody of Rindy.  Carol has to choose between Rindy and Therese, and chooses Rindy.  Therese is clearly distraught, but through work and the simple effects of time she recovers, a more mature, independent woman.  For a moment there's this possibility of Danny, a relatively unimportant character, swooping in and really changing the outcome of the novel, but it fades pretty quickly.  Therese's feelings were clearly not part of some "trance" as Richard would have put it, as there is some obvious significance in her interaction with the actress Genevieve Cranell.  

I know what a lot of you are probably thinking.  First of all, my views on everything, namely Therese, Richard, and Patricia Highsmith, are stupid and unsubstantiated.  Fair.  I get it.  A lot of this is my opinion so you are probably right.  Secondly, what about Carol?? What about their relationship???  Well, here's the thing.  Carol is a pretty static character.  I actually like her.  She's very real, and she's not afraid to give actually very accurate advice and remarks to Therese.  Their relationship is also pretty static; I really don't have much to say about it.  Carol loved Therese.  Therese loved Carol, to a ridiculous degree.  One thing really stood out to me during their final moments together.  Therese, after much internal conflict, refuses to return to Carol because, "You would betray me again" (279).  If that isn't the most selfish thing I've ever heard, I don't know what is.  Carol had to choose between Therese, a teenage girl she knew for about a month or so, and her child.  Her child. The person she birthed.  How could Therese ever consider that betrayal?  This only makes me more and more skeptical of both Therese's character and also her understanding of love.

EDIT:  So I missed a big thing.  Therese DOES return to Carol in the last sentence.  This doesn't change much of what I said, but I do want to make that clear.

Meet the Characters

Hello, faithful readers of my blog!  I'm sure you all have been desperately awaiting my next post after last week's brilliant performance, so fear not!  I have returned, and I have a LOT to say.

So now I'm going to solely focus on our book The Price of Salt, and I'm going to try to keep my thoughts as organized as possible.  Furthermore, I'd like to add that sometimes I might not be able to provide a lot of evidence to back up my personal reactions; while I'll try to avoid doing this as much as possible, sometimes I'm just using a little speculation and imagination to fill in the blanks in certain scenes.  I know that's not universally accepted in the writing world, but hey, it's my blog.

Eventually I'd like to talk about some of writing styles and techniques of Patricia Highsmith, what I like and don't like, but for now it's all about characters. This book is very much about the relationships between the main people, so let me begin with my initial view of the big three, Richard, Carol, and Therese, and I say "initial" because it all changes big time.

Richard makes me feel bad.  He really does.  He seems like he has a big heart, but he's got issues.  I want him to succeed but his job as a painter is pretty stagnant and his relationship is DOOMED.  It was doomed even before Therese met Carol.  But something about him makes me like him; he appears to be aggreeable and confident, as Therese says, "I like his attitude-more than most men's," (81) and he definitely treats Therese with respect as he is unquestionably in love with her.  Therese frequently suspects that he only likes her because she has sympathy for his dream, but I don't see it at all.  For one reason or another, he loves her, and Therese admits, "He does treat me like a person instead of just a girl he can go so far with or not" (81).  I know some people think he's manipulative when he wanted to stay with Therese even after she said she didn't love him, but come on!  They are "together"!  (I think?  It gets really unclear but they certainly have been seeing each other for a long time).  It wasn't smooth or well timed, but you can't fault a guy for wanting to sleep with the girl he's loved and dated for years!  And I think he was genuinely embarrassed/sorry afterwards.  I can't really back that up, but so far there is little to suggest Richard is in any way abusive towards Therese.  Moreover, I feel as though he's the most dimensional character in the novel so far.  While Therese and Carol are always kind of the same person, Richard can range from being happy and confident and laughing to moody and downright furious.  I know having a temper isn't really a positive trait, but in a story full of flat characters, Richard feels the most human; he also has a purpose to his life other than love, namely his painting career, which is hard to say about Therese.  So I have to sympathize with the guy, so he makes me sad.

Then there's Carol.  It's hard to say a lot about Carol, because she's so goddamn mysterious.  That's sadly the best way to describe her.  So far we know she's a babe, she is getting divorced from a nice but an emotionally detached man, she has a child who she loves, and for whatever reason she likes Therese.  We don't even know why.  Therese is head over heels in love; we know that because she says it in her mind all the time, but we get no such luck with Carol.  Frankly, I'm a little mixed about Carol.  She can sometimes be very cool and relaxed, which is fine, but sometimes I get a very aloof sense from her.  I think she does like Therese sincerely, but I have little idea what her plans are. 

Finally, we have Therese.  Honestly, I don't even feel bad, and I reaaaaally don't like her. Here's why: as this super timid, visibly emotionless, and practically silent female, Therese is the direct opposite of myself, so it's very difficult to relate, but I'll try to put that to the side.  That said, I don't like the way she treats my man Richard.  I know she told him she doesn't love him, but they've been at the very least good friends for a long time, so constantly saying you can't hang out with your best friend for dumb reason after dumb reason is not cool at all, especially if you're dating!  She just keeps blowing him off and being really curt with him.  Furthermore, she goes crazy in the whole kite scene.  I get it; the kite=Carol, but in the end, it's a kite.  Richard made it, he can decide if he cuts it.  So she treats Richard like garbage and she bases her whole life around Carol.  She fell in love with Carol when she met her.  Why do I feel this is important?  Because I don't care what anyone says, I've felt that feeling when I see a beautiful girl.  It feels great.  You want to just take her on a nice dinner date and walk around holding hands and get ice cream and kiss her good night.  But in my brutally honest opinion, it doesn't matter if you're not thinking directly about sex, it's still lust.  Plain and simple.  Love is what you feel when you realize that if the person you're in love with got into a horrible accident and lost their beauty, you still couldn't live without her.  Sure sexual attraction is a large part of being in love, but it's a part, not a whole!  For the most part, Therese is feeling a form of LUST.  So I don't like the way she treats Richard or her idea of love, and I know this is superficial, but to me she's just such a bummer.  She shows almost no emotion, other than her bubbly excitement when with Carol.  She's not funny or nice.  I don't know why Richard likes this girl.  People make stupid decisions when they're in love or whatever.

So what I'm going to do now is end on a bit of a cliffhanger.  I would love to spew everything on my mind right now but then frankly I wouldn't have much else to write about in future blogs.  So all I'm going to say is although Carol stays pretty much the same, we get a very different look at both Richard and Therese right around chapter thirteen.  Very different.  In fact, it's almost hard to believe the words coming out of their mouths at certain points, and some of the things I just said kind of fall apart.  So before you leave seething responses about how I'm reading the wrong book and what not, be aware that these are INITIAL opinions and inferences.  I'll talk next about how their characters change or become more apparent.  So tune in next time for more high quality book reading!