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always_succesful1)Part 1, Reflection: Read the course notes page on the T.E.A. paragraph and listen to Debbie Gascoyne's mini lecture on intertextuality, then write a T.E.A. paragraph on "The Boat." Consider your answers to last week's blog question on intertextuality, and suggest a) what they have in common and b) why the NARRATOR (not just the author) of the story might include these references in his reflections on the events leading up to his father's death.
In reference to last weeks blog question on intextuality, “The Boat” utilized intertextuality to increase the understanding of the characters, situations and to deepen the meaning story. Firstly we have the women, Eustace Vye and the narrator’s mother. Eustace Vye had a strong resemblance to the mother of the narrator. Both women were described as beautiful, energetic women. These women, who both had ideals view of what they wanted their family and husbands to be like, drove the people those who which they loved or once loved away. Eustace Vye wanted an exiting, adventurous husband while the mother of the narrator wanted a tidy, organised and more productive husband. These women went into their marriages with hopes of a happy marriage and a good life, but in the end, both were let down and experienced failure in their marriages. Secondly, we have Ham Peggotty and the narrators father. Both men were unable to receive the education they so dearly wanted and as a result ended up working in the boating industry working. Neither of these men were suited for the jobs they had. Both men strongly desired a better life for themselves and their families. The only thing that kept them going was their shared passion for the ocean. Sadly though, both men drowned at sea, one by accident and the other for a noble cause. Lastly, the use of intertextuality of Dylan Thomas’s poem “Fern Hill” and Shakespeare’s “Tempest” added the greatest amount of depth to the story. The poem “Fern Hill” and the story “Tempest” both gave a strong impression of foreshadowing about the death of the narrators father. The father drowning and his body lost to a vast body of water. Only to be battered, torn apart and returned.
2)What is the significance of the binary “constancy/change”?
The significance of the binary “constancy/change” in the story “The Boat” provides a strong message that change is required for life to flourish and prosper. The binary is very well by the sister’s and uncle of the narrator as well as the narrator himself. Firstly, the sisters of the narrator, in order to leave the drudgery of the seafood restaurant, married to financially stable men and moved to the larger cities around the country. There, they discovered a well balanced life for themselves as well as better opportunities for their children. Secondly, the uncle, who worked along side the narrator and his father, invested into a fishing vessel of his own. In doing so, he became captain of his own vessel. No longer has to work as a deck hand and now earns enough income to support his ever growing family. Lastly, the narrator followed his father’s advice and dream to return to high school and continue on to university. So that he may provide himself with a life with consistency and less hardships. The mother of the narrator, on the other hand, represented the “constancy” of the binary. Her ignorance and stubbornness against changing and learning eventually drove all of her children away. She then spent the rest of her life alone and miserable overlooking the ocean. The idea of change was the founding reason for a better life for all the children and the uncle. For if they had not dreamt of a better life, had decided to take action, they would have spent the rest of their lives just as the narrators parents. Thankfully, for the benefit of the children, the desire of change fuelled women and the narrator to dream of a more fulfilling life. They all found better lives for themselves outside the small town from whence they came and now have an abundance of opportunity in all aspects of their lives.
3) Here is another T.E.A. paragraph I originally wrote for question number two but then realized I didn't answer any of the questions. Enjoy!
The opening paragraph of the story “The Boat” had a very strong connections to the underlying meaning of the poem “This Be the Verse” by Philip Larkin. The story opens up with “There are times even now, when I awake at four o'clock in the morning with the terrible fear that I have overslept; when I imagine that my father is waiting for me in the room below the darkened stairs or that the shorebound men are tossing pebbles against my window while blowing their hands and stomping their feet impatiently on the frozen steadfast earth. There are times when I am half out of bed and fumbling for socks and mumbling for words before I realize that I am foolishly alone, that no one waits at the base of the stairs and no boat rides restlessly in the waters by the pier.” We know, after analyzing the poem “This Be the Verse” that one of the main messages of the poem is that our parents influences has the potential to remain in our subconscious for our entire lives. We can see that the narrator from “The Boat” has been so strongly influenced by his father and his habits that now, when he is living alone in his apartment, as a teacher of Midwestern university, that he still has the habits and routines that were passed down to him by his father. The memories of his father sitting in his chair are so well engrained within his mind, that he still wakes up at four in the morning, fumbles to get dressed quickly, just to find out that there is nobody waiting for him. This point is so powerful when one considers the ending of the story “The Boat.” When the narrator pulls his fathers shoulders apart when he tries to move his wedged, battered corpse from in between two rocks. One would believe that narrators image of his father’s corpse, wedged in between two rocks with a face purple, bloated and without eyes. Extremities shredded like ribbons and testicles missing from the body, would embed itself into the narrators mind. Yet still, the narrator retains the habit of getting up at four in the morning stumbling to get dressed so he may go to work with his father. This is an excellent example of how parents can “Fuck you up.”
