Loss of Innocence

Harry Potter on yet another magical romp between the lines, let’s find a unicorn this time guys! Alright, in all seriousness(What did someone call for me?-Sirius Black), we’re gonna be looking at “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway this time around. Cool story about Hemingway, according to the world wide web, though it isn’t substantiated, he made a bet once that he could make a man cry in six words. And so the “Six-Word Story” was born. For sale: baby shoes, never worn. Now, if that doesn’t hit you hard I don’t know what will.(this is connected don’t worry just lemme work)

Anyway, it seems like babies are a favorite topic for our boy Hemingway since “Hills Like White Elephants” is also about a baby. Although, in this case, it isn’t particularly wanted; The story is about a couple dancing around the choice of whether or not they were going to abort their child. I would say the loss of innocence in this one is just the couple’s realization that they can’t always do what they want, they have responsibilities. I think this way because the impression that they gave me was a young(ish) couple wandering around Europe without a care in the world doing as the please, when they please. But then, suddenly, Jig is pregnant and now everything is horribly convoluted and they don’t know what to do or where to go. I feel that this dash of reality is a type of loss of innocence, I mean they were all carefree and happy and now look at them, they can barely keep a conversation going. So, basically, what I’m saying is that children ruin everything. Never, ever, ever have them, ever. Just kidding, I love kids(no, not really.). I think the...moral, I guess you could say, is that your actions have consequences and you have to take responsibility for them.

Another kind of loss of innocence in this is Jig’s and her seemingly, indifferent attitude towards the baby and herself. She doesn’t care about herself and was willing to go along with whatever her lover wanted. This is still the same type of innocence as above really but you just see how pronounced it is in Jig’s character. She is referred to as a “girl” throughout the story while her lover is a “man” not a boy, a man. I admit this has colored my perspective of the story and that is, partly, why I think this way. I think that Jig is so caught up in this romance with this older man that she’s willing to do anything to return to that carefree bliss that they were in. “And if i do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?” (Hemingway “Hills Like White Elephants” this quote accurately shows this point of view.

Okey-dokey, Harry signing off then.

Whelp, Harry back for another scintillating conversation about yet another short story. Although, to be completely honest, this one is probably one of my new favorites of all time. Quite an honor, really, considering it’s standing among the likes of the Dresden Files, Howl’s Moving Castle, and, of course, you can’t forget Harry Potter! Anyway, I’ve just realized I haven’t even said which story we’ll be talking about this time. So, without further ado, let’s jump into Bob Shaw’s “Light Of Other Days.”

Now, before any analysis, I just have to go through the premise with y’all at least once. I swear, it is life-changing. We begin with a little insight into Mr. and Mrs. Garland’s marital life as of late. The newly pregnant Selina Garland is...disgruntled, to put it lightly, due to losing her job, any aspirations she had on a new house, and being forced to rely on her husband’s meager earnings as a poet because of her “delicate condition.” And so, while on a vacation gone wrong meant to fix their marriage, the pair stumble across a rural “slow glass” refinery run by a Mr. Hagan. While there they see his unusually young wife in the window and get this unnerving feeling that she can’t see them and are wary of Hagan’s extreme reaction to her appearance. And they end up looking into his cottage only to see, not the tranquil image seen through the window but, “a sickening clutter of shabby furniture, old newspapers, cast-off clothing and smeared dishes. It was damp, stinking and utterly deserted.” (Shaw “Light Of Other Days” After learning what happened to Mr. Hagan’s wife, the couple hurry away shaken and clinging to one another.

So, onto the analysis! In terms of loss of innocence, I would say it’s easiest to see it in Mr. Hagan not really losing his wife perse, but how he copes with it is his loss of innocence. The appeal of slow glass, according to Mr. Garland, is that seeing is basically equivalent to owning. Thus Mr. Hagan’s painful attempts to revive her through the slow glass is as what it really is. A pitiful endeavor that, ultimately, only serves to reinforce the fact that life isn’t fair, that there isn’t a happily ever after, that you have to have to cherish what you have while you do; because it won’t always be there. This poem, which is mentioned in the story, is a prime example of this feeling of wanting the past, to return to what once was.

Oft in the stilly night,

Ere slumber's chain has bound me,

Fond Memory brings the light,

Of other days around me . . .

