Literary Reflections - Vol. 1

The Grave by Katherine Ann Porter

The grave itself is revered as an unknown frontier. The idea of a grave is well defined to the children, but never experienced in person. They both realize though, that a grave is nothing but a hole in the ground without its contents. Discovering something completely new but somehow knowing what its meaning is, intrinsically, is central to the story.

Miranda wearing the gold ring made her aware that she had a hidden desire to dress and act and want like a proper girl/woman. The unborn rabbits hidden inside the rabbit conveyed a respect for what it meant to take a life.

Life goes under appreciated, caused by youthful ignorance. Seeing the graves for the first time emits sparks of wonder out of Miranda and Paul but it soon passes, “In them both there was also a small disappointment at the entire commonplaceness of the actual spectacle.” The grave ceased to be a resting place for their dead relatives and became just a hole in the ground.

Miranda and Paul were used to hunting and killing animals, even skinning their bodies to make fur for dolls. The presence of the baby rabbits reinforced their role in how they affect living creatures and what it means to take a life.

Miranda is initiated into the value of life by seeing the dead baby rabbits that will never be alive because of Paul killing the mother. Miranda also realizes that the ring she acquired made her want to become a proper woman, desiring luxury and wearing pretty dresses, living up to her family heritage. Paul understands he is taking life but is ashamed that Miranda had to see the brutality of the hunt, worried that he’ll get in trouble.

The ring is a symbol of accepting the status you were born into. Miranda has been a tomboy for most of her years and the ring encourages her to be the girl society, in 1903, wants her to be.

Miranda wants to experience and interpret the death of an animal that until now has had no real significance to her. She realizes that this rabbit was a mother, and those tiny rabbits are no different from kittens or human babies; hunting became no different from murder.

The memory worth remembering to Miranda, of that day, was never about the rabbit that was killed but about the treasure found in the open grave.

The Rocking Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence

Paul’s mother is portrayed as a poor, beautiful, cold hearted woman who seemed to of been dealt a bad hand in life. Her children reacted negatively to her and has no affection for them whatsoever, “Only she herself knew that at the center of her heart was a hard little place that could not feel love, no, not for anybody.” Lawrence feels sorry for the mother, and excuses her from resentment simply because she doesn’t know how to be any other way but coldhearted.

The grinding sense of shortage of money stems from there always being something to pay for: bills, expensive lifestyles, servants and social position. The voices get louder because the father and mother know that they are living outside their means financially. They are using money to sustain their denial. Luck is the only thing, to Paul, that will still the voices. “Luck causes you to have money.”

Paul interprets the fact of not having their own car to them being poor members of the family. Paul then finds out that they are poor because his father has no luck, which is causing them such anxiety in the house. Lucre does mean money, but achieved through dishonorable means or in a negative context; it’s pronounced almost the same as luck.

I find her definition of luck making a lot of sense. Luck, to her, is a person’s drive to succeed. Some people have it, and other’s do not. True good luck for Paul would be to alleviate the tension over money in the household and not have to worry about the voices.

Paul strives to be lucky, which in turn causes him to have money and therefor happiness. “Getting there” translates to Paul believing in himself and his self worth so much, that his confidence is unshakeable. He goes in search of an answer.

When Paul told him mother he was a lucky person, she didn’t believe him and even laughed at him. In order to justify his claim, he said God told him. Paul’s ability to be ‘absolutely sure’ is confirmation to his mother that he is a lucky person and therefore important to his mother.

Oscar’s remarks speak of his great sadness at seeing his nephew literally drive himself to death trying to appease his mother’s sense of entitlement. Paul is a poor devil, who only wanted the love of a mother who cared more for money and material things, than her own flesh and blood.

Girl by Jamaica Kincaid

Some of the major subjects include: what it means to become a respectable woman, how to forego being looked at as a slut as determined by societal circumstances, and what a woman needs to know in order to secure a husband.

The story, written in 1978, is told with a subtle matter-of-fact tone, like it should be common knowledge to every girl, particularly from a mother. The idea of not being taught this from your mother seems unthinkable from the prose. It’s an initiation from being a girl to assuming a woman’s role.

The mother is able to convey necessary advice for being on one’s own like washing clothes, sewing/hemming items of clothing, cooking, intelligent shopping, making a good impression, being an ideal wife, treating a husband well, avoiding bad luck, defending oneself, finding solutions to life’s problems.

Boys by Rick Moody

The house that the boys keep entering symbolize the magical process of growing up and creating memories. Everyone can remember the home they spent most of their years in. These moments are unforgettable and timeless.

The boys transitioned through many phases in the home, even into adulthood. To me, the ultimate change is losing both parents and being, in a sense, alone. The boys finally exit the house as men, starting a new chapter of their lives without their parents.

Thus, to truly become a man, you must shed the earthly trappings of the very people who gave you life. Then and only then does your journey complete.

Rumpelstiltskin by The Grimm Brothers

BONUS: one of my favorite fairy tales!

Such a sinister delight Rumpelstiltskin is! The story shines a light on humanity's weakness to greed and attaining social status, no matter what the cost.

As tribal creatures and social animals, it makes perfect sense how our behaviors are affected by the social strata in which we are born. Nurture vs Nature, your environment can spell good fortune or utter doom.

Going back to medieval times, gaps in wealth and status were even more blatant than now, and it's within these crippling bounds of poverty where Rumpelstiltskin takes place.

A father agrees to a most sinister deal, to put his own future daughter’s life on the line with his lie, just so he may seem more important to the King. For a poor man struggling to make ends meet, he spins his white lie for ill gotten gains.

The story demonstrates the great lengths to which some people will go to in order to safeguard their lives, most gruesomely, even sacrificing an unborn child.