In reference to last weeks blog question on intextuality, “The Boat” utilized intertextuality to increase the understanding of the characters, situations and to deepen the meaning story. Firstly we have the women, Eustace Vye and the narrator’s mother. Eustace Vye had a strong resemblance to the mother of the narrator. Both women were described as beautiful, energetic women. These women, who both had ideals view of what they wanted their family and husbands to be like, drove the people those who which they loved or once loved away. Eustace Vye wanted an exiting, adventurous husband while the mother of the narrator wanted a tidy, organised and more productive husband. These women went into their marriages with hopes of a happy marriage and a good life, but in the end, both were let down and experienced failure in their marriages. Secondly, we have Ham Peggotty and the narrators father. Both men were unable to receive the education they so dearly wanted and as a result ended up working in the boating industry working. Neither of these men were suited for the jobs they had. Both men strongly desired a better life for themselves and their families. The only thing that kept them going was their shared passion for the ocean. Sadly though, both men drowned at sea, one by accident and the other for a noble cause. Lastly, the use of intertextuality of Dylan Thomas’s poem “Fern Hill” and Shakespeare’s “Tempest” added the greatest amount of depth to the story. The poem “Fern Hill” and the story “Tempest” both gave a strong impression of foreshadowing about the death of the narrators father. The father drowning and his body lost to a vast body of water. Only to be battered, torn apart and returned.
2)What is the significance of the binary “constancy/change”?
The significance of the binary “constancy/change” in the story “The Boat” provides a strong message that change is required for life to flourish and prosper. The binary is very well by the sister’s and uncle of the narrator as well as the narrator himself. Firstly, the sisters of the narrator, in order to leave the drudgery of the seafood restaurant, married to financially stable men and moved to the larger cities around the country. There, they discovered a well balanced life for themselves as well as better opportunities for their children. Secondly, the uncle, who worked along side the narrator and his father, invested into a fishing vessel of his own. In doing so, he became captain of his own vessel. No longer has to work as a deck hand and now earns enough income to support his ever growing family. Lastly, the narrator followed his father’s advice and dream to return to high school and continue on to university. So that he may provide himself with a life with consistency and less hardships. The mother of the narrator, on the other hand, represented the “constancy” of the binary. Her ignorance and stubbornness against changing and learning eventually drove all of her children away. She then spent the rest of her life alone and miserable overlooking the ocean. The idea of change was the founding reason for a better life for all the children and the uncle. For if they had not dreamt of a better life, had decided to take action, they would have spent the rest of their lives just as the narrators parents. Thankfully, for the benefit of the children, the desire of change fuelled women and the narrator to dream of a more fulfilling life. They all found better lives for themselves outside the small town from whence they came and now have an abundance of opportunity in all aspects of their lives.
3) Here is another T.E.A. paragraph I originally wrote for question number two but then realized I didn't answer any of the questions. Enjoy!
The opening paragraph of the story “The Boat” had a very strong connections to the underlying meaning of the poem “This Be the Verse” by Philip Larkin. The story opens up with “There are times even now, when I awake at four o'clock in the morning with the terrible fear that I have overslept; when I imagine that my father is waiting for me in the room below the darkened stairs or that the shorebound men are tossing pebbles against my window while blowing their hands and stomping their feet impatiently on the frozen steadfast earth. There are times when I am half out of bed and fumbling for socks and mumbling for words before I realize that I am foolishly alone, that no one waits at the base of the stairs and no boat rides restlessly in the waters by the pier.” We know, after analyzing the poem “This Be the Verse” that one of the main messages of the poem is that our parents influences has the potential to remain in our subconscious for our entire lives. We can see that the narrator from “The Boat” has been so strongly influenced by his father and his habits that now, when he is living alone in his apartment, as a teacher of Midwestern university, that he still has the habits and routines that were passed down to him by his father. The memories of his father sitting in his chair are so well engrained within his mind, that he still wakes up at four in the morning, fumbles to get dressed quickly, just to find out that there is nobody waiting for him. This point is so powerful when one considers the ending of the story “The Boat.” When the narrator pulls his fathers shoulders apart when he tries to move his wedged, battered corpse from in between two rocks. One would believe that narrators image of his father’s corpse, wedged in between two rocks with a face purple, bloated and without eyes. Extremities shredded like ribbons and testicles missing from the body, would embed itself into the narrators mind. Yet still, the narrator retains the habit of getting up at four in the morning stumbling to get dressed so he may go to work with his father. This is an excellent example of how parents can “Fuck you up.”