This ties in with the Garlands’ situation, as they are currently fighting but still love each other. By the end of the story they discard their previous disagreements and find solace in each other. They, like Hagan, have realized the ruthlessness of the world and the regrets that it causes. This is their loss of innocence.

Sorry if it seems like I’m gushing but this story is just so ugh. This story is heartrending not because of any big gestures, awe-inspiring revelations, or some such nonsense but the raw feeling that Shaw conveys through the abruptness of the thoughts and words of his characters. “Strange how a man can love a woman and yet at the same time pray for her to fall under a train.” (Shaw “Light Of Other Days” this paradox accurately shows how convoluted the Garlands’ relationship, although not particularly emotional. But, the part that really hit me is the end when Hagan says “I'm entitled to keep something.” (Shaw “Light Of Other Days” that whole scene is just steeped in emotion.

Alright done, I’ll see y’all.

Heya, it’s Harry, again. It’s only been a day but here I am for, you guessed it, Araby. Joy, complete, utter, flipping joy. Alright sorry just needed to get that out of my system, but I guess I’ll just pick off from yesterday and say whatever come to mind?

Well Mrs. Devo, my lit teacher, cleared up those first two paragraphs for us, so that’s one bullet we dodged, thank the lord. I’m not really sure what to talk about so I guess I’ll just tell you what my first thoughts were when I finally understood it (kinda) after reading it like asdfhsvuiwc times. Okey-dokey so, like I said earlier, I had no clue whatsoever about the first two paragraphs and basically abandoned them after my first run through. But that third paragraph, that third paragraph, that’s where all the magic started. I’ll admit at first it this sudden change of perspective and subject threw me off for a good while, three or four readings, but I had an inkling of the idea. I mean come on two kids running around in the dirt then he meets a girl, not too hard to guess what happens next. Thus, when, in the next few paragraphs, the main character appears to become slightly obsessed with Mangan’s sister I wasn’t too surprised. And the trip to Araby was equally predictable; not necessarily going to Araby that was predictable, but the trip itself was easy to see coming. I mean really? Boy is lonely, Boy meets Girl, Boy goes on “grand” adventure for Girl, Girl falls in love with Boy, the end. But that’s where the surprises start. The trite, cliched steps begin to divert and, lo and behold, new material, at least to me. Of course, the main character encounters obstacles on this “quest” of his, what kind of story would it be if he didn’t.But the difference is in that his realization in the last couple lines of the book is of a different sort then is usually seen in these kinds of stories. Instead of finding love and living happily ever after our character realizes the filth that humans are stained with. How they’re so easily corrupted and controlled by sin, greed, and, especially, beauty. This is an unusually poignant loss of innocence because of how easily relatable it is but also, and more importantly, because of the total reversal of thought. All children must grow up, if not now then later, and this contributes greatly to how emotional this epiphany is. That scene causes a visceral response in the reader because of the complete one-eighty from the beginning of the passage. They’re children running through the physical grime and muck of humanity but are heartbreakingly innocent. And now, though physically unscathed, infected with the filth, blackened by the blemish that is being human. But this scene right here is why I’m so taken with this story hahahha. Alrighty, well seeya around and don’t forget to drop a comment.

I’m getting real tired of all this talk about innocence, ugh. Anyway, once again on a screen near you, Harry F’n Potter! Alright, now, back on topic, loss of innocence. What I want to address this time is how this stereotypically “bad” occurrence can have effects that are not totally adverse. Usually, a “loss of innocence” connotates the lost of some type of purity or ignorance that allowed for a more idealistic, I guess, view of the world. But, in actuality, a “loss of innocence” is an integral part of human growth. Children are encouraged to have dreams, although for most it’s impossible, (cynical, I know)but as they grow up are told to be more “realistic.” There comes a point where you realize the world isn’t some big fairytale where everyone is gonna live happily ever after.

I felt that this feeling, this slow acceptance of reality, is what the monster feels as it beholds Victor’s dead body in chapter 24. The monster reaches an epiphany of sorts and discovers that his life never held any real meaning. He talks about how he had hopes of acceptance but over time, through the cruel treatment of humans and inability to live as he pleases(“Once my fancy was soothed with dreams of virtue, of fame, and of enjoyment. Once I falsely hoped to meet with beings who...would love me for the excellent qualities which I was capable of unfolding” Shelley 211), turns to more nefarious goals. He lived to deprive Victor of all that he yearned for and with Victor’s death he realizes the useless futility of those actions. Frankenstein’s death forces the monster to realize the emptiness in his own life by building a facade, using vengeance to conceal his own problems. Similar to what I was saying earlier, after Victor’s passing he disposes of his innocent delusions of the kindness of humanity and resigns himself to his lot in life. He comes to terms with the fact that he is unwanted and will never belong, in any sense of the word, and goes off to kill himself. I find this a sad ending to a remarkably noble creature, despite his mistakes and foibles.

After Henry’s death Victor is near inconsolable and is thought to be mad by the majority of people who interact with him, principally his father. He rants and raves, “‘I am not mad...the sun and the heavens, who have viewed my operations, can bear witness of my truth. I am the assassin of those most innocent victims; they died by my machinations,’ (Shelley 176) blaming himself for everything, rightly so in my opinion, and falls into a deep depression. However, he’s brought out of this slump by, yet again, Elizabeth who seems to be his proverbial light left on the porch. This assertion is only enforced later in the novel, “the threat appeared more as a delusion, not to be regarded as worthy to disturb my peace, while the happiness I hoped for in my marriage wore a greater appearance of certainty,” (Shelley 182) when Victor almost forgets about the monster entirely because of his upcoming nuptials. She represents innocence not only physically, at least stereotypically, but also mentally. I say this because of her overall caring personality and tendency to be understanding and, to a small extent, naive. And, in my mind, she represents Frankenstein’s innocence to a degree also. As children they meet and grow together, knowing they’re meant to marry. Simple, unchanging optimism, the bygones of a time past, remnants of childhood, whatever you want to call it.

What I also want to touch on is the idea that Elizabeth also represents Victor’s innocence and its slow degradation. In chapters past we see that many times Elizabeth and Victor’s moods coincide and mirror one another. This is seen again in Chapter twenty two with Frankenstein’s homecoming. “She was thinner and had lost much of that heavenly vivacity that had before charmed me” (Shelley 180) we see how, with Victor’s Innocence, Elizabeth has suffered. Then, following that train of thought, it would be logical to say that Elizabeth’s death would be the penultimate portrayal of the final loss of Victor’s innocence. After that point he has nothing and no one, his one goal: revenge. And so with that as his goal he goes on a fruitless quest and ends up meeting Walton, worn out, disillusioned, and having given up on life.

Whelp, that's all for me, I really just did this since we barely give Elizabeth any attention.

- Harry F'n Potter

I know we've been talking about innocence nonstop for the past couple blogs but in Frankenstein its such and integral and, to tell the truth, intriguing aspect of the novel. All throughout the first four letters and the following ten chapters we see innocence in a variety of forms but also how it is lost, twisted, and torn asunder. But, I'll just be going aver a couple of my favorites.

First, we've got Walton's development seen through the letters addressed to his sister. Few and far between, they start with a childlike exuberance and enthusiasm that enfuses the reader; but, throughout all this there is an underlying sense of apprehension that Shelley builds using artfully placed phrases. However, as the letters go on the disillusionment hinted at earlier becomes clearer and much more overt. This is in part due to his loneliness it's mostly because of the state he finds Victor in. He goes from wonder and awe at the all the new things he has experienced and the sense of adventure, " I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves and fills me with delight," to a more jaded melancholic view, "How can I see so noble a creature destroyed by misery without feeling the most poignant grief?" With this we see how he's become exposed to the other side of life and the despair it's capable of.

Another interesting example I enjoyed was Victor's intellectual development. As a child he's fascinated by the "scientists" of yore, studying alchemy, the summoning of the otherworldly, and the like. But after experiencing for himself electricity and destructive power of physical science he abandons his old mentors and instead embraces what he calls "real knowledge." This loss of innocence wasn't unwanted nor would it have had ill effects, actually Victor himself says that it was a last ditch attempt by providence to steer him away from his descent to wickedness.

The most interesting things about both of these, however, are the various connections that can be drawn between them. Both are bestowed with inquisitive minds that only only helped along by their curious natures. Both have/had a need to quench their thirst for knowledge, willing to leave behind their family and relationships, any actual communication sparse and sporadic. Both seeking to unravel the mysteries of the world. But that's where it stops, at least as far as we can see. The question i have though is whether or not Victor's warnings are Walton's version of the lighning and if he's due for his own fall from grace